The last few years showed us that science, technology and fashion go pretty well together. Some of the most successful experiments involving these disciplines regard embedding technological components like wires, connectors, sensors and solar panels into clothes and accessories, or developing electronic textiles, micro-fibres and bio-active materials that can help designers creating clothes characterised by an innovative aesthetic that integrates at the same time new functions.
I’m particularly fascinated by the integration of specific electronic components in clothes and accessories and have been developing a few ideas along these lines for a while now (hopefully I will have the time to dedicate a new post to the results of my experiments sometime soon).
As you may remember, four years ago Philips Design developed the Skin Probe Project, launched to study the possibilities of integrating sensitive technologies into clothes and accessories.
The first results of these experiments were the “Bubelle” blushing dress and the “Frisson” body suit: both items incorporated sensitive technologies that allowed the garments to behave differently depending on the wearer, thanks to LED projectors that responded in different ways according to skin contact.
The company repeated the experiment also in the jewellery field with Skintile, a project based on electronic sensing jewellery and on the development of a range of wireless, stick-on body sensors.
Around the same time, similar projects involving artists, designers and universities were also launched.
Canadian multimedia artist Suzi Webster experimented with lights and electricity exploring with Jordan Benwick the relationship between lights and tangible and visible thoughts in their "Electric Dreams" (2007-2008) project.
The latter consisted in a garment and headdress incorporating EEG electrodes, micro-controller circuits and optic cables able to read, interpret and amplify the signals of the brain.
Dutch designer Stijn Ossevoort, a consultant at Philips Design, created in 2007 the "Flare" dress, a design decorated with 15 dandelion flowers, each integrating 32 LEDs that lit up following a precise sequence that became more responsive according to the intensity of the wind.
The Hexagram Institute’s Studio subTela, a project directed by Barbara Layne, focused on clothes incorporating natural materials and microcomputers and sensors receptive and responsive to external stimuli.
In the case of the "Jacket Antics" (2007) project, the garments integrated LED arrays that could display different configurations in accordance with the wearers’ actions, tackling in this way issues of social dynamics and human interaction.
Fashionistas and people interested in science and technology will convene that one of the most interesting and successful integration of electronic components in a dress remains Hussein Chalayan’s Autumn/Winter 2007 "Airborne" collection that included a dress that featured 15,600 LEDs.
Combined with crystals, the dress showed through its LEDs short abstract films that evoked the arrival of particular seasons (see the very beginning of the embedded Chalayan video).
The dress was created in collaboration with Moritz Waldemeyer, the German-born but London based innovative genius designer and engineer (I rarely use the word "genius" in my life, but he deserves it...) who has been associated from the mid-2000s on with some of the most original and technologically advanced projects involving architecture, interior design and fashion (among the people he collaborated with there are Ron Arad, Zaha Hadid and Hussein Chalayan).
Waldemeyer’s team is also behind the dress worn by Imogen Heap at the Grammys that was able to instantly receive fan messages and photographs sent via Twitter.
The former scrolled across the flexible LED display contained in the collar of the dress, while the images were displayed on her Fendi handbag via the iPod Touch contained in her bag.
In May Rihanna wore at one of her UK shows a new design by Waldemeyer’s engineering team, a dress covered in video capable LED circuits designed by Paris-based couturier Alexandre Vauthier.
Talking about LED circuits, technology and Waldemeyer's projects, the 3D dance movie Step Up 3D is going to be released in a few days’ time, on August 3rd, and if you carefully watch the embedded trailer (around 1:26), you will spot in it Waldemeyer’s latest project, a pair of sneakers covered in flexible LED panels that light up depending from the movements of the dancers.
If you prefer stilettos to sneakers, check out Francesca Castagnacci’s shoes and hats that incorporate light-guiding fibres.
Castagnacci has been experimenting with the possibilities of light-emitting fabrics like the ones produced by the Prato-based company Luminex, but if you are a fashion or interior designer you may want to check out also the Philips Lumalive products (that integrate dynamic LED lighting into fabrics).
I must admit that, while I find such fabrics and the integration of LED lights into garments and accessories rather interesting, it is very easy to use such technologies in the wrong way and end up coming up with the undesired "house decked in kitsch Christmas light"-effect.
The best experiments in this field remain therefore the ones in which technology is used to react to the human moods or brain stimuli, changing, mutating or altering in this way a design.
I genuinely think this will be the new frontier of fashion in future. In the meantime, if you want to start experimenting with LEDs and electronic components, just go on eBay and stock up, but, please, remember to avoid the obnoxious "Christmas lights" effect...
Your product is really good and the quality is very good. But also there have considerate service. You can come to see the website ! I believe that won't let you down.http://www.obhandbags.com/
Posted by: Juicy Couture Handbags | July 26, 2010 at 08:19 AM
Hi there I like your post
Posted by: Feels great | June 19, 2011 at 02:40 AM
Such a usefule blog�wow !!!!
Posted by: Style thrill | June 19, 2011 at 02:46 PM