Japanese Astronaut Gets Designer "Space Suit" 110
Naoko Yamazaki knows you have to look good at work even if your work is in outer space. Japanese fashion designer Tae Ashida has created a designer suit for the female astronaut to wear during her stay on the International Space Station. "As a female designer, I chose a design and colour with a sense of grace ... so that she can feel at ease as she carries out a tough mission in a male-dominated, bleak atmosphere. It's like a dream come true to see my clothes worn in space," said Ashida. "I'm looking forward to seeing her wear my design."
Skills (Score:2)
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Don't worry -- I hear stilts are all the rage among astronauts these days.
Fashion ... I still don't understand it.
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Don't worry -- I hear stilts are all the rage among astronauts these days.
Fashion ... I still don't understand it.
Also popular among astronauts, Standing?
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The woman in the drawing looks distinctively non-human. I wonder whether the designer had mistaken "astronaut" for "alien life" when she was doing that.
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Japanese animation often exagerates leg lengths, I don't see it as a problem.
It's not a problem. Until they start trying to design clothes for real people. That's when the problems start.
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Leg lengths? That's new to me. I thought it was just eye size and hair pointyness.
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You obviously don't watch enough anime, I bet you probably have a girlfriend too. GTFO breeder!
Re:Skills (Score:5, Insightful)
Might be a good designer, but definitely isn't a good artist. Either that or she thought the astronaut's legs were the same length as the rest of her body.
I have yet to see any fashion design sketches that were anatomically correct in their proportions. I gather that such sketches are meant to be impressionistic rather than realistic.
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It seems you usually have to dial back a designer's work about 50% in order to get something practical. This is true of car designs too, the stuff they show at auto shows usually aren't practical, the one you get off the assembly line has had a lot of changes.
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Yeah it's standard procedure for concept car sketches to have the car running 20x18" rims, crazy-low-profile tires, a quarter inch of fender gap, 2"-4" of ground clearance, with angles and curves that look awesome but won't play nicely with the assembly line machinery or the 35+ year olds (AKA the people who can actually afford new cars).
That said, this fashion designer's sketch is way more absurd.
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Aaaaugh! Worst production car design I ever came across was an '85 Camaro Berlinetta [berlinetta.info]. You had to part drop, part slide in to the drivers seat, if you didn't want to remove your left knee cap on the dash. Then there was the deal with the turn signal being a flat piece of plastic sticking out of the dash and not on the steering column. Always kept bumping it. The radio/cassette player was on this stalk that was free standing (with a big chunk of dash behind it sculpted back) and when it broke, well, no replac
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But why? (Score:2)
A Google image search [google.com] confirms that. What I don't understand is, why are they like that? Is it some kind of tradition, or does it have some practical purpose not obvious to those with little fashion sense?
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Re:But why? (Score:4, Insightful)
Except the clothing is intended to be worn on people, so how can you judge if it will actually look good if you design it for aliens? It's like car designers intentionally doing all their drawings such that only 3' midgets can use the car or furniture designers intentionally drawing things out of proportion to the human form. The purpose of sketches is to develop and test ideas before a prototype is made, but if you have to completely rework the proportions between sketching and prototyping then the sketch is worthless for the purpose of judging the aesthetic appeal of the design. It is like the entire fashion industry is in denial about what medium they working in.
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Well, assuming the fashion world is a self-adoration circle (I have yet to see something which would make that impression certainly false), making the designs look better than they really are does serve a purpose...
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These are artists, not engineers. Logic and accuracy need not apply.
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It's like car designers intentionally doing all their drawings such that only 3' midgets can use the car
Welcome to the world of rat rods:
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/jalopnik/2009/02/Bettie_Paige_Rat_Rod.jpg [gawker.com]
http://s-seriesforum.com/albums/jman/rat_rod_s10_2.jpg [s-seriesforum.com]
At least on this one the roof has been helpfully removed:
http://images.thecarconnection.com/med/1932-ford-rat-rod_100170259_m.jpg [thecarconnection.com]
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It is like the entire fashion industry is in denial about what medium they working in.
They're (mostly) not. People have been taught for a long time that fashion is largely about what people wear. In reality, fashion is an art form like the performing arts, sculpture, painting or even programming. Fashion is about enhancing the aesthetic of the human body through decoration. It's about pushing the limits of what we as people (and as society) think of beauty. The former notion is clothing; it's certainly a practical and pragmatic byproduct of fashion, but it is not fashion.
This is a chief reas
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Fashion obsessed girlfriend?
You mean the one who had every Diesel Sweeties t-shirt?
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Find humans with alien proportions?
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..... It is like the entire fashion industry is in denial about what medium they working in.
Dude, have you ever seen the bodies that they demand as 'models'? .... More to the point, have you ever met someone who looks like that naturally? We still have the problem of the occasional high-profile model dying from starvation trying to stay 'in vogue'.
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Except the clothing is intended to be worn on people, so how can you judge if it will actually look good if you design it for aliens? It's like car designers intentionally doing all their drawings such that only 3' midgets can use the car or furniture designers intentionally drawing things out of proportion to the human form. The purpose of sketches is to develop and test ideas before a prototype is made, but if you have to completely rework the proportions between sketching and prototyping then the sketch is worthless for the purpose of judging the aesthetic appeal of the design. It is like the entire fashion industry is in denial about what medium they working in.
A comment well deserving of a beer. Lets not also forget the intended purpose of a space suit. Their needs to be room for tubing for Air, cables to check vitals and ports to connect into other systems I am certainly not aware of. There is a reason why space suits look the way they do now. Watch the end product look just like the current model but with a pink sash over it.
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I bet it's just marketing. A designer could probably show a woman a picture like this [emillioo.com], and have the woman's reaction be "I want to look like that!" It's not physically possible to look like that, but a long, slender form is viewed as more graceful than a short stumpy guy, so it's probably just marketing. They're trying to sell the fantasy instead of the reality.
Now that I think about it, there's got to be a connection between this and anorexic models. The models are probably under pressure to look like
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The models are under pressure not to detract from the clothes. For fashion photography, the models are pretty much simply living hangers. The are there to make the clothes look good, not the other way around. If you want to women that look good, you would be in glamour photography. I doubt you'd find too many anorexic glamour models, but that is because the subject of the photo is the women, not the clothing. Sure, they could shoot fashion photography like they shoot glamor, but then the focus would be on t
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Might be a good designer, but definitely isn't a good artist. Either that or she thought the astronaut's legs were the same length as the rest of her body.
I noticed the same thing. This is particularly odd considering that women (on average) have proportionally shorter legs than men, and asians (on average) have proportionally shorter legs than non-asians. Maybe this designer suffers from leg envy?
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didn't you know, when you're in space the lack of gravity causes your legs to expand back up to their 'natural length'
Re:Skills (Score:5, Funny)
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She flies in space, so she must be an alien.
I certainly don't recall any human looking quite like that.
Fashion news, thanks samzenpus (Score:1)
*sigh*
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Wow (Score:2)
Great job Tae Ashida, that looks like the perfect outfit for anyone whose lower legs are longer than the rest of their body.
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Great job Tae Ashida, that looks like the perfect outfit for anyone whose lower legs are longer than the rest of their body.
Funny coincidence: the designer's name is "Ashida" and "ashi" means "leg" in Japanese. I say coincidence because that's not what the "ashi" part means in the name.
Sets a HORRIBLE example for female youth (Score:3, Funny)
No girls are going to be able to live up to the high-fashion ideals of calf length without some serious orthopedic surgical intervention.
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Look on the bright side, bro.
Perhaps the fixation upon the unattainable body characteristics will be exactly what gives the next generation's geek girls their first ideas in differential geometry...
Those legs seem a bit long (Score:1)
Japanese people aren't especially known for their legginess. Or height, for that matter.
Ashida is probably going to need to have that thing fitted.
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Considering the astronaut has already been in space for two days now....
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Japanese people aren't especially known for their legginess. Or height, for that matter.
Ashida is probably going to need to have that thing fitted.
The best part is that there is kind of a pun on Ashida, it can be written with the kanji for legs plus the end of the sentence marker (pronounced ashi da). This can be translated as "The legs." Or.. maybe from the name we can tell that this person does indeed have very long legs (hence the name).
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Japanese people aren't especially known for their legginess.
YOU have obviously never been to Tokyo. All I remember is legs. All women between the ages of 16 and 36 seem to wear is miniskirts or short-shorts. When it gets cold they put on thigh-high hose.
A leg man will go crazy in Tokyo. I have banned one of my best friends from ever going, as he is rather infatuated with legs.
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That's true, except that most high school girls there nowadays have rather pudgy legs.
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Which is fine, since as a grown man you're not supposed to be staring at the legs of high school girls anyway, are you?
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The Japanese have gotten taller in recent decades (Score:1)
However, a lot of their reputation for being short seems to come from before their post-WWII economic boom. Today's younger Japanese are significantly taller than their ancestors. Wikipedia's data [wikipedia.org] is hard to compare (numbers for different countries sample different sub-populations), but roughly, it seems that between 1850 and 2000 (roughly), young Japanese men went from 5' 1" to 5' 7.5". In the same time period, Ameri
So... (Score:1)
Wait... (Score:2)
Space chiropractic (Score:1)
I bet in zero-g you could really get the best spinal alignment of your life.
