A’Whora, the candidate of the British edition of the drag queens show, had a 3D printing bodice made to her measurements, as a tribute to the Skeleton dress by the icon of fashion technology, Iris van Herpen.

By Ludmilla Intravaia 

In this article : 

• A’Whora’s 3D printing bodice 

• Iris van Herpen's Skeleton dress 

• The 3D printed mask of Aquaria 

• RuPaul's Drag Race UK season 1 fashion tech finale 

“I am serving you cavewoman sex.” It was in these enthusiastic terms that drag queen A’Whora described her apparition, last Thursday, on the catwalk of RuPaul's Drag Race UK, wearing a bodice made of bones for the “preherstoric” runway, dedicated to prehistory. But it is not so much her sex appeal that we will remember from this episode 6 of the British edition of the famous reality TV contest but rather her tribute to the queen of fashion tech Iris van Herpen (images below : © BBC/WOW).

“This look I designed is inspired by Iris van Herpen”, explains the British queen on her Instagram account, on Sunday. The outfit which she describes as a “skeletor bodice 3D scanned and printed to my body”, was made “by scanning and taking multiple images of myself that was then inserted into a software in which Sam would then be able to build my design idea around myself to scale”, says A’Whora who collaborated with an additive manufacturing specialist. 

“The printing of this look using a very delicate plastic took days, processing each part to then be constructed and pieced together to curate the final form, the pieces then needed to be sanded down and texturised, then finally I painted the bodice myself using dry powder paints to achieve a distressed/aged look”, she adds. 

A’Whora also used 3D scanning and 3D printing for her face mask, '“shaped to every dimension of my drag makeup”, she completes. 

Below, discover A’Whora’s preherstoric runway.

The Iris van Herpen silhouette from which A’Whora took her inspiration is likely to be the Skeleton dress from her Capriole Fall/Winter 2011-2012 haute couture collection. It is made of white polyamide printed in collaboration with the Belgian 3D printing company Materialize (images below : ©Iris van Herpen).

Watch the Capriole fashion show, unveiled in Paris, in July 2011, below.

The tech-savvy designer Iris van Herpen has become a source of inspiration on the drag planet. For instance, during the same preherstoric runway, the drag queen Bimini Bon-Boulash, walked the catwalk as a bacteria, also a reference to the Dutch designer work (more info soon in the following article from Le Boudoir Numérique: The drag queen Bimini Bon-Boulash pays homage to fashion tech queen Iris van Herpen).

3D printing is no stranger to the catwalk of RuPaul's Drag Race. In 2018, Aquaria, the winner of the season 10 of the original US edition of the show wore a printed 3D nylon mask designed by the artist Kevin Freitas Conlin, during episode 11 “Evil Twins” of the contest, broadcast on June 7.

Likewise, the season 1 of RuPaul's Drag Race UK had seen fashion tech in the spotlight, during its final, on November 21, 2019 (more info in the following article of Le Boudoir Numérique: Fashion tech lights up Rupaul’s Drag Race UK).

* Continue reading on Iris van Herpen with these following Boudoir Numérique articles :

- Paris Fashion Week Haute Couture SS21 - 3D printed nail art by Eichi Matsunaga for Iris van Herpen

- Paris Fashion Week Haute Couture SS21 - Iris van Herpen’s dress in recycled plastic by Parley for the Oceans

- Paris Haute Couture Week SS21 – Kinetic crowns by Iris van Herpen

- Iris van Herpen X Dutch National Ballet : The symbiosis of haute couture and dance captured in the film Biomimicry

- Christina Aguilera in Iris van Herpen for Mulan's music video Reflection

- Lady Gaga wears a dress from Iris van Herpen at 2020 MTV VMAs

- Boudoir Numerique's favorite : face jewelry by Iris van Herpen

- Leomie Anderson in Iris van Herpen at MTV EMA's 2019

- Iris van Herpen’s Infinity Dress comes to life on the runway

- Iris van Herpen’s laser cutting sets the red carpets on fire

- Storm Reid and Kelly Rowland electrify the PCA’s red carpet in Iris van Herpen

- Grimes, Katy Perry and Björk in tune with Iris van Herpen

* Continue reading about fashion tech in RuPaul’s Drag Race with the following articles from Le Boudoir Numérique :

- The drag queen Miss Abby OMG wears a luminous outfit for the grand finale of Drag Race Holland

- The lighted crown of the drag queen Ma’MaQueen divides Drag Race Holland jury

- Werq the World S2 EP1 : Asia O’Hara, the luminous drag queen

- Mocha Diva's laser glasses dispel the darkness of confinement

- Fashion queen Gigi Goode impersonates Sophia, the top model robot

- Fashion tech extravaganza at Rupaul’s Drag Race

- Fashion tech lights up Rupaul’s Drag Race UK