Fluid-filled dress knit from plastic tubes

Fluid Dress from Charlie Bucket on Vimeo.

Two years ago, I got the opportunity to visit the workshop of Minneapolis artist Charlie Bucket and see his fascinating efforts to knit plastic tubing into wearable art that could then be pumped full of colored liquid. The last time I saw this stuff, he had a very simple, very loosely knitted prototype dress made up, and hadn't totally figured out how to control the movement of fluid. Now, just look at it. Bucket's done some amazing work. I'm so pleased to see such an awesome end result!

Check out his Vimeo page to see what this evolved from. There's a couple videos from two years ago showing an early skirt and the basic, original knitted shape.

• [bobledrew]

  Clothing made from crazy straws! The only thing better? Drinking a chocolate shake through my sweetie’s dress. Rowr.

• [kmpmilano]

  Too late for Gaga–Robyn beat her to it.

  http://www.youtube.com/user/robynmusic?blend=2&ob=4

• [Anonymous]

  Anyone know where i can buy the music from that video. Who’s the artist? What’s the name of the tune?

• [neurolux]

  Is that fluid Mountain Dew or…..?

• [brillow]

  Lady Gaga just found her next outfit! Also, kudos for the excellent taste in music! Its one of my favorite tracks.

  • [Kimmo]

    This is quite cool indeed… extra points for the flourescent juice and UV LEDs.

    Also, kudos for the excellent taste in music! Its one of my favorite tracks.

    I dug it too. Who is it, and what’s the track called?

• [C White]

  Cool. I worked on something similar in university (though far less elegant) — using aquarium tubing and a pump. We filled ours with blood red liquid.

• [HarveyBoing]

  Ooh! This is the perfect adjunct to the whole TSA-see-through crap. Let’s see what those annoying machines can see if you wear one of these in them!

• [Anonymous]

  Reminds me of this design project that’s like a million internets old. (Warning: Link is vaguely unsettling. May not be appropriate for people afraid of blood.)

• [Anonymous]

  I wonder what would happen if I tried to wear that on a plane?

  • [uildaan]

    They would probably make you bin it since it doesnt fit inside a little see through bag

• [knodi]

  I wonder how loud it is without the cool soundtrack.

  Are the pumps small enough to fit into a purse with a battery and a reservoir?

  Could you put a heat-sink on the reservoir and wear this to stay frosty on a hot summer day?

  This thing really inflame the imagination!

• [Kimmo]

  Oh yeah, pumps and batteries might be an issue… I’m thinking inline pumps would be the go; then they could be part of the dress.

  Wonder if phone vibrator motors would cut it? Prolly couldn’t handle more than a metre or two of tube…

• [shutz]

  Am I the only one who wants to see this on an actual person? Preferably, an adult human female?

• [Anonymous]

  Robyn’s new video!!!!!
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ketX6HITIDU

• [Anonymous]

  What does it weigh, filled?

• [Antinous / Moderator]

  How about an ant colony dress? With bio-luminescent ants.

  • [Felton / Moderator]

    I want that in a tuxedo.

• [enkiv2]

  Am I the only one thinking this should be repurposed more pragmatically for cooling? I’d be a lot happier out in the sun if I had one of these under my shirt pumping icewater.

• [Anonymous]

  Awesome! If only they had my size… (and i was a woman)

• [SuperElectric]

  I guess I’ll be the wet towel here, but does the wearer seriously need to drag around that pump-rack, like a hospital patient? Can somebody familiar with small-scale pumps and their power requirements comment on whether this can be realistically made to work with inline pumps and portable batteries?