There's a mental picture I can't get rid of! (Score:2)
Misleading title (Score:5, Insightful)
Space suit refers to the equipment needed to operate in vacuum.
This is just a set of "work clothes" for one particular astronaut.
Mod this up! (Score:2)
Really annoying to click thru and find it is just work clothes, not a pressure suit for the vacuum of space.
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Since space gear is mostly bespoke tailoring (you dont want a leaky spacesuit) already surely designer (branded) clothing is a bit of a come down.
Re:Misleading title (Score:5, Interesting)
And BTW some people are working on space suit (proper) technology which does end up looking rather fashionable; relying on the obserbation that human skin is already a pretty good "space suit", except for providing mechanical pressure:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_activity_suit [wikipedia.org]
http://mvl.mit.edu/EVA/biosuit/index.html [mit.edu]
PS. Definatelly provides an argument to my views that, while there really isn't something like too little breasts, there is something like "too big" ones - seems they have some some chance of being containing to Earth and dying out once we set for the stairs ;p
Lords of Kobol... (Score:2)
Stars! Once we set for the stars! Not the stairs... (don't be too hard on me, lexical nazis...)
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The Ancients speak of a mystical thing, a thing of wonder and miracles.
"The Preview Button".
Although none have seen it for 1000 generations, it is said to exist even yet.
(Having posted a few really astounding mistakes here, you have my sympathy. I feel your pain!)
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Thanks. That was the first comment I read in this discussion that was actually useful and not just a snide comment.
I'm sorry, I know posting fashion stories on Slashdot is already a longshot but I still wish the geeks would use their considerable intelligences towards insightful comments instead of what I've been reading for the past few years.
Bleak atmosphere (Score:2)
I was actually wondering about that when I went to the article. The summary mentioned "Bleak atmosphere". But the purpose of a space suit is to safely work in a total absence of atmosphere.
April 1st is over people! (Score:1)
Because an ugly female-astronaut can't perform (Score:3, Insightful)
so that she can feel at ease as she carries out a tough mission
Fuck Tae!
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So, a woman manages to overcome all the dificulties it represents to move in a male-dominated environment, doing what few women have done in the past, struggling not only to accomplish her main mission in space but also to destroy those obsolete, yet still in place, ideas that certain areas belong to men only, and here comes some idiotic designer saying "a girl has to be pretty"?!
Most women can do both. Just because they can do anything a man can do, doesn't mean they can't be feminine.
To imply that femininity necessitates lesser performance is down right sexist.
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So, a woman manages to overcome all the dificulties it represents to move in a male-dominated environment, doing what few women have done in the past, struggling not only to accomplish her main mission in space but also to destroy those obsolete, yet still in place, ideas that certain areas belong to men only, and here comes some idiotic designer saying "a girl has to be pretty"?
How many times have you had a woman appear before Congress and one of the things the news story mentions is what she is wearing?
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Hear hear. There's something particularly depressing that they even have the cheek to suggest that it's sexist when women aren't expected to dress up and look pretty, by labelling that "male".
I'm reminded of the recent news of a Barbie computer geek [bbc.co.uk]. Yes, apparently the idea that in computer jobs, women can wear what they like, just like men do, is sexist, and it would be so much better if women were under pressure to dress up and wear make-up like a Barbie doll, like they have to in many other jobs. Again,
Where's the school girl skirt? (Score:1, Funny)
Based off what I have picked up over the years on Japanese culture (from pr0n), I would have assumed that a spacesuit for a female Japanese astronaut would have incorporated some kind of school girl uniform motif. To be honest, I'm a bit disappointed.
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or maid? you can't forget the maids
slow news day? (Score:5, Insightful)
This is GAP for the Japanese Space Agency. Boo!
Man, legs like those could wrap around you twice!
Must be a slow news day.
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"This is GAP for the Japanese Space Agency. Boo!"
What's wrong with that? the more everyday stuff that gets involved in space, means space is getting more accessible.
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My god, the summary leads you to believe they actually made a designer "space-suit", you know, for EVAs
For EVAs? No, those are called plug suits. And they're pretty hawt if you're into underage girls drawn with sexually disproportionate bodies.
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Man, legs like those could wrap around you twice!
OMG, I just figured it out. You know why her legs are so long? Two words: Tentacle Rape.
Japanese design? (Score:3, Informative)
At least it will have ports for tentacles~
.
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Ye gods, those legs (Score:4, Insightful)
Maybe next time she can design a spacesuit for a human. It's been a long time since the fashion industry designed anything for actual human beings.
