Plastik Wraps' latest news

Total Recall : costume design

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 12:43:46 -0500

Plastik Wrap is excited to announce that our designs are included in the costume/wardrobe for the upcoming release of Total Recall, the remake of the Arnold Schwarzenegger sci-fi classic.

You can expect to see sexy waitresses clad in hot pink PVC crop tops and shorts... as well as; the New Plastik Wrap NightShade hood featured prominently in a party scene.
We don't know all the details. We don't know if Kate Beckinsale or Jessica Biel will be wearing any of our pieces, and we don't know how well they are shown on film, but we can tell you that the Plastik Wrap designers met with Sanja Milkovic Hays (Costume designer) and Sara Schilt (Buyer). Sanja and Sara had the opportunity to browse through the Plastik Wrap boutique searching for designs suitable for the movie. In the end it was arranged that Plastik Wrap would produce a number of custom pieces while a few ready to wear items where also purchased for use in the movie.

Having grown up with the original Total Recall its possible that I was influenced by this film, and looking back the Plastik Wrap gallery Colonization does remind me of this film. It might be the badlands location that makes it feel a little 'Total Recall', we love that shoot.
This is why I chose to use an image from this gallery as the article cover image.
A big thanks to Guy Porter for making the Colonization shoot come together.
We look forward to you seeing the movie and letting us know if you spot Plastik Wrap designs.
Total Recall is expected to be released August 2012.

PVC - PolyVore Contest

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 17:53:41 -0500

When we [Plastik Wrap] reached 10,000 fans on our FaceBook page we decided to run a contest..
Many entries came it and they all look great, but someone has to win.
So to help us select the winner we are asking you to VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE (sorry contest has ended).
See the entriesand the list of winners.

Encyclopedia Gothica by Liisa Ladouceur and Gary Pullin

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 17:04:19 -0500

Plastik Wrap, featured in the new Encyclopedia Gothica,
a book that defines goth in a way that is entertaining and informative...

We have an issue of Encyclopedia Gothica to give away along with a print by illustrator Gary Pullin.

Simply add your favorite 'gothic' quote (movies, books.. what ever sticks with you) to this page as a comment and submit it via our Contact form (so we have your email).

We will select our favorite by end of day Nov 10th 2011, and email the winner.

Remember, sumit twice.. 1 as comment, and 1 via contact form.

VJ software and interactive visual programming

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 13:07:35 -0400

Plastik Wrap is proud to announce that we will be using Troikatronix’s Isadora for our live video installation work from now on, and will be posting free video content and Actors (for use with Isadora) over the coming months.

Why have we, a well know fashion design company decided to include VJ software and clips on our website? For years Plastik Wrap has been involved in the electronic music/dance scene. We have had regular video installations at various Toronto based events for many years, we have also worked together with a number of artists and art collectives, and have produced our own fashion focused club-nights. It is these years of experience that have given us an archive of fashion photography, graphic design, and video footage that we feel you can put to good use. All footage will be licenced under a Creative Commons licence. We hope that the VJ/club community will continue to grow, and we thank you for all of the support you have given us.

As one of the founders of Plastik Wrap I have used Video as a fashion medium since the beginning of the company (more articles on my blog), and during most of that time have been using a software package for live render and performance called Visual Jockey. Transitioning from Visual Jockey to another system after years of development in Visual Jockey will not be easy, however; when your platform of choice starts to become obsolete and is discontinued it becomes a necessity.

To replace VisualJockey as our core VJ software I had a number of requirements that must be full-filled by the new application. Some of these requirements were very easily met by all the modern applications available today, while others really had to be sought out and only a few offered them in a variety of flavours.

Our top requirements where:
●Cross-platform
●Real-time audio driven effects (requires sound in)
●Live video input
●FreeFrame support
●API / SDK (ability to code custom plugins)
●Serial communication (with a focus on communication with Arduino based peripherals)
●DMX control
●Definable internal logic (a simple scripting language or node based logic branches)
●Midi support

Others that I hoped for so that we could easily extend the features of our installations where:
●TCP-IP
●3D support
●Adaptable User Interface
●Sound Output / Generation
●Other input devices
●Render to video file

The selection process was not as programmatic as I would have liked. In hindsight I would have liked to have compiled a list of applications to test and gone through them in a much more systematic way...

Instead I started searching for VJ software that had a few of the core requirements, and when I found a new one I instantly got excited and dove into it. This process proved to be both exciting and confusing. I started to loose track of my needs and started to get emotionally attached to certain features. I spent an extended period of time looking for a software interface similar to that of Visual Jockey. The visual node based design interface was one I was very familiar to and it felt like the perfect visual representation of all the steps involved in building a graphic in Photoshop, however; I found nothing quite the same.

