MakeFashion Shines at Calgary Mini Maker Faire

Photos: Mary Yohannes Getaneh

This weekend some of Calgary’s most innovative came out to celebrate the act of creating at the second mini maker faire at the TELUS Spark Center. The Calgary Mini Maker faire is exactly what it sounds like, a fair for makers. The faire showcases creativity, and resourcefulness. Makers share what they are making and what they have learned, hopefully to inspire future makers to make their own creations. The makers range from designers, artists, tech enthusiasts, engineers, artists, and students.

MakeFashion ran its own booth nestled in the heart of the faire. The both displayed some of the last year’s runway projects. The dresses where a hit amoung every age group, especially the littlest of makers. Children watched with wide eyes as the dresses lit from one colour to the next, even boys decked in spiderman shirts thought it was cool.

At a glance they’re just dresses with blinking lights, but each dress has specific technology built into it. One dress responded to emotions, another dress responded to sound. The process in creating them brings fashion to an entire new level. The Dragon Queen for example is controlled through an app you can download. From that app the wearer can decide the movement of the dragon perched on the shoulder of the dress from twisting its metal body around to snuffing. Biomimetic Bride, another design displayed, uses accelerometers that reads the wearers heartbeat and lights up accordingly. Other dresses displayed where the ever popular Chameleon cocktail dress, Common Experience, and Medusa Fabulosa.

Alongside the MakeFashion booth was a section dedicated to the various art forms of steampunk. The easiest way to describe steampunk is it Victorian era science fiction. With steampunk everything is made with steam powered machinery and tools. Elemental Illusions had some fascinating leather masks displayed at their booth, just in time for Halloween!

If you missed seeing some of the amazing outfits displayed at the Calgary Mini Maker Faire there are more MakeFashion events in store including the September 13th TechBurlesque, open to all 18 and over. We hope to see you there!

– Mary Yohannes Getaneh is a second year Journalism student at Mount Royal University and our MakeFashion intern.