Making Wearables Wearable
The Fashion Creatives That Get It Right
There has been a lot of buzz around wearable technology recently (especially after CES) and it seems like we’ll be hearing a lot more about it throughout the year. And while most tech geeks are getting excited about every Bluetooth heart-rate fitness tracking device they can strap to their bodies, the truth is that most of these tech companies miss the essence of wearables — that is, making them wearable.
At the Wearable Technology Conference 2013, Jennifer Darmour from Electricfoxy shared main challenges and opportunities for wearable tech.
The biggest challenges for wearables include that the devices are mostly hardware focused and not really good looking; users can’t really make sense of big and complicate data; and that most wearables are still intrusive, getting in the way of the people using them, which can be dangerous in many ways (don’t even get me started on the dangers of Google Glass!). Darmour’s keynote outlined four factors which can help take wearables to mass market: Beauty, Responsiveness, Meaning and Periphery.
Currently the main industries that wearables are affecting are sport, health and fashion, and it seems that is it the artists and designers that really get it right when it comes to wearable tech. So, without any more ramblings, below are some of my favourite wearable tech fashion pieces. Enjoy!
Rainbow Winters — The Rainforest Dress
Amy Winters is a new media artist and fashion designer whose work lies at the intersection of fashion, visual arts, music, film, dance and theatre. She is the founder of Rainbow Winters — a label that seeks to express the emotive and aesthetic capabilities of emerging technologies through illuminated textiles, sensors, colour-changing inks & nanotechnology. All of Amy’s projects aim to merge fashion and technology and the results are stunning outfits ranging from ready-to-wear to pieces specifically made for performers.
My favourite is The Rainforest Dress, which changes colour on reaction to sunlight and water, morphing from a black and white world into living colour.
Vega Wang’s Bioluminescent Collection
After nine collections in five years, Wang has established a unique style that creates peace between the human form and the abstract geometries of her clothing. Her Bioluminescent collection blends tech and fashion in a beautiful way. Inspired by the BBC’s Deep Blue and bioluminescent jellyfish Wang used electroluminescent panels glowing from inside structured white gowns to create striking futuristic designs. I would love to see her doing more collections that integrate technology into fashion.
Studio Roosegaarde — Intimacy 2.0 Dress
I love Studio Roosegarde. They really understand interactive design and you can tell when you look at their projects through which they explore the relation between people, technology and space. One of the first wearable tech fashion pieces I ever came across was their Intimacy 2.0 dress.
The Intimacy 2.0 dress is made of opaque smart e-foils which become increasingly transparent based on close and personal encounters with people. Social interactions determine the garment’s level of transparency. In response to the heartbeat of each person, Intimacy 2.0 becomes more or less transparent.
Electricfoxy — Ping: The Social Networking Garment
The garment created by Jennifer Darmour investigates three important and emerging areas in wearable technology — connection to larger systems, aesthetics and marketability. It connects the person wearing it to their Facebook account wirelessly and from anywhere by using the body as an interface. Simply by performing natural gestures that are built into the mechanics of the garment, Ping lets the wearer stay connected naturally and automatically. No phone, laptop or hardware needed.
Technology is integrated into the mechanics of the garment. A sensor is integrated into the hood allowing lifting the hood and putting it back down to communicate to Facebook. A Facebook application allows you to customize your messages, assign them to groups of friends and even manage different types of messages based on your location, mood and who you’re interacting with.
Cute Circuit — Katy Perry’s Light Up Dress
Ryan Genz and Francesca Rosella are the masterminds behind Cute Circuit’s creations. The fashion house is an established leader in interactive fashion and has been pushing the boundaries of wearable technology since its launch in 2004. All of Cute Circuit’s projects are beautifully crafted, visually and emotionally attractive, which is why they have many celebrity fans among which Nicole Scherzinger and Katy Perry.
My personal favourite is the Light Up Dress the duo created for Katy Perry’s appearance at the MET Ball. The couture gown was made using meters of flowing silk chiffon and more than 3000 full colour lights creating a rainbow of colours on the dress.
Another very famous design of Cute Circuit is the Twitter Dress which Nicole Scherzinger wore at the launch of EE’s 4G network in the UK.
The future for technology & fashion can be exciting and very special if projects like these keep pushing the boundaries of tech and creativity. In the meantime, stay tuned for the another post on Making Wearables Wearable and make sure to check Jennifer Darmour’s keynote here.
