Lovesick

As store fronts and landing pages fill up with hearts, roses and frills in pink and red, ZOOT is introducing you to a new option for your Valentine’s Day wardrobe. This year, why not skip the syrupy sweet Valentine’s cliches and go 3D in the digital realm? The #love collection from Circus Lab can give you some amorous inspiration.

Artwork by Circus Lab
Words by Michaela Doyle

Circus Lab is an international 3D creative fashion agency working to combat fast fashion. From concept to the finished garment, the whole design and fit process uses software, which means there is no physical waste produced. The designers use no paper or fabric during the pre-sewing process and no clothes need to be produced or posted for the photoshoot. Without restrictions on fabrics or forms, designers can be as creative as they can imagine. Embracing the slow-fashion mindset, the Circus Lab challenges designers to create wearable collections in 3D and then work directly with clients to make custom-made real-life garments as desired, so as little waste results as possible.

Circus Lab’s latest project, the #love collection, is a tribute to the power of pink and also a commentary on the materialistic imitations of love we tend to engage in each February. At first, the collection screams Valentine’s Day, but upon closer inspection, some of the romance falls apart. From the disembodied hand resting lovingly on the model’s shoulder—or maybe holding her down in her restrictive dress—to the vinyl flap dress that could fall apart with one movement, and the absurd plastic hearts and arrows, there is something subtly but intentionally off-putting at play. “Nowadays Valentine’s Day has nothing in common with real feelings; it has become so much commercialized that it’s almost vulgar to celebrate it. We’ve intensified it by using a lot of 3D plastic, because it’s the most artificial texture we can imagine”, explains Circus Lab’s head designer. 

Every detail of the project is meaningful, down to the model’s green skin. “The green color is used in cartoons or animated movies to show the sickness or anger or some other negative feelings of the character. So I just show that the one-time romantic experience [of celebrating Valentine’s Day] will hardly cure anyone. She will stay the same and feel the same but in absurd pink packaging.”