New use for fermented wine

Imagine a fabric that grows … a garment that forms itself without a single stitch! Micro’be: Fermented Fashion showcases Australian dresses literally created from wine. The exhibition (19–31 August) is a centrepiece of the Ultimo Science Festival, a National Science Week 2008 event.

The scientist behind the wine dress on show, Gary Cass, from the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Western Australia, says the new fabric is futuristic.

“When we leave a barrel of wine to ‘go off’, bacteria (Acetobacter) convert the wine into vinegar and make a cellulose by-product. We take this cotton-like material, which smells like alcohol and feels like sludge when wet, and mould it onto a collapsible mannequin.

“After leaving it to dry, we remove the mannequin and are left with the dress, which fits as snugly as a second skin,” Cass says.

‘New’ dresses from Micro’be: Fermented Fashion will be modelled on the catwalk with dresses (Victorian bathing costumes and corsetry) created by Ultimo TAFE’s Theatre Costume students as part of the Ultimo Science Festival.

See the most innovative use of fermented wine at 11.30 am, Tuesday 19 August at Ultimo TAFE, Turner Hall, Building B, off Mary Ann Street, Ultimo.