Design Concepts: Future Fashion The Web is teeming with the unrealized ideas of both students and established designers who set out to produce astonishing renderings and prototypes for unusual products. Unfortunately, due to the lack of time, money, or technology, many of those products never progress from the planning stages to the mass market. But that doesn't mean we can't salivate over them, nevertheless. Devotees of our Design Concepts column know that we already covered LED dresses back in January, but we're not quite done with fashion. We realized that we were being very narrow-minded when it came to the collusion of fashion and tech, and that our attire doesn't need to light up to qualify as clothing of the future (although we've included a few more articles that do). We thought about processes and materials, but mostly about wearability. Illuminated Heels by Nicholas Kirkwood for Rodarte While we wouldn't exactly call this a subtle look, we love the judiciously tasteful touch of tech in these fierce pumps.
Smart fabrics - Indepth - Catapult - ABC Online Clothes don't just look good, they're starting to think for you as well. Rebecca Martin reports on the next generation of textiles in part two of our fashion series. When you bought your last t-shirt or woolly jumper, you probably noted its colour, price tag and maybe it's washability. It's all about to get a lot more technical. Fabrics have become an arena for competition for scientists all around the world. The race is on to be the first to develop new fabrics that will not only keep you warm but also cool, dry, moisturised and free of bacteria, odour and stains while measuring your heart rate. Temperature sensitive textiles The fundamental job of clothes is to keep us warm or cool, so it's no surprise that many of the smart textiles entering the market look to regulate body temperature. Called phase-change fabrics, heat-modifying textiles are mostly seen in outdoor gear like windbreakers and beanies. "Paraffin changes its character. Odour eaters Medical material Top image: iStockphoto
Futuristic fashions will fight our health scares LONDON, England (CNN) -- From sensors in workout gear that monitor sweating while you run at the gym, to underwear that aims to detect cancer cells, the contents of our wardrobes have been quietly undergoing a revolution. Garments which monitor heart rate and motion of runners have been developed. Over the past decade, there has been a rise in the number of ways that technology is being incorporated into items of our clothing. Trials of smart clothes that can repel insects and mask nasty odours such as cigarette smoke have proved successful and are already being marketed. Last year, a design student at Cornell University designed a garment that can prevent colds and flu and, crucially, never needs washing. While, Textronics, a Delaware-based company, has developed a sports bra which monitors the heart rate and motion of runners. We can expect to see, in the not-too-distant future, fabrics that have in-built cooling, deodorant, moisturizer and even vitamins, experts say.
humansinvent Lucy McRae is an inventor who has a truly unique approach to technology. Trained as a ballerina and an architect, she spends her days looking at transforming the human body. In her own words she is “straddling the world of fashion, technology and the body.” Essentially McRae is a ‘Body Architect’ – a title actually fabricated to get her breakthrough job. “I went for a job interview and the human resources guy asked me “So…what are you?” Body architecture is born McRae worked in the Future Design Research Programme at Phillips looking at electronic tattoos, making dresses with light and electronic sensing jewellery. I hate the idea of being labeled and if I have to book something six months in advance, it totally freaks me out “I think it is an unconscious thing because I generally use what I have around me, it has always been a resourceful way of working,” she says. A sensitive technology project that McRae worked on with Phillips. Working outside the box Re-programming our bodies
Katy Perry rocks a CuteCircuit (‘wearable technology’) LED dress And the winner of best use of LEDs in a dress goes to… Katy Perry! Katy Perry is a famous American pop star. On the aggregate, I’d say she’s far more listenable than Lady Gaga, but that’s not the issue right now. No, for the issue is that she wore a dress at some fancy even in New York that had built-in LEDs. The dress, designed by, CuteCircuit, lit up as she strutted around the Metropolitan Museum of Art. CuteCircuit, for the unawares, sells “wearable technology.” Is there, like, a male version of CuteCircuit I’m not aware of?
