The Digital Red Dress

The Digital Red Dress is a collaboration between Bath Spa University and British artist Kirstie Macleod, led by Dr Coral Manton, Senior Lecturer in Creative Computing at the Bath School of Design, with support from Richard Wood and Fred Reed from the School of Art, Film, and Media. The project involved creating a 3D digital reproduction of the celebrated Red Dress using innovative 3D scanning and retopology techniques, broadening the reach and accessibility of the Red Dress Project to an online audience..

You can read about the project further on it’s blog, and learn how concepts of ‘slowness’ and sustainability in fashion and AI influenced the digital processes.  The project also paved the way for a new collaboration with the National Centre for Fashion and Sustainability investigating new methods to digitise and share the collection of the world-renown Fashion Museum Bath.  

Image credit: Coral Manton

Dr Coral Manton explains how the project began:

“I began working with Kirstie when the Red Dress was due to be exhibited in Lost Horizon as part of The Flint Festival of Rights, a festival dedicated to raising awareness about gender-based violence and reproductive healthcare, in Bristol in January 2023.

I was asked by Kaye Dunnings, Creative Director of Lost Horizon, if I could make a digital replica of the Red Dress. Moved by the project’s mission and seeing images of the dress, I felt I needed to support this important project. So, I contacted Bath Spa University colleague Richard Wood (TV, Film and Photography’s Technical Operations Manager) to see if we could use some studio space to make a 3D scan of the physical dress. Rich, eager to learn more about 3D scanning and support the project, organised the use of Studio B at the Newton Park campus and enlisted Fred Reed, a Technical Demonstrator with expertise in photography and lighting, known for his work with Aardman, Radiohead and the BBC.

With this brilliant team, over the Christmas holiday, when the studios were quiet, we set about making a 3D scan of the Red Dress.”

The Red Dress project will be available to view in The Gallery at Bath Spa University, Locksbrook Campus between Mon 23 Sep - Fri 27 Sep. Book tickets here.