Introduction

In May 2020, two months after the United States declared a state of emergency due to the COVID-19 virus, Anifa Mvuemba, the founder and creative director of the brand Hanifa, still held a fashion show for the brand’s Pink Label Congo collection. With the restrictions on large gatherings and social distancing, Hanifa debuted a collection without a live audience, models, or even a physical location. Instead, Hanifa showed its collection on Instagram Live, using meticulously rendered 3D models set against a black backdrop, where the clothes strutted the runway on their own as disembodied ensembles (Segran).

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, Mvuemba was interested in creating a 3D fashion show, hiring a CAD and animation artist to assist her with the endeavor, but the onset of the pandemic allowed her to revisit the idea and use the software herself to create virtual garments that were “perfectly tailored to the avatar” (Segran).

While the show was born partly out of necessity, it reflects fashion’s growing interest in and use of digital and social media. Take, for example, the advertorial from the Louis Vuitton Fall/Winter 2017 fashion show, where six models are rendered as sleek 3D models.

The models are rendered in a stationary form against a blank background and 3D grids that resemble the workspace in the 3D modeling program Blender. Throughout the short video, the figures’ digitized forms are accentuated, as the video zooms in to show the pixels on the edges of the models’ faces or renders all of their faces together in a morphing, overlapping fusion. The video is not interested in hiding its digital form, but uses it to highlight the retro-futuristic aesthetic of Nicolas Ghesquière's work at the fashion house. The advertorial was also created for digital consumption, through YouTube and short Instagram content, much like Hanifa’s show was created for the vertical format of Instagram Live.

What these examples illustrate is fashion’s adoption of the digital as a way to communicate ideas about a brand’s identity and aesthetics, which is a result of an increasingly digital social, political, and cultural landscape often filtered through social media. While the phenomenon of mediatization, which I will discuss more shortly, is the increasing norm in the contemporary fashion system, the costume studies collection of garments and fashion objects here at NYU does not provide avenues for considering mediatization or the influence of the digital realm in the contemporary fashion landscape. Fashion study collections at NYU and elsewhere are instructional resources where students can handle objects and gain experience with close looking at garments to prepare them for object-oriented research. As such, it is critical that students in the field engage with digital fashion objects, whether they are digital-born or digitally preserved.

Through this short manifold entry, I want to offer one method for sparking conversation and curiosity about mediatization and digital media in fashion: the incorporation of 3D models and photogrammetry into fashion studies collections. I will provide a brief overview of mediatization in fashion, review relevant literature on the pedagogical benefits of photogrammetry, and share my own experience working with photogrammetry to create a 3D model of a 1950s feathered hat from the NYU costume studies study collection.

Mediatization in Fashion

In her 2017 article for Fashion Theory, Agnès Rocamora argues that mediatization, a concept whose contemporary understanding is widely used in sociology, communications, and media studies, is an essential framework for understanding the fashion system of the 21st century, which is increasingly enmeshed with the realm of digital (and social) media (Rocamora, 507). To assert a more precise understanding of mediatization, Rocamora draws a distinction between mediation, or “the media as conveyors of meaning, to their role in the transmission and circulation of messages,” and mediatization, which considers the “transformative power” of the media within a particular field (Rocamora, 507). More specifically, Rocamora states that:

Looking at mediatization in the field of fashion means looking at the ways practices of fashion—practices of production, consumption, distribution and diffusion—are articulated through the media, and, more crucially, are dependent on the media for their articulation. The interest is not on the idea of communicating fashion through the media but on doing fashion through the media (after Hjarvard 2013, 51, on politics). Investigating the mediatization of fashion, then, means looking at the ways fashion practices have adapted to, and been transformed by, the media. It does not mean focusing on the media themselves, but on the ways people and institutions in the field of fashion have changed their practices for and with the media. (Rocamora, 509)

Hanifa’s digital fashion show is an excellent example of the transformative power of digital media, as she and her team leveraged 3D technologies to create a fashion spectacle, whose format was tailored for distribution through Instagram Live. The show also presents an opportunity to consider the differences between the digital fashion objects in the show and the physical garments sold afterward, if one had access to them.

        While looking at digital fashion objects in a study collection will undoudetbly spark conversions about the digital mediation of fashion, an avenue of inquiry that is worth study in and of itself, it also opens up conversations about mediatization in the fashion system, both in corporate and creative ventures as well as in the academic study of fashion.

Photogrammetry in Other Fields

In recent years, the field of archaeology, another academic discipline that frequently uses object-oriented research and close looking, has provided a wealth of scholarship on the potential pedagogical benefits of photogrammetry and the world of augmented, virtual, and extended reality.

In their chapter for Communication and Applied Technologies: Proceedings of ICOMTA 2022, Moreno-Nava et al. recall their work on creating 3D photogrammetric documentation of rock art manifestations with university students. Their work aimed to preserve examples of rock art throughout Mexico, both for preservation, as the rock art will degrade over time – a concern for fashion collections as well – and for accessibility purposes, since many of the notable examples of rock art take are in remote and challenging environments (Moreno-Nava et al., 387-388). Throughout their work, the team also prioritized the educational aspects of creating the 3D models and using them in their classrooms to promote the principles of the ICOMOS Charter for the Interpretation of Cultural Heritage Sites. This charter, in short, aims to foster professional, open, thoughtful, contextual, and inclusive dialogues around cultural heritage (Moreno-Nava et al., 393-394). Through their inclusion of university students in the documentation and interpretative process, the authors note that “the digital images, 3D content, and interactive presentations created as the project progressed stimulated the students’ curiosity” (Moreno-Nava et al., 394).

