Thom Browne
The Thom Browne unicorn was created for his Spring 2018 collection during Paris Fashion Week at the Hotel de Ville. We were asked to create a larger than life unicorn that could walk down the catwalk during the show that also showed off a gossamer, playful aesthetic that matched the collection.
My Role
I was an Experience Designer and Fabricator on this project and was tasked with taking the design from concept drawings to life size, walking unicorn.
The unicorn had to not only be large enough to fit two 6' models, but also needed to have a dramatic presence to close the show with. First and foremost, we needed to focus on the two models activating the unicorn - designing for comfort, ease of activation, weight, and visibility.
How It Works
The initials design was created by Eric Wright or Puppet Kitchen. We worked with his design to create an easily triggered kinetic mechanism that allowed two models to comfortably operate, acting as the unicorn's legs. The body was worn on each of the model's shoulders, using a padded strapping that distributed the weight to their back and shoulders evenly.
Experience Flow
The structure of the unicorn's body was built using a very light weight, yet robust plastic that was heat treated to create gentle curves, filling space with lines instead of material. Thom Browne's collection was heavily influenced by fairytales and fantasy, with tulle fabric being incorporated into many of his designs. We also used tulle to on the unicorn to ensure that it matched the visual and tactile theme of the collection as well as to keep the unicorn structure lightweight.