While searching for VJ software you will come across many different apps, many of which use the old DJ gui metaphor, you know right and left channels and a cross-fader. Anything I found that fell into this category was instantly dismissed. Others that have evolved from the metaphor support multiple compositing channels, real-time effects and much more. Topping my list were: Vidvox, Modul8 and Resolume. I also liked the Reason like interface of Aestesis, but it appears to have been discontinued as well (although available for free now). In the end of the day, non of these applications really delivered on my requirements, Vidvox and Modul8 fell out of contention quickly because they are mac only, and Resolume although very flexible didn’t provide the logic features I was looking for... although it seems that with Apple’s Quartz Composer you can get around this with the Mac versions of these applications.

Quartz Composer is a visual development tool bundled with the Apple operating system that led me to discover a number of graphical programming environments. These environments where available under a number of licenses, including Open Source. The free nature of open-source was very appealing but after playing with what looked like the best of the open-source environments I found Pure Data (PD) too difficult to setup and get going in [read as limited documentation], it also appears to be very audio oriented so after a short trial period I gave it up. Much the same I have to say about PD’s commercial brother, MAX. I must say though that I didn’t give MAX a real run since its price was rather high, especially once you got the full bundle (needed for real video work). Some day I may put together a full Pure Data PD VS MAX msp comparison as it was unclear what the true differences between them are. A very popular system is VVVV, I really liked this software for the huge array of supported features and minimal interface, but as I played with VVVV I found that it took too long to get simple things done since you are starting from scratch every-time (also Windows only). If you are looking for an alternative to coding C++ using OpenFrameWorks, VVVV might suite you nicely. I do like VVVV’s license options, they extend a free license for non-commercial projects, so as an artist I really appreciated this. Last on my list of visual programming tools is Isadora, I was pleased with the simple install and setup of Isadora, also getting up and running was dead easy due to the great video tutorials provided. Within hours I had recreated a few of my video compositions from Visual Jockey in Isadora, this was looking very promising, I had not yet been able to recreate any of my VJ compositions in any of the other applications. Further it appears that all of my core requirements are met by Isadora in one way or another, as well as; offering additional features like OSC support. What am I most excited about trying? Two things really: DMX, we have already ordered a ILDA compliant blue laser to be our first addition that utilizes these new capabilities, and Serial communication, for use with a number of amazing arduino based systems we have planned.

So Isadora is the winner it seems, and for good reason.
●The authoring interface is simple, fast and powerful.
●The feature set suites my needs.
●The user community is very helpful (great manual and included examples as well).
●The price is fair.

Using Isadora, you quickly become aware of its background. Being born of the need for a tool to control video for modern dance theatre, Isadora’s interface includes Actors, Scenes and refers to the output as the Stage (reminds me Macromedia/Adobe Director although no Lingo required ;). Unlike other VJ software, and Graphical programming environments, Isadora did not come from a music oriented background, and therefore I found that although it offers real-time audio analysis it doesn’t provide simple features like access to the BPM. To deal with this I spent sometime during my initial learning of Isadora trying to create a custom user actor that would analyse the audio and give me some workable outputs, that I could then feed to my effects. This proved to be the hardest thing about learning Isadora for me since almost all my work is audio driven; because of this barrier I have decided to provide a download of a seven channel EQ user actor, with a few additional outputs for tracking the audio's tone/mood. It isn’t perfect and I will be working on it much more over time, but for now it gets things moving. Included is a simple patch (as seen above/right) that creates a video EQ with control sliders that adjust the data levels. I find it useful to help get my levels in setup. You can see how it has been used in my on-going Isadora project v-SYS as well as find more Isadora Downloads and Tutorials.

If you haven’t yet tried Isadora, a FREE trial is available for MAC and Windows.

GLOW

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 13:40:22 -0400

Plastik Wrap is honoured to have been part of the making of this outstanding short.

"Exploring futuristic surrealism, GLOW follows the insatiable and chaotic Tessa, an addict whose fix comes in the form of AA batteries which she violently inhales to achieve a sensual electric euphoria."

GLOW a film by Nicolas Kadima & Jaclyn A. Smith

"Along with her lover and the mysterious character she steals the batteries from, we will witness the destructive repercussions of Tessa’s habit, leading us to a twisted ending."

Find our more about GLOW

Plastik Wrap does Wardrobe

Being in charge of wardrobe was an interesting change for our design team; we shopped through vintage shops, deconstructed and aged items in our work shop, and designed sexy new pieces. The whole time working to create the sleek aesthetic drama outlined to us by Nicolas Kadima. We were able to work closely with Jaclyn Smith during the wardrobe design phase, and had Jaclyn to the Plastik Wrap boutique for fittings when needed. Jaclyn's feedback was very important in the design and construction of her character's costume, since the role was very physical and demanded much flexibility while being durable enough for the long hours and damp rough environments. Together Nicolas and Jaclyn were ideal creative partners allowing us to find our way while giving clear feedback when needed, we thank you both.

