Fashion tech in Westworld
Caleb Nichols, played by American actor Aaron Paul, tries on virtual suits in season 3 of Westworld, episode 4 (© HBO)
Light-up mood T-shirt, virtual suits, holographic glasses, mouth jewel implant and a mysterious transformable golden dress…, the season 3 of the American serie Westworld, which decor is now planted in the hyper-urban Los Angeles of 2058, explodes in a fashion tech firework. Update of this paper by its author during the season.
By Ludmilla Intravaia
SEASON 3 EPISODE 1
The character played by American football running back Marshawn Lynch is not very talkative and prefers display the colors of his emotional state with a light-up mood T-shirt passing from the word "amused" to the word "angry". Beware, when “angry” is on, it’s ususaly to late. The season 3 premiere of the American serie Westworld was broadcasted on March 15 on HBO.
While the narrative arc of Westworld season 3 abandoned the space of the Far West amusement park for that of the neo-futuristic city of Los Angeles in 2058, the heroine of the serie, Dolores Abernathy (played by actress Evan Rachel Wood) swapped her pale blue cowgirl dress for various little dresses, as black as boring, if not the one that turns into a golden evening dress, with a wave of a magic fashion tech wand.
However, nothing technological in this garment metamorphosis, if not a subterfuge holding only with simple snaps, as revealed by Shay Cunliffe, the costume designer of Westworld season 3 at the Entertainment Tonight website, on March 29 (read here). "It's essentially one dress that's two dresses, obviously. And the gold dress is rolled up inside the black dress", Shay Cunliffe says, adding : "The whole dress is not sewn together but held together with snaps, little tiny snaps. So the one pull releases snaps and the rest just takes care of itself."
"At my job interview with Jonah (Jonathan Nolan, the serie co-creator, AN), we discussed futuristic clothes and he mentioned right then that he loved the idea that future clothes were more than just clothing, how much he loved clothes that could actually turn into something else”, Shay Cunliffe recalls. The designer remembers, with emotion, the moment when the metamorphosis of the dress was revealed on the set of the serie : “It was my favorite moment on a film set because the guys on the set all assumed it would be a special effect, that she was probably just wearing a dress to mark the point. The special effects guys didn’t realize that they didn’t have to do anything about this dress. And the whole crew erupted in applause! It was just a great moment.”
Below, watch the behind-the-scenes video of Westworld season 3 premiere, with all the tech finds imagined by the creators of the serie, Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy.
SEASON 3 EPISODE 3
Glasses to view holograms, this is a very practical accessory for conversing with your ennemy, while respecting social distancing, as does Charlotte Hale (played by Tessa Thompson) with Enguerrand Serac (played by French actor Vincent Cassel).
Dolores also wears high-tech contact lenses to undermine Serac’s evil plans.
Below, watch the behind-the-scenes video from Episode 3, which also features the skin repair tool, which helps Dolores remove Charlotte's self-harm wounds.
SEASON 3 EPISODE 4
Is this tailor's tape measure connected ? If it’s not, at least it has the advantage of being luminous, very useful to find your needles in the dark. Of course, in the tailoring workshop where Dolores brings Caleb (played by Aaron Paul), trying on the perfect gentleman's panoply is virtual.
SEASON 3 EPISODE 5
Dolores' connected earrings or how to command the world at the tip of your finger/ear.
SEASON 3 EPISODE 6
Mouth jewel implant : its installation tickles a little bit but doesn’t one need to suffer to get this ultimate fashion(tech)able accessory of the future? Obviously.
SEASON 3 EPISODE 7
Read this article about Caleb Nichols’ face mask to beat facial recognition here.
© HBO
* illustrations : © HBO
* Continue reading about fashion tech in TV series in these following Boudoir Numérique papers :
- Spotted in Westworld, S3, EP7 : face mask to beat facial recognition
- Fashion tech in Altered Carbon
- Another Life : (Fashion tech) party in space
- Fashion tech in Black Mirror