A color-changing collection

[gallery] Fashion designers are continuing to explore garments printed with color changing inks. The latest is Rainbow Winters Spring Summer Collection 2011 featuring garments that are printed with special thermochromic and hydrochromic ink, which change color when exposed to sunlight or water.

"The signature piece of her collection is the Rainforest Dress - a dress that changes colour when exposed to water and/or sun. Sunlight activated flowers on the dress turn purple, when activated though water, the whole dress, the bodice and flowers transform into full colour. Her Petal Dress changes the color when exposed to sun, indoors it is green or pink, outdoors it begins to turn blue or purple."

Continue reading on InfraBodies Images from InfraBodies

3D printed footwear

[gallery] Designer Marloes ten Bhömer is focusing on mechanical couture through a series of beautiful 3D printed footwear called Rapidprototypedshoe. They are "built using an additive manufacturing technology in which successive layers of a photopolymer material is UV cured. The concept of the shoe is based on the idea of the absence of assembly work in Rapid Manufacturing, however the shoe is designed in such a way, that it can be dismantled for the purpose of replacing parts. The different material properties within the shoe are created by constructing/layering the material in microscopic structures from two different materials. A myriad of different material properties can be created using this method."

Continue reading at Bhömer's site. Images from Bhömer's site.

Vega Wang's Into the Deep collection

[gallery] Wearable technology can be broken up into many categories such as practical, medical, performance, and expressive (among many others). There have been a lot of explorations in the expressive category lately that integrate LED's and Electroluminescent lighting into clothing.

Fashion designer Vega Wang has joined in the dialogue with her gorgeous Into the Deep collection that consist of light-emitting garments. "The concept for my collection came from watching a BBC DVD called Deep Blue. After watched it, I was in shock. It was only in 2002 that we became technologically advanced enough to get that deep into the ocean, 4000-5000 meters, and when they got down there, they discovered that at this depth, where there’s absolutely no sunlight, there are creatures that create their own light. I wanted to present these amazing creatures to the world." Continue reading her interview.

Images from The Creators Project More light-emitting garments

An analog interaction rich with narrative

Fashion designer Catherine Chow has been inspiring the fashion and art community for years with her avant-garde approach to her garments and her longing to push the boundaries of everyday materials. So, I wanted to resurrect one of her projects that she did a few years ago that fast-tracked her to fame and that is still so beautifully inspiring...her zipper dress. The dress, a wedding gown, consists of a single zipper that requires it to be unfurled and unzipped to remove. I love the simple (and analog) interaction of this garment and the story that the interaction tells. Since the garment is a wedding dress, it comes with all of the connotations, history and cultural context of wedding traditions. In this case, the brilliantly simple interaction whimsically enhances the tradition of "the wedding night" by providing an evocative experience of carefully unfurling it for the "big reveal" that becomes a form of seduction and foreplay on this important night. It's a great example of striking the right balance among the context of the garment and its cultural traditions, the implied interaction, and the narrative the experience reveals...er... tells. Image from metropolismag.com An interesting interview at fashionprojects.org More on Catherine Chow

