The novel Thorns by Robert Silverberg contains literal spray on clothing. You pick the can with the outfit you want, mount it in the spraying machine and press the button.
I have many questions about Fabrican. I’d ask them here. But, I don’t think the Fabrican people have answered any of them.
Thanks for the assist. I can never remember specific names of stories I read five decades or more ago.
A quick search at Technovelgy.com brings up Stanislaw Lem’s 1961 novel, Return From the Stars,
I stood with my arms raised and he set to work, spraying from four bottles at once. The liquid in the air, white like foam, set almost instantaneously. From it arose sweaters of various colors…
Philip K. Dick’s 1969 Galactic Pot-Healer,
In addition, she had one of the smallest waists he had ever seen, and in the permoform spray-foam blouse and pants this as well as the rest of her stood fully revealed.
and the 1952 story “Abercrombie Station” by Jack Vance.
He sprayed her with gray-green web, touched and pulled as the strands set. He adjusted knurled knobs at the ends of a flexible tube, pressed it around her waist, swept it away and it trailed shining black-green silk. He artfully twisted and wound his tube. He put the frame back in the kit, pulled, twisted, pinched while the silk set.
I don’t remember any of those specifically so there must be other examples out there.
Space Cadet, by Robert Heinlein. Not literally spray-on, but a machine scans the cadets’ bodies, and tailors uniforms to their exact measurements.
I rather suspect that this stuff has some sort of pre-existing fibers embedded in the latex (or whatever the matrix is). It’d need something like that to maintain its structure while it’s setting.
And while I agree that the videos from the company leave a lot of questions unanswered, this was done live at a fashion show. Surely there are accounts of the full process, from spectators/reporters at the show?
in the youtube comments someone said there was a 3-5 minute video out there showing more … but apparently, there was a crew cutting and adjusting things
but what got me in the YT video was she was basically eye-rolling over the fact she was covering her chest with her arms when she walked down the runway …
Doesn’t YouTube disallow videos with nipples? I know they used to.
There are obviously fibers in there—there are microscope photographs of the fabric on their web site.
The youtube video does have a cut, presumably while the dress dries, and then they fix up the shoulder straps, cut off the bottom with shears and add a slit up the thigh. There may have more done off-screen that appears in some uncut videos, but the basic shape looked mostly finished.
She was covering her chest until it got sprayed, not later on the runway. Hence
no idea, but that does not apply to this video.
But, is this for sale at drugstores or fabric stores? I can’t say I have run across it, however I have not looked.
YouTube doesn’t ban nipples or nudity really. Some videos are categorized as 18+. I don’t know what their standards are. Monetization agreements limit a lot of nudity and sexual content.
The process inherently required that she bare her nipples at least briefly, but bare breasts weren’t the point of this demonstration, and keeping them exposed any longer than needed would have distracted from the spray-fabric itself. So I’d say that keeping her hands over her breasts as much as she could, including while she came down the runway, was the right move.
And of course it also enables the video to run in all sorts of other contexts, which have all sorts of policies about nudity. Even if YouTube specifically allows it, some random newspaper might not, and the company obviously wants the story carried in as many outlets as possible.
I thought the point was about the “eye-rolling” that @nightshadea mentioned. I assumed that Hadid was eye-rolling at the ridiculous necessity of covering her breasts rather than just walking out naturally. She was being sprayed in front of an audience, which looked very similar to the runway audience later. It was not done backstage in privacy.
Legions of runway models have walked runways with nipples showing. It was the culmination of Robert Altman’s movie Prêt-à-Porter. I assumed the eye-rolling, if that were indeed what she was doing - and I can see none when rewatching the video, was a commentary on modern American society, in which such behavior roils the internet.
Nothing to do with the resulting dress, whatsoever.
It’s not exactly old sci-fi, but the surfers in Richard Morgan’s Woken Furies wear spray-on swimsuits. Which seems like a more practical application for Fabrican, as swimwear is expected to be more form-fitting and revealing.
I am sure it was rehearsed exactly how she should pose, but what does Paris Fashion Week have to do with American society? It is supposed to showcase clothing including, but not limited to, haute couture.
Seems pretty thin to function as a wetsuit. Maybe if you [+ the 2–3 requisite helpers] spent 30 minutes laying down enough coats…
The video was intended to go to the entire world, and especially to get as much publicity as possible. That means America. Whatever its strictures are form the basis for worldwide distribution.
In America, wetsuits are not swimsuits either, although I suspect that has much wider truth.
As a wetsuit, probably not. But as something to cover your naughty bits as you’re lounging on a beach, that’s probably the closest it comes to a practical, real-world use.
What if I have to pee? 
no pockets.
Making it no different from an awful lot of non-spray-on women’s fashion, much to the frustration and annoyance of many women.
The Flash’s costume was miniature while stored in his ring. When he opened the ring, it expanded. It appeared to be a single skin-tight outfit, but they never explained how he got it on.
When I was a child in the 1950s, I figured that he must have climbed in thru the mouth hole. The whole business bothered me.
Pre Crisis- Superman created a chemical to make his street clothes fit, wrinkle free in a special pocket in his cape.
Even if it was full size all the time, the only way he could get into it is thru the face hole. The costume seems to be one solid piece, including hands and feet.
This is a ways off from spray on clothing, but are Star Trek uniforms made in replicators from thin air like everything else? I haven’t watched very much but I always assumed their uniforms were throw away. Especially Kirk’s, since his apparently got torn in every other episode. 
I don’t recall anyone having washing machines in their quarters, nor anyone sending out uniforms for cleaning.
Cue all Trek nerds to pop in with various episode names and numbers that featured laundry.