And the bride wore... How 3D printed bridal dresses are about to change the face of wedding fashion

Forget gowns hand made by couturiers - these come from 3D printers
Specialist company in China hopes to change the face of bridal style
Dresses take one week to make using lasers to fuse together nylon powder
By AMY LEWIS FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 13:48 GMT, 15 March 2015 | UPDATED: 17:13 GMT, 15 March 2015

Though most brides dream of their one-off wedding dress being hand sewn by designer couturiers, that could soon be a thing of the past.
One company in China is now making 3D printed bridal dresses.

Unveiled at the TCT + Personalize Asia exhibition Shanghai this weekend, the dresses have been created using advanced technologies and nylon powder, rather than silks, lace and chiffon.


The future of fashion? Two 3D printed wedding dresses were unveiled this weekend at Shanghai's TCT + Personalize Asia technology expo, created by Chinese designers specialising in digital technology
But despite their less-than-luxury beginnings, the designers claim the dresses are soft to touch, comfortable to wear and durable too.
Created by Chinese 3D printing specialists Xuberance, who also make ties, hair pins, jewellery and home accessories using the technology, the dresses could signal fashion of the future.

Rather than the revered traditional dressmaking skills of Parisian couturiers, normally fantasised about by brides-to-be, these dresses are made using a process called selective laser sintering (SLS).
The dress 'fabric' is constructed by using lasers to fuse together the nylon powder, slowly building up the material in layers.


Each dress takes around one week to make, using advanced digital technologies and laser techniques, to fuse together nylon powders. The specialist process however, comes with a high price tag


The cost of the 3D printed wedding dresses is yet to be revealed, but a bridal veil made using the same specialist process is expected to retail at 20,000 Chinese yuan (approximately £2167.35)
And it's not just dresses and accessories that Xuberance applies their innovative digital technology to.
Though details have been kept under wraps, a 3D printed wedding cake and sugar flowers were also on display at the exhibition.
But if you were hoping to cut costs by skipping the bridal shops, it seems unlikely.
A 3D printed veil created using the same process currently costs 20,000 Chinese yuan (approximately £2167.35), while a metallic effect headpiece retails at 5,000 yuan (around £541.84) in the company's online shop.
The dresses are, as with the most sought-after haute couture bridal designers, being given the 'price on request' treatment, but since they each take a week to 'print out', costs are likely to be high.


Despite shunning traditional fabrics like chiffon or lace, the tech-savvy dresses are intricately detailed and designed to resemble the real thing, but offer new scope for more ambitious patterns


Would you wear Xuberance? Though bridal dreams are traditionally filled with thoughts of Chanel, Vera Wang and Oscar de la Renta, new technology could soon change the face of wedding fashion

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