Dynamic modeling of deformation in traditional smocking in apparel

Traditional smocking, as a cultural heritage, has been widely employed in the design of modern apparel for its unique aesthetics. However, it often faces deformation when worn by a moving person, resulting in diminished aesthetics. The aim in this study is to detect the deformation threshold of a garment created with traditional smocking in a dynamic environment to assist in an aesthetic design. To reach this objective, first a 3D model was created of the cross-section of a garment with traditional smocking at the waistline, worn by a human avatar in a standing position. Then, by inputting the pressure triggered by level walking, ascending stairs, or twisting at the waist, finite-element models of the cross-sectional outlines were constructed to determine the displacements occurring on a garment with traditional smocking. The deformation threshold was determined afterwards, and validated. There are two contributions from this work: (1) the proposal of a deformation threshold for traditional smocking to assist in modern design, which generalizes an implication of promoting the aesthetics of heritage apparel in modern society; (2) the presentation of, it is believed, the first ever evaluation of the aesthetics of traditional smocking, which provides a new method to identify the interaction of pressure and displacement for traditional smocking in a dynamic environment.