Anouk Wipprecht creates fashion using Lumalive

(image via industrialnation.nl)

Anouk Wipprecht from the Netherlands creates incredibly beautiful garments that will make you drool. Her recent work explores the uses of Lumalive. One of the many beautiful elements of her work is that she takes advantage of the implied gestures in her garments such as pulling a large collar up and over your head for protection or pulling it down around your shoulders for warmth.

What I like about this piece is that she uses these gestures as the interactions that reveal the display. But gestures aren't the only thing that should be considered, there is also context and mode. Imagine the mode a wearer is in when she adjusts the garment. She might be getting ready to go from one place to another when the garment is pulled around the shoulder or up around the head. How could a display help aid in this state? Or perhaps she is at her destination when she drapes it over her shoulders. How might this affect the response and output of the technology?

A somewhat decent implementation of solar

One of the biggest challenges for personal computing devices, especially with wearable technology, is power. It's difficult to obtain and it's expensive and bulky to store. So, I'm always on the quest to find alternative sources of power.

One of the most readily available resources is the sun and there have been a variety of explorations into solar cells and panels. The problem with solar, although improving, is twofold: (1) the current can sometimes be abysmal to obtain along with the wattage, (2) most of the options for solar panels that are currently available and that generate enough power are large, bulky, and expensive. Not ideal for a soft and flexible moving garment.

With those limitations, some attempts have been made such as the eclipse solar bags. But they look as though someone slapped a large bulky solar panel on the side of a standard bag. Little attempt was made to truly integrate the technology into the product or garment. Even worse, are the solar bags from Treehugger. If you've ever carried one around, although technologically functional, they are heavy, bulky and seems to be void of any fashion consideration whatsoever.

One garment that has potential is the Zegna Ski Jacket that incorporates solar panels into the collar. What I like about this is the attempt to integrate it into the design of the garment and the implied gesture of "popping your collar" to expose the panels and activate them. However, I'm not sure that this is the right gesture for ski culture.

Overall, garments that sense and react should leverage the natural gestures implied by the garment, its culture, and its context so that they feel like second nature as you are wearing them as your second skin. Zegna does a good job encorporating a technology that is challenging and limiting into a functional fashion line.

Illuminating textile madness

(image via Anke Loh)

There seems to be a lot of designers experimenting with fiber optics and Illuminating textiles. Anke Loh is one of my favorites. I love her unusual cuts, multi-layering technique, and her experimentation with technololgy. She had a show recently called Dressing Light, which showcased her explorations with fiber optics and Philip's lumalive technology.

Back in 2006, Suzanne Tick experimented with fiber optic-woven textiles. If you’ve ever worked with fiber optics, they can feel very plastic and stiff. She made her textiles appear to feel soft and flowy.

LumiGram created a line of fiber optic-infused garments called LumiTops aimed toward lounge and club-goers, on the market and available for purchase today.

Shape-shifting garments by Hussein Chalayan

Hussein Chalayan, one of my all-time favorite fashion designers, is constantly pushing the boundaries of what can be technologically integrated into his garments. His 2007 "A Hundred and Eleven" show in Paris ended with an incredible shape-shifting performance. Each garment told a story by starting with one era and morphing into another. Not only were the garments incredibly feminine and beautiful on the outside, Chalayan was able to seamlessly integrate the technology without compromising on aesthetics. Watch the end of this video for a demonstration: