Visit the FIT Website
About DTech
WE SOLVE REAL-WORLD PROBLEMS WITH  DESIGN + TECHNOLOGY  AND INSPIRE INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
We look to provide guidance and leadership to brands and retailers wanting to make a digital transformation
All DTech Projects

Boehringer Ingelheim x Ogilvy Health

Collage of the Unwearable Collection: sculptural 3D-rendered garments in red spiked forms, flowing silver drapery and black armored silhouettes against black.
The Unwearable Collection 2.0 - We can all relate to choosing what to wear every day.
But people who live with generalized pustular psoriasis (GPP) may not know what they will be forced to wear every day.

Our goal is to raise awareness among the general public about GPP and encourage people to learn about and understand the condition. This exhibition features five designs that are impossible to wear and impossible to ignore.
3D render of a figure wrapped in layers of sheer grey fabric with a veiled head, shadowy figures behind, and a circular detail inset of the draping.
What would the uncertainty 
of living with a rare skin disorder look like through the lens 
of fashion?
Pharma corporation Boehringer Ingelheim tasked students from the Fashion Institute of Technology's DTech innovation lab to answer the question with their addition to The Unwearable Collection, a line of conceptual garments made in collaboration with Dutch artist Bart Hess in 2022 to raise awareness for generalized pustular psoriasis (GPP).
‍
A figure in a white draped gown enveloped by shards of shattered black and clear glass, reflected on a mirrored floor.
Pain of Isolation
A figure covered head to toe in jagged copper-orange spikes and splinters, arms crossed, lit against black.
Physical Pain
A figure bound in coils of black serrated bands that wrap the body from head to feet, against a vivid orange background.
Life-Threatening
A figure in a grey textured suit with torn translucent red fabric erupting from the shoulders and back, against a blue background.
Flare Intensity
THE FIFTH PIECE:
Trapped by Uncertainty
‍
In addition to the physical symptoms GPP patients experience during a flare, there is also a psychological toll that comes with the uncertainty of anticipating when the next flare will happen. "Trapped by Uncertainty" will be permanently added to Hess' four original designs — "Pain of Isolation," "Physical Pain," "Life-Threatening" 
and "Flare Intensity," which the artist described as being more about 
physical pain.

Introducing the fifth piece of The Unwearable Collection representing:

LACK OF CONTROL
Cloud of uncertainty
Volatile wellbeing
Inner beauty


Four circular material studies: grey jersey draped over a head, folds of black tulle, blue crystal beads on netting, and layered tulle over a group of veiled heads.
3D render of a figure in a grey ruched gown with arms wrapped tight across the chest, head veiled in sheer tulle that pools to the floor.
Black-and-white photo of a figure in a fitted top with the head fully enveloped in a billowing black tulle hood and a crumpled tulle rosette at the shoulder.
Close-up of grey ruched jersey with a band of blue crystal beading, under a sweep of sheer grey tulle.
Black-and-white photo of a figure in a fitted grey top with the upper body wrapped in swirling layers of black tulle.
How do we encourage the public to empathize with patients who suffer from GPP?
‍
Since The Unwearable collection is a fashion collection, we can get the attention with a gala of the collection at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

Upon completion, the Unwearable Collection traveled to Singapore for the GPP Forum and World Congress of Dermatology in July 2023 before returning to New York where it will be displayed at FIT from Sep. 14 to Oct. 15, following the opening gala.
3D render of the exhibition from the street: a glass facade with a giant pair of eyes and the word UNWEARABLE, visitors walking past inside.
3D render of the exhibition interior in sepia tones: sculptural garments on round white plinths beneath a wall-sized image of eyes, with a circular detail inset.
By asking the people

What are you wearing today?

– The Exhibition

Upon entering the exhibition, all eyes will be on YOU
so that the visitor can experience what GPP patients feel every day. FIT students did not only create the exhibition concept and key visuals, but also advertised for it across 
all different kinds of media.

‍
"My background isn't in fashion, I'm a product designer, but the students really have the skills of working with fabric, which was amazing to see how different their minds are and how they can create shapes and tell stories."
– Bart Hess
PRESS
Impossible to Wear. Impossible to Ignore - FIT Newsroom (External Link)
‍
‍
Further Reading
The Unwearable Collection™ A fashion line based on the experiences of patients living with generalized pustular psoriasis by Boehringer Ingelheim (External Link)
‍
‍

Team Members

Boehringer Ingelheim
‍
Bart Hess

Ogilvy Health

FIT Faculty
‍Dorbiana Gheneva, Assistant Professor of Fashion Design
‍
Joseph Staluppi, Advertising & Digital Design Co-Curriculum ChairDesign
‍
Eric Kaplan, Animation Design
‍
FIT Students
Fashion Design, MFA
‍Natalia Robles-Oteiza
Urvi Selanka
‍
Advertising and Digital Design, BFA
‍Margarita Kaplan
Mariko Dreifuss
Harry Zizhuo Lin
‍
Exhibition and Experience Design, MA
‍Jace Son
Zuzanna Zmijewska

Animation, Interactive Media and Game Design, BFA
‍Lauren Lee
Tyler Hernandez

‍

You might also like

View Projects

Hereditary Neuropathy Foundation

IBM Watson x Tommy Hilfiger