Inspired by leather-look, the dress made from wine last year which was a weird mix of art and science, Perth scientist, Gary Cass, has taken his amazing process of growing cotton-like fibres from alcohol to a whole new level with his latest creation – ‘The Beer Dress’. This unique bacterially-fermented dress is made from beer and is being regarded as the next revolutionary step in the technology of fabrics fermented by living microbes. The beer dress will introduce Nanollose Microbial Cellulose, the newest fabric to the fashion world at World EXPO 2015 in Milan.
Because microbial cellulose is produced from a fermentation process, it can be made on an industrial scale without the environmental impacts and expensive inputs and processing of cotton. Moreover, it can be grown into any shape enabling one-piece seamless garments with no stitching, a valuable innovation to the fashion industry. The design of the beer dress was created by Perth visual artist, Donna Franklin, who was inspired by the flower of the hop plant, Humulus lupulus, used in the fermentation of beer.