In the conference proceedings for Ancient Egypt, New Technology: The Present and Future of Computer Visualization, Virtual Reality and Other Digital Humanities in Egyptology, Mohamed Abdelaziz and Mohamed Elsayed demonstrated how photogrammetry can aid in the detailed documentation of objects and present new possibilities for close looking. Working in sites throughout Alexandria, Egypt both underwater and on land, Abdelaziz and Elsayed were able to use photogrammetric data and modeling to survey the underwater site of the Lighthouse of Alexandria for new archaeological discoveries (Abdelaziz and Elsayed, 34-41), to virtually re-erect colossal statues (Abdelaziz and Elsayed, 48), and to enhance nearly hidden details on a Roman-era column (Abdelaziz and Elsayed, 52-53). This last example, wherein the able to use the radiance scaling shader in their photpogrammaetry software to reveal a very faint inscription that would not have been readable with the naked-eye, is of particular use to a fashion study collection, as it allows for a more granular level of close looking that might be overlooked from just a physical viewing (Abdelaziz and Elsayed, 53). Additionally, while processes like condition reports certainly require in-person viewing and handling, incorporating photogrammetric models of fashion objects can also illustrate the changes an object undergoes over time.

In the same conference proceedings, Julia Troche and Eve Weston discuss the pedagogical implications of virtual reality, specifically through The Spirit of Egypt, “a Virtual Reality project being developed by Exelauno,” (572) wherein users engage with the ancient Egypitan concepts of death and the afterlife through Hatshepsut’s “Theban Funeral Procession, Hatshepsut’s Tomb, her Mortuary Temple at Deir el-Bahri, and the imagined Hereafter.” (577-578). The authors note that the project was developed to blend historical accuracy and accessibility for a K-12 classroom environment and general museum goers. As such, the in-game models are not strict archaeological models, but emphasize an introduction to historical concepts from ancient Egypt (578). Through their discussion of the game and its pedagogical impact, the authors note that any new form of technology should be “critically considered” when introduced into a classroom (573), but see the benefits of xr in a classroom setting, particularly when employed with storytelling, humor, and experiential-embodied instructional design (574-575). The same critical considerations should be applied when using 3D models in fashion study collections, and instructors should use them and other forms of XR intentionally.

The Feathered Hat

To put these ideas into practice, I set out to use 3D photogrammetry to document at least one object from the Costume Studies department study collection. Through consultation with department chair Nancy Deihl, we selected a 1950s feathered hat to model (Figure 1).

This hat was chosen for multiple reasons. The first being that it would be easy to transport and was in good enough condition to be taken out of the collection. Second, after discussing the project's goals, I wanted to select an object that might illustrate the potential shortcomings of photogrammetry with fashion items. I wanted to show how photogrammetry, while helpful in thinking about digital fashion, is not a complete substitute for the physical object. The feathers presented a possible challenge for capturing with photogrammetry, as light-reflective materials like feathers are not always conducive to the process. The wisps of feathers around the edges of the hat similarly posed a potential problem for being captured by the photography process due to their uneven and thin edges.

With the object chosen, I consulted the Digital Scholarship Services team, my internship hosts for the semester, about possible methods for capturing the hat in photogrammetry. They suggested NYU’s LaGuardia Studios, which specializes in high-level 3D Scanning and 3D Printing.

After consulting with the LaGuardia Studios team, we began scanning the hat using an Artec Eva scanner and Artec software to create a 3D render of the object. Initially, the scanner had some difficulties picking up the finer details of the feathers and the bald patches, but rescanning these problem areas quickly filled in the missing pieces. The technician was also able to scan and assemble the interior of the hat with the exterior, creating the complete model below.

I would consider the model to be a success in capturing the feathered hat. There are some areas around the edges where the scanner could not fully capture the wispy feathers, resulting in floating data points. However, I am particularly impressed with how well the scanner captured the areas that had lost feathers and the hat's interior. These details help preserve the object as it is and illustrate the change in the hat’s condition over time for future costume studies students. How the feathers are rendered also adds a layer to the conversation around digital and digitized fashion. In particular, the loss of luster from the feathers and some of the texture sparks conversations around what is lost and gained with digital fashion and how our interaction with fashion more broadly is affected by the medium.

Citations:

Abdelaziz, Mohamed, and Mohamed Elsayed. “Chapter 2. The Contribution of Photogrammetry and Computer Graphics to the Study and Preservation of Monuments in Alexandria, Egypt." Ancient Egypt, New Technology: The Present and Future of Computer Visualization, Virtual Reality and Other Digital Humanities in Egyptology, edited by Joshua A. Roberson, Rita Lucarelli, and Steve Vinson,  vol. 17, BRILL, 2023, pp. 33-57.

Moreno-Nava, I., et al. “Photogrammetry, AR, and 3D as Innovative Tools for the Interpretation of Rock Art with University Students.” Communication and Applied Technologies, vol. 318, Springer, 2022, pp. 387–96, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-6347-6_35.

Rocamora, Agnès. “Mediatization and Digital Media in the Field of Fashion.” Fashion Theory, vol. 21, no. 5, 2017, pp. 505–22, https://doi.org/10.1080/1362704X.2016.1173349.

Segran, Elizabeth. “Hanifa’s virtual 3D fashion show is haunting, beautiful, and brilliantly executed.” Fast Company, 9 June 2020, https://www.fastcompany.com/90513959/hanifas-virtual-3d-fashion-show-is-haunting-beautiful-and-brilliantly-executed. Accessed 16 February 2025.

Troche, Julie, and Eve Weston. “Chapter 22: Virtual Reality Storytelling: Pedagogy and Application." Ancient Egypt, New Technology: The Present and Future of Computer Visualization, Virtual Reality and Other Digital Humanities in Egyptology, edited by Joshua A. Roberson, Rita Lucarelli, and Steve Vinson,  vol. 17, BRILL, 2023, pp. 572-591.