Low-res soft textile displays

Maggie Orth, founder of International Fashion Machines, has been working with soft computing and e-textiles. Her project, Running Plaid, explores the use of thermochromatic inks (color changing inks) incorporated into the textiles. The behavior is a fascinating visual shift in pattern and color coming from the yarns woven into the textile itself that behaves similar to a low-res textile display.

The opportunity is ripe for creating ambient soft displays integrated directly into the aesthetics of garments. Imagine weaving in RGB threads (red, green, and blue that make up the color pixels used in a color monitor display, for instance) to create a full color low-res soft textile screen that can be woven and sewn into any shape and incorporated directly into the pattern construction of any garment.

Visualizing the invisible

Agneilli Davide, Buzzini Dario, and Drori Tai at the now-closed Interaction Design Institute Ivrea, collaborated on exploratory projects that investigate the three-dimensionality of hertzian space. One of their projects called Fashion Victims, makes visible the space that surrounds us and the radiation that permeates it.

The project is implemented in a collection of garments including soft hats, shirts and bags that detect surrounding cell phone signals. The garments then “bleed” depending on the strength of the signal that results in changing the garment’s color. Each piece is meant to react once until it is completely saturated.

The implementation focuses on the “complex aesthetics” (as they describe) by seamlessly integrating technology into the form and textiles of the garments.

Striking the perfect balance

Kathryn Bauer, a recent graduate of New York University's ITP program, presented a project for her master's thesis, titled Ovu, The project tracks and detects fertility easily and fashionably.

One of the many things that makes this implementation so beautiful is that she considered the form of the garment and its implied meaning for her concept. She could have just as easily implemented the idea using a leg or arm band to get it working as a proof of concept. Instead, she chose a garment that implies intimacy and sex, a perfect match for fertility tracking and its context. Kudos to Bauer for striking a perfect balance between concept, integrated intelligence, and garment connotation.

Aesthetically augmented corsets

Francesca Lanzavecchia designed a line of incredibly beautiful back braces that focus on merging function with aesthetics. Her book, ProAesthetics: Disability Artifacts, explores the intersection between function and aesthetics that sparks a dialogue around disability aids and the context of the wearer. Normally taboo and hidden under your garments, Lanzavecchia makes these medical devices so beautiful that they could be worn as the outer garments themselves.

Gwendolyn Huskens is another designer exploring this topic. Her line of footwear called "Medic Esthetic" pushes our idea of how we wear and use foot braces. She considers the fashionable aspect and makes them so beautiful, it’s no longer necessary to be embarrassed and hide your ailment. In fact, I would wear these even without an ailment:

Living, breathing sculptures as second skin

Extra-Soft (XS) labs has created some beautiful pieces that change shape, reveal hidden layers, and expose the wearer's skin by using the shape memory alloy, nitinol. The material contracts when current is applied to it. Some experiments include Kukkia-a kinetic flowering dress, a felt jellyfish that opens and closes, and Vilkas-a dress that shortens to reveal the wearer's knee (similar to Chalayan's shape-shifting garments  posted below).

Using nitinol, Joanna Berzowska (XSlabs) and Di Mainstone recently collaborated on a line of futuristic-looking wearable sculptures that act as living, breathing second skins called SKORPIONS. One of the garments, Enleon, is a play on fear and desire. Its pod or cocoon-like shape gives the wearer a sense of security, while its exterior kinetic scales reveal a mirrored layer that reflects light. The movement is actually quite vulnerable and charming. See it in action here:

Challenging the aesthetics of circuitry

Leah Buechley, a pioneer in soft circuits and the creator of the LilyPad developers kit, has been experimenting with paper computing and circuits. Her circuits are quite beautiful and intriguing with possibility. The combination of aesthetics and interaction opportunities are endless with the freedom of simply painting circuits as if loosely sketching in a notepad. Imagine applying this technique onto garments where circuits are handpainted, silkscreened or even embroidered.

In fact, Becky Stern of Sternlab has taken this inspiration to heart by creating a piece titled "A Tribute to Leah Buechley". Using Buechley's LilyPad, she created a soft-sewn circuit that challenges circuit aesthetics by using one of the traditional garment-embellishing techniques...embroidery: