![The Garment District by Bart Hess at Future Perfect](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/09/dezeen_The-Garment-District-by-Bart-Hess-at-Future-Perfect_1sq.jpg)
The Garment District by Bart Hess at Future Perfect
Lisbon Architecture Triennale: people are dunked in a pool of wax to create sculptural dresses by Dutch fashion designer Bart Hess as part of a futuristic city on show at this year's Lisbon Architecture Triennale, which kicked off yesterday in the Portuguese capital.
![The Garment District by Bart Hess at Future Perfect](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/09/dezeen_The-Garment-District-by-Bart-Hess-at-Future-Perfect_3.jpg)
Bart Hess created the installation to explore ways in which humans can augment and extend the shapes of their bodies, creating a kind of prosthetic that is unique each time.
![The Garment District by Bart Hess at Future Perfect](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/09/dezeen_The-Garment-District-by-Bart-Hess-at-Future-Perfect_6sq.jpg)
To create the garment, individuals are strapped to a robotic harness then lowered into a pool of water and wax. As the wax moves in the water it begins to set, bonding itself around the body.
![The Garment District by Bart Hess at Future Perfect](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/09/dezeen_The-Garment-District-by-Bart-Hess-at-Future-Perfect_5.jpg)
The person is then lifted out of the water, encased inside a cocoon of wax that can then be cut or broken.
![The Garment District by Bart Hess at Future Perfect](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/09/dezeen_The-Garment-District-by-Bart-Hess-at-Future-Perfect_7.jpg)
Speaking to Dezeen, Bart Hess explained that temperature affects the end result. "More complex shapes require hotter temperatures, so you need to build up a tolerance to the heat," he explained. "But it only hurts on the surface for a few seconds."
![The Garment District by Bart Hess at Future Perfect](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/09/dezeen_The-Garment-District-by-Bart-Hess-at-Future-Perfect_9.jpg)
The Garment District is one of five zones in the Future Perfect exhibition, which was conceived by curator Liam Young as an exploration into how technology will shape future cities.
![The Garment District by Bart Hess at Future Perfect](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/09/dezeen_The-Garment-District-by-Bart-Hess-at-Future-Perfect_8.jpg)
"Telling stories about the future is a way of thinking about ideas," said Young. "It's about opening up a a discourse of what a city could be. Architects need to be operating beyond the now, developing strategies and tactics that will connect people with the future."
![The Garment District by Bart Hess at Future Perfect](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/09/dezeen_The-Garment-District-by-Bart-Hess-at-Future-Perfect_10.jpg)
The Lisbon Architecture Triennale continues until 15 December. Follow Dezeen's coverage of the event »
Earlier this year Dutch fashion designer Iris van Herpen creates a dress modelled on splashing water. See more stories about fashion »
Here's a short project description from the exhibition organisers:
The Garment District
Our bodies are endlessly photographed, monitored and laser scanned with millimetre precision. From this context of surveillance, facial recognition, avatars and virtual ghosts, we imagine a near future where digital static, distortions and glitches become a new form of ornament.
![The Garment District by Bart Hess at Future Perfect](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/09/dezeen_The-Garment-District-by-Bart-Hess-at-Future-Perfect_2.jpg)
For the youth tribes of Future Perfect the body is a site for adaption, augmentation and experimentation. They celebrate the corruption of the body data by moulding within their costumery all the imperfections of a decaying scan file. Shimmering in the exhibition landscape is a network of geometric reflective pools of molten wax. Their mirrored surface is broken by a body, suspended from a robotic harness, plunging into the liquid. A crust of wax crystallises around its curves and folds, growing architectural forms, layer by layer, like a 3d printer drawing directly onto the skin. Slowly the body emerges, encased in a dripping wet readymade prosthetic. It is a physical glitch, a manifestation of corrupt data in motion, a digital artefact. They hang from hooks like a collection of strange beasts and frozen avatars. Body prints, imperfect and distorted and always utterly unique.