Exploring the Mystery of the Spray on Dress

A legendary and historically significant piece of clothing was unveiled during Paris Fashion Week 2022: Coperini’s Spray on Dress, modeled by Bella Hadid. This garment broke the internet and was a fan favorite from fashion week this year.

Bella Hadid stood at the forefront of the runway in white G-string underwear, holding her breasts in her hands, while two men dressed in all black sprayed her dress onto her. Once created, a woman cut a slit in the leg and folded the dress to fit over Hadid's shoulders as a cap sleeve. Hadid strutted down the runway, with her signature runway walk, which helped to portray the mystery and the ease of the dress being created in front of the viewers' eyes.

Although many viewers embraced the mystery of the spray-on dress as revolutionary, the science behind it was most certainly not.

Fabrican, liquid fabric, is a combination of liquid polymers with natural and synthetic fibers in an aerosol can. It is created with a solution of fibers, a binder, and a diluent, containing small fibers for the ability to pass through the sprayer. This was created by Manel Torres, who started experimenting with spray-on fibers in 2003. Fabrican was originally created to speed up the manufacturing process of clothing and allow for a sustainable way to break down the fibers again and recreate it into a new garment. According to Torres, the Fabrican fabric has a feeling comparable to suede, and can be easily manipulated, as we observed from the folding down of the sleeves and the slit cut into the side of the garment.

In addition to the possibility for sustainable manufacturing, others have taken this idea and ran with it for many different purposes. Some scientists have begun experimenting with the possibility of spray-on-bandages or casts. There is so many possibilities of where this technology can go, and the things that it can solve and accomplish. One day Spray-on-shoes might even be a possibility.

After having the amount of press on such a dress, this makes one wonder how revolutionary the science behind it truly is. With some simple research, one can see that this “revolution” had been invented years prior; could it have just been the name of the brand, or the model that helped to boost this garment to the stature at which it is now held?