In the last few weeks I have expanded my researches about the “cooling suits” moving from the Soviet KV0-9 water-cooled insulation garment used by astronauts during their training and mentioned in a previous post.
While looking for further similar suits, I found this 1966 water-cooled undergarment at London’s Science Museum.
This suit was originally developed for RAF pilots to keep them cool during long waits before taking off in their aircrafts.
The garment was cooled by pumping water around the tubes lining it (View this photo).
NASA drew on the RAF experience when designing their own liquid-cooled garments that astronauts wore under their outer spacesuit while walking on the moon to protect them from high temperatures.
The garment successfully maintained the astronauts' body temperatures at a comfortable level by using a battery-powered mini-pump to circulate chilled water through a network of tubes in the garment.
Technology was developed to apply cooling garments for commercial purposes (for example in suits for race-car drivers, handlers of hazardous materials, personnel working at nuclear reactors, shipyard workers and military personnel on duty in desert environments) and for medical uses, in particular with conditions and diseases that can make a person prone to overheating, including multiple sclerosis and in case of severe burns.
The Soviet KV0-9 water-cooled insulation garment fascinated me for the tubes integrated in the suit, while I find the RAF undergarment particularly interesting for its ergonomic patterns that characterise its surface.
Trousers and leggings with padded areas or ergonomic piping reappeared during New York Fashion Week on Rag & Bone’s runway.
Though Marcus Wainwright and David Neville's Rag & Bone collection mainly moved from traditional Inuit clothes (see also the shearling sleeves on coats and geometrically printed tights), tartan and tweeds, there were elements that looked more like crossovers between motorcycle suits and skiing uniforms à la ellesse's "jet pant" with futuristic twists.
It was possible to spot at times Courrègesian geometries combined with Mondrian dress-like lines, remixed in designs with neutral tones or in colour-blocked pieces in electric blue and vivid red (View this photo).
In general the collection wasn't too cohesive, though it must be said that it perfectly reflected the incoherence of our modern times in which we are constantly bombarded by different stimuli and we rarely and properly focus on just one thing. Yet you somehow wished the designers had developed a bit more the details like the padded motifs.
Jeremy Laing also displayed an interest for the space with a collection based on relaxed silhouettes and loose garments that essentially moved from the moon (definitely not a new inspiration considering also the late '60s cosmic designs and Armani Privé's S/S 2010 collection) and used it to carve out of fabrics circles and holes in different sizes.
The best designs were the long dresses with prints of the rugged lunar surface (think about the images of the Descartes Highlands by the Apollo 16 and you'll get an idea...).
The moon reappeared also on a jumper in which the fabric had been elaborated to highlight the undulating lunar landscape and highlands through a three-dimensional effect.
To infinity and beyond then, but, in the meantime, could we maybe ponder a bit about the possibilities the ergonomic details of those '60s water-cooled suits may offer in fashion?
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