Costume Works Inc., the costume shop in Somerville, MA that works with Boston Lyric Opera through the production process on all our costuming needs, has been working with MIT on a space skinsuit project for the past 5 years. This new suit will combat spinal problems and muscle loss that occur in astronauts. Liz Perlman, the owner and founder of Costume Works Inc., was just in Italy meeting with MIT, the European Space Agency, and the Research and Development department for Dainese.
It turns out that in addition to growing as much as 2.75 inches (7 centimeters) in microgravity conditions, the human body undergoes many changes in space.
The compression of the fabric in the new skinsuits is designed to imitate the gravitational force on the body, and compress the body and keep it from stretching.
Makes us wonder what a skinsuit could do to help an opera singer with breath support during a performance. It could bring a whole new meaning to the term space opera!
