Creators: Sam Ingersoll, Kate Reed

The Body Accordion brings together two concepts: music and movement. The Body Accordion is designed to emulate the behavior of an accordion, being flexible and allowing circular movement yet fitted to the body like a corset. The Body Accordion is made of laser-cut plywood “ribs” that attach to a harness designed of recycled leather. 3D printed hinges secure the plywood ribs to the harness and allow the ribs to move and yet be stable at the same time.

We redesigned the Body Accordion to be a piece in NuVu's "Nature-Tech Collection" for the 2013 Emerging Trends Show during Boston Fashion Week. The corset didn't need to have versatile movement for fashion, so we went much farther with the design, more in the direction of a cage skirt. The structure has three belts in which everything connects - one at the top, one at the waist and one just below the butt. We also experimented with making the original ribs much bigger and more dramatic.