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Legslonger than body (Score:1)
idle idle idle (Score:1)
Shouldn't this belong to idle?
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Hard to say, really. I mean, from a blunt, immediate standpoint, it IS rather a bit silly and useless, but thinking long-term, if they can pull something like this off, this may be a precursor to treating space travel more like a casual thing (i.e. making science fiction into reality). I'd say it fits in not-Idle.
Now, if this WERE the future and we were already casually going to our colonies on the moon, and THEN someone decided to do something like this, then that'd DEFINITELY be something in Idle.
Japan. . . Brr. (Score:2)
Yep. The Japanese are alien to us.
Even their electrical sockets don't match ours. The metaphor carries nicely.
Never the twain shall meet, and if it does, it'll read backwards, the emotional beats will be in all the wrong places, and the story won't make any damned sense upon reflection. Except for Miyazaki. Somehow, he's managed to transcend the weirdness of his own culture.
His legs fit into his trousers.
-FL
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If you are a USian, then Japanese electrical sockets DO match yours. Otherwise, they do not, but then, neither do North American outlets.
Wow. That's the second time in as many minutes where I've had to question my knowledge about really basic things I thought I knew. I have a weird feeling it's going to be one of those months where I've inadvertently wandered into a section of my mind which happens to be a mine-field of 'wrong'.
I must tread lightly. I wonder what else I'll find. . .?
-FL
There are Na'vi on the ISS?? (Score:1)
'Designer' Stuff is a Scam (Score:2, Insightful)
jesus fucking christ (Score:2)
Who drew that, an anorexic Rob Liefeld?
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Who drew that, an anorexic Rob Liefeld?
In case you don't follow American comics, look at this rendition of how Liefeld "broke" Captain America [photobucket.com]
This reminds me of a hilarious review of the 40 worst Bob Liefeld shortcomings [progressiveboink.com]. Scroll down to item 38 "Feet"
If Anime taught me anything... (Score:2)
it's that space girls wear very short skirts, with bows, etc...
This design seems a bit too practical if you ask me!
Also EVA suits should be as thick as paint, and as form fitting. None of this bulky BS the Americans and Russians came up with!
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Problem with such an idea is that the combined concept would involve something that is a) properly insulating against cold, vacuum, and radiation, and b) primarily consists of a spandex bodysuit. I don't think technology quite exists at this point that neatly combines the two.
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There you go...
http://mvl.mit.edu/EVA/biosuit/index.html [mit.edu] (check the gallery)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_activity_suit [wikipedia.org]
You don't really need insulation from "cold" and vacuum - human skin is already great for those; it's almost impenetrable to gasses, and "cold" isn't the same kind of problem as in the atmoshpere (because there's no direct heat exchange) - after all, vacuum is a pretty good heat insulator (thermos...), so you have to worry mostly about overheating...and skin has great mechanism to deal
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I haven't seen it mentioned in either of the articles, but I presume they've got a way to deal with the unfiltered solar radiation? Or maybe the answer is so obvious (mm-thick protective fabric) that it wasn't worth the mention.
Space Channel 5 (Score:1)
Looking over the comments so far, I guess I really am a pathetic video game nerd after all, since the first thing I thought with the combination of "Japanese", "Designer", and "Space Suit" was Space Channel 5, and it looks like nobody else did.
*sigh* I guess I'll go dig myself a basement to dwell in now...
Is there a design for human astronauts too? (Score:2)
OMG! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! (Score:2)
It's Slender Woman! 8-(
(clearly only the males of the species have tentacles coming out of their back...hmm maybe they originate from Japan? It's all coming together now...)
WWI and II designs (Score:2)
Standing out (Score:1, Insightful)
Standing out is a great way to fit in.
Make sure that everyone around knows that you are different and must be treated differently.
Giraffe? (Score:2)
Is the guy half giraffe or just on stilts.
That is not even close to human proportions.
We get it, the legs are long... (Score:2)
Seriously... all fashion concept drawings look like this. I don't understand them either, but, apparently designers and fashion-types do if they can translate that to what it will actually look like.
The thing is, this outfit will probably look great when actually constructed. In any case, it'll look better than if she was just floating around in baggy overalls, and for someone with small proportions it might even be more comfortable.
Also, Japan has some precedent here: check out Soichi Noguchi's spacesuit [iss.jaxa.jp] -
Ignorance (Score:1, Insightful)
A great leap forward for gender relations. (Score:4, Funny)
I'm sure designer clothes will inspire the males in the male-dominated atmosphere to take great pains to put the female at ease. Because really what keeps us male astronauts from treating you female astronauts with the dignity and respect that you _deserve_ is simply that you dress like hobos.
PS: not actually an astronaut.