Behind the Design

Molded by Hand

Most latex is cut and glued flat. This gown started somewhere else entirely — with a sculpture. Here is how a red latex bust was molded into three dimensions, then built into a floor-sweeping gown.

The finished gown — a molded latex bust, draped shoulder, and a long train.

In collaboration with Fancy Monkey · As seen on Lady Gaga · Styled by Chloe & Chenelle Delgadillo

Latex is usually a flat material: panels cut from sheet, bonded edge to edge. But it can also be molded — shaped into relief and depth that no flat pattern can produce. That is what gives this piece its sculpted, ridged bust and its sense of armor. It is a slower, more sculptural way to work, and it is what separates a molded piece from an ordinary one.

It starts as a sculpture

Before any latex, the design is sculpted by hand in clay — every ridge and fold built up and refined as a three-dimensional master. That sculpture becomes the mold. Latex is then formed against it, picking up every line of the original carving, so the finished piece has real depth instead of a printed or appliquéd surface.

The molded latex bust — pulled from a hand-carved master.

Onto the form

From there it becomes clothing. The molded bust is married to a fitted latex gown and a draped shoulder, worked and shined on the form until the seams disappear and the sculpted piece reads as one continuous surface. This is the slow, hands-on part — fitting, smoothing, and shining a three-dimensional piece is nothing like pressing a flat one.

The molded bust and draped shoulder, coming together on the form.