Our time working with the GLOW team went by quickly, we picked up some great techniques, and formed a new visual language from the experience. One element that you might notice is the design influence the project 'might have' had on our current website design. We also continued with this design direction by working with Nicolas on our latest Postcard design (the first we have ever had designed outside of Plastik Wrap), the postcard features our Crystal tube/halter top and a high contrast glow, Nicolas did a great job on the design and we look forward to further projects together.

&lt;/p&gt;

FaceBook App

Thu, 12 May 2011 19:36:12 -0400

We are please to announce the Beta release of our new FaceBook APP.
The primary function of the app is to be installed as a tab with in your facebook profile, or if you are a page admin, you can add this app as a tab to your FB page.

All that is required for your to do is visit our APP page and [LIKE] the app.

The 'Add to My Page' link will allow Page admins to add a 'Latest Products' tab to their Fan Page.
Additional link options are provided (lower left side) that will allow you to share, remove, or add as page favorites.

If you have any trouble adding the App, or using the App, please let us know.

Firefox Browser Skin

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 16:50:23 -0500

Plastik Wrap offers up an alt fashion theme for all of you FireFox users. The browser persona features graphite, black smoke and an Alt fashion vixen.

Install it and enjoy... If you like it share it will friends... post it on FaceCrack and more.

GET IT NOW

GHST RDR : collaboration between Plastik Wrap and Zoetica Ebb

Mon, 09 May 2011 15:47:24 -0400

After spending five years in sketchbook purgatory, Zoetica's designs have finally been brought to life with the help of Plastik Wrap's Adriana and Ryan, who helped flesh out the design concepts and select materials.

Inspired by strict riding jackets of the Victorian era, Anime and the dark punk aesthetic, this tailored top and square skirt combo will only leave you breathless from admiration, not from lack of air. Classic tailoring and flourishes such as pleats, draping and structured sleeves are vivified with modern materials, and a few of Plastik Wrap's signature details; including adjustable straps for a fit that's as devastatingly flattering as it is forgiving. Made in all-black, and black-and-gray, GHST RDR summons visions of cyborg nuns, sexy assassins and art house aristocrats.

This is the second collaboration between Plastik Wrap and Zoetica Ebb – they first joined forces in 2008 for a limited run of T-shirts.

Please visit Zoetica's blog biorequiem.com where she has written a great article outlining the process of the fashion collaboration.

GHST RDR - Skirt

GHST RDR - Jacket

Website reLaunch

Sun, 09 Jan 2011 15:48:27 -0500

Plastik Wrap is very excited to bring you the first release of plastikwrap.com V3. Version 2 of our site has served us well for many years, and we have learned a lot in that time. The first step in bringing you the new V3 plastikwrap.com was the migration of our Cyber-tek shop to the PlastikARMY. Today we reveal V3 and relaunch the site with great new fashion Galleries and the promise of a new Customer Gallery. We ask you all to submit images for inclusion in this new gallery. Many sections of the site allow you to make comments, so we hope that you do, please let us know what you like so that we can focus on producing more. The first release features a new gallery format, with nice large images. Many great new features will be added weekly.. so comeback often and check them out.

Just a few of the new features you can expect:

[DONE] Gallery slideshow view, video view, and more.
Downloadable hi-resolution images (think posters etc)
Integration with partner sites.
[DONE] Integration with social media sites.
more.... (you have an idea? let us know)

Downloadable

Fashion Museum FitNYC: Gothic: Dark Glamour

Sat, 13 Nov 2010 12:55:29 -0500

Plastik Wrap is proud to be included in this major exhibition and publication.
"The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) will present Gothic: Dark Glamour, the first exhibition devoted to the gothic in fashion, from September 5, 2008 through February 21, 2009." ... "The main gallery space will be designed as a labyrinth, featuring iconic themes such as Night, with black evening dresses; the Ruined Castle, with fashion inspired by gothic images of the Dark Ages, ruins, and fragments; and the Laboratory, where futuristic fashion "monsters" are created." (2008, www.fitnyc.edu)
The exibit is described in more detail in the past exhibitions page for the Museum at FIT.

Publication: Gothic : Dark Glamour FIT New York : museum exhibition
Date: September 5, 2008 through February 21, 2009

Publication: Gothic : Dark Glamour Hardcover Book, by Valerie Steele (Author), Patricia Mears (Author)