Hang, Freeze, Crash – Video game and hardware glitches meet Victorian clothing

Eetu Heikkinen’s BA thesis collection deeply explores the glitches and errors in video games, and how they distort worlds, characters, and objects. Here, real life becomes the broken physics engine, and garments are the glitching objects. This abstract concept of a glitch was brought to life using mid-Victorian silhouettes and structures/structure materials. The glitches affect the shape of the garments, the appearance and behaviour of the materials. The collection is heavily material-focused, combining knitwear, jacquards, prints, and sporty tailoring.

• This collection reflects on my childhood favourite games from the early 2000s. They were unfinished, full of bugs, and more fun because of it. Glitches weren’t always flaws, they were features that made gameplay unpredictable and exciting. Today, we are too used to perfection, especially when a machine makes something. The same is happening in fashion, where digital tools slowly replace traditional and authentic craft. I believe imperfection creates depth; living in a perfect world feels eerie.

The garments blend Victorian men- and womenswear, focusing on garments like skirts, corsets and suit jackets. Material glitches can be seen through prints (BIOS system corruptions), knit structures (multidimensional materials), and jacquards (modern glitchy takes on history). It’s as if Victorian characters entered a digital realm and got stuck. The looks make up a collection of 6 outfits looking to find their way back to history.

The knitted garments were made using both the semi-automatic and fully automatic knitting machines. Jacquards and prints were made using the fully automatic machines. All of the material designs were made on the computer, mainly using photos of glitches found from video game forums as an inspiration.

•  Working on this project has made me understand what I love about video games and the digital world. It’s the endless possiblities of what you can do with them, and there are so many ways to enjoy it all. This project has been a final boss fight, testing everything I’ve learned about glitches and ways of making in fashion.

Contact information:

Eetu Heikkinen

eetu.heikkinen@aalto.fi

+358 40 687 8476

Instagram @e2heikkinen