As a continuation of the research work carried out during Catarina Pimenta Master’s thesis, the main objective was to combine the theme of individual thermal camouflage to fashion design through the creation of garments, patterns and different illusions. This strategy allows the creation of effects and optical contrasts in thermal vision, which should provide the camouflage of the individual in a wide range of environments and shapes, which could an assist in a battle field. Despite this thematic display great current interest, research projects on this topic are scarce, both in the military field and in the area of fashion, which does not allow the total thermal camouflage or individual invisibility. Thus, it becomes necessary experimental study on thermal behavior of different materials / textile structures, where thickness and emissivity of the same would be key for creating thermal illusions, adding knowledge to the study of thermochromic fabric that revealed potential in the Master’s work.
Moreover, besides the functional component, the work is intended to address a conceptual and artistic component in the clothing design process, in order to implement the concept of thermal camouflage in fashion design, allying the contemporary trend of emotional design to the fashion design area. Summarizing, we intend to go beyond the visible spectrum garment, exploring the thermal vision, where the fashion designer will demonstrate significative concepts that results from the intersection between art and science (in this case, thermography), aiming to provide a new experiential perspective on viewer/user who observes a garment and its surroundings beyond the implicit functional component of the thermal camouflage.
This project will be developed within the PhD research of the student Catarina Pimenta under the guidance of Professor Raul Fangueiro and co-orientation Professor Carla Morais.