magnetU searches for nearby social matches magnetU is a wearable electronic device, that wirelessly seeks out other magnetU-users whose social profile is compatible with that of its wearer Image Gallery (2 images) When I was younger and cared a lot more about being "cool," I would sometimes wear T-shirts with the names of my favorite rock bands on them. While this was partly just to show off my supposed musical enlightenment to the world, it was also in hopes that some like-minded person (preferably female and attractive) would see it and strike up a friendship with me. Well, magnetU is sort of like a high-tech band T-shirt. The wearable radio frequency device wirelessly transmits your personality profile to the world as you roam the streets, ever on the lookout for another magnetU transmitting a compatible profile from a nearby person. Users can load the magnetU with a profile of their choice via their computer, depending on where they're going. About the Author Post a CommentRelated Articles
High-Low Tech - PROJECTS Microcontrollers as Material We’ve developed a set of tools and techniques that make it easy to use microcontrollers as an art or craft material, embedding them directly into drawings or other artifacts. We use the ATtiny45 from Atmel, a small and cheap (~$1) microcontroller that can be glued directly to paper or other objects. Codeable Objects Codeable Objects is a library for Processing that enables novice coders, designers and artists to rapidly design, customize and construct an artifact using geometric computation using geometric computation and digital fabrication The programming methods provided by the library allow the user to program a variety of structures and designs with simple code and geometry. DIY Cellphone An exploration into the possibilities for individual construction and customization of the most ubiquitous of electronic devices, the cellphone. Pu Gong Ying Tu (Dandelion Painting) Pu Gong Ying Tu is an interactive painting of a dandelion field. LilyTiny Animated Vines
Fitted Fashion Uses 3D Scanners to Create Custom-Fit Jeans The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. Name: Fitted Fashion Quick Pitch: 3D scanners and pattern-making software are used to create perfect-fitting jeans and other clothing. Genius Idea: As almost any woman will tell you, the single most challenging item of clothing to shop for is jeans. According to a ShopSmart poll published in June 2010, more than 56% of women say they have trouble finding well-fitting and flattering jeans, with 8% seeking professional guidance to locate a pair. Fitted Fashion, a recent graduate of startup incubator Betaspring, is one of several startups aiming to address that problem. “Self or tailor-made measurements tend to have a lot of errors,” Motlagh notes. Fitted Fashion is currently testing its designs with a group of 65 women. The startup has raised $250,000 in private seed funding to date.
The 10 Most Amazing Electronic Clothes Of the Century Computers? Clothes? What's the difference? Let’s face it, without the technology you use everyday you’d be pretty stuck. No automatic coffee pot, no iPhone, no GPS helping you crash your car. How would you even make it to the office? Need to make a big impression at a formal event? Why buy computerized clothing when you can make your own? Kanjun Qie from MIT Media Lab made a really cool sound-producing hoodie called the Soundie. Not useful enough? For those of us with a little electronics know-how the Arduino Lilypad is definitely a great option to make some kick-ass electronic-wear. Sports injuries can take years to overcome, and when you’re a professional athlete they can cost you a lot more than time. Also by Cute Circuit, the Hug Shirt stands on a basic premise: we all want to reach out and touch someone. The Hug Shirt lets you hug yourself and send a warm feeling to someone on the other side of the planet. ...This is a situation ripe for abuse.
Interactive design: where fashion, technology and art meet and mingle — JSCMS Younghui Kim, 38, floated in the dark waters of Bio Bay in Fajardo, Puerto Rico. Tiny flashes of light went off around her, as tiny water creatures called dinoflagelletes lit up at the slightest friction, like stars on water. “It was a very peaceful moment,” said Kim. “And I thought, ‘Ah, I’d like to make a skirt that lights like just like this Bio Bay.” And she did. Her Stir-It-On skirt, the latest piece in her interactive wearable collection, is made up of layers of deep blue fabric. Kim laughed as she thought of wearing it on the New York subway. “It’ll be like Bio Bay,” she said. Kim’s creations are simple but point to a new era in design, often labeled smart fashion. But these clothes are not of a metallic-cyborg-meets-Spock variety. Some are more art than high fashion, but they hint of a future where clothes are more than just a covering, when they become performance pieces that promote social interaction. The heavily quilted Skorpions dress moves on the skin, parasite like.
Nike Patenting The Power Laces From Back To The Future II We’ve had no shortage of cool kicks in the last year. Adidas has led the pack with Star Wars shoes, winged shoes, and even some awesome ZX Spectrum shoes. But Nike, looking to pretty much one-up everyone in the business, is attempting to patent an automatic lacing system. Here’s the summary from Nike: An article of footwear with an automatic lacing system is disclosed. Could this possibly be even slightly for real? [via Dime, Nice Kicks, and Metafilter]
iLoveHandles turns nano iPods into oversized watches What happens when Apple introduces a square-shaped new iPod and adorns it with an analog watch face for a lock screen? A whole new cottage industry sprouts up, whereby entrepreneurial types dust off old and mostly worthless watch straps, cut out an iPod nano-shaped compartment in them, and charge you $19.99 for the privilege of turning your tiny PMP into a somewhat bulky wristwatch. The saddest part about this is that we've got a feeling they might be on to a winner here. Comments