Ying Gao
Ying Gao | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1973 (age 52–53) |
| Education | Geneva University of Art and Design (BA), Université du Québec à Montréal (MA) |
| Occupation |
|
Ying Gao (born 1973) is a Chinese-born Canadian fashion designer and professor best known for her experimental clothing which includes integrated robotics. Her designs often respond to stimuli from the world around the wearer. She also works as a professor at the Université du Québec à Montréal and headed the Fashion, Jewelry, and Accessories Design program at HEAD Geneva.
Biography
[edit]Gao was born in 1973 in China[1] and grew up between Switzerland and China due to one of her parents being a diplomat. She first became interested in fashion after seeing a Yves Saint Laurent show.[2] She earned her bachelor's degree at HEAD Geneva and earned her master's degree in interactive multimedia[3] from the Université du Québec à Montréal.[4]
She has worked as the head of the Fashion, Jewelry, and Accessories Design program at HEAD Geneva and works as a professor at the Université du Québec à Montréal.[5][6]
She is best known for her designs, which she calls "speculative design".[7][8] These designs are known for interacting with their environment in varying ways through robotic components.[9] She is often inspired by philosophy, novels, and air.[10]
One of her best-known collections is "Flowing Water, Standing Time", inspired by Oliver Sacks's The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat[11]. In this collection, the dresses respond to colors in the surroundings and move.[12] Another one of her best-known collections is her 2024 collection[13] "All Mirrors", inspired by Umberto Eco. In this collection, the dresses, made of soft mirrors, move when detecting people's eyes on them.[14] Her 2013 collection "(No)where (Now)here", inspired by Paul Virilio, was shown at the Textile Museum of Canada and the Power Station of Art.[15][16]
She is also known for her "Possible Tomorrow" collection, which twists and curls when identifying strangers through a fingerprint detector[17]. Her "Walking City" collection, which incorporated pneumatic pumps so the clothes appeared to breathe[18], was shown at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec.[19] Her 2022 collection "2 5 2 6" was inspired by NFTs[20] and virtual fashion.[21] Her 2025 collection, "Charlotte and Everyone Else", utilizes non-real faces which trick artificial intelligence.[13] Her collection "Incertitudes" utilized sharp pins and was activated by sound:[22] a piece from that collection was shown at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.[23]
She has also created lines of clothing to be sold and distributed more traditionally.[24]
References
[edit]- ^ "Ying Gao: Five Ways to Tell a Story about Fashion". Vernissage TV. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
- ^ Drimonis, Toula (2024-01-11). "Ying Gao Makes Fashion Move with Dynamic Clothing Designs". Sixtysix. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
- ^ "The Nu Journal - Ying Gao". The Nu Journal. 2016-10-09. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
- ^ "Ying Gao". LVL3. 2019-03-25. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
- ^ "ying gao creates robotic clothing that reacts to the chromatic spectrum". designboom. 2019-09-21. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
- ^ "DEFILE HEAD 2015". Hesge. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
- ^ "Clothing Reacting to the Chromatic Spectrum — Q+A with Ying Gao". anniversary magazine. 2019-10-10. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
- ^ AnOther (2010-03-15). "Montreal Fashion Week". AnOther. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
- ^ "Fashioning the Intangible: the conceptual clothing of Ying Gao". Textile Museum of Canada. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
- ^ Dazed (2014-10-09). "The tech we were wearing before wearable tech". Dazed. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
- ^ "Fashion as an encounter with time: Ying Gao's robotic dresses react to what they see". www.itsnicethat.com. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
- ^ Griffiths, Alyn (2019-10-28). "Ying Gao's "chameleon-like" autonomous dresses react to their surroundings". Dezeen. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
- ^ a b "In Dialogue with the Present: Read an Interview of Designer Ying Gao". Autre Magazine. 2025-11-12. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
- ^ Wong, Gabriella (2025-02-10). "Ying Gao's All Mirrors clothing responds to the observer's gaze". Dezeen. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
- ^ Kahn, Mattie (2013-06-28). "High-Art Dress Makes Like Jellyfish, Ripples Whenever Someone Looks At It". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
- ^ Laura, McQuarrie (June 18, 2013). "Eyesight-Activated Dresses". TrendHunter.
- ^ Narea, Isabel (2017-09-19). "ying gao creates nylon armor with robotized 'possible tomorrows' garment collection". designboom | architecture & design magazine. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
- ^ Levy, Natasha (2017-10-22). "Ying Gao's dresses become animated "in the presence of strangers"". Dezeen. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
- ^ Etherington, Rose (2011-07-20). "Walking City dresses by Ying Gao". Dezeen. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
- ^ Zeitoun, Lea (2022-10-19). "ying gao's new pulsating robotic garments simulate the effects of virtual clothing". designboom | architecture & design magazine. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
- ^ "Ying Gao Brings Digital Fashion to Life with Undulating Robotic Garments". Yahoo News. 2022-11-14. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
- ^ "Artful Voice-Activated Garments". TrendHunter.com. Archived from the original on 2014-02-16. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
- ^ Sheets, Hilarie M. (2016-03-14). "When Fashion Meets Technology, You Can Wear Your Tweets". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
- ^ "Ying Gao's Delicate, Fashionable Pod". Interview Magazine. 2010-03-05. Retrieved 2026-06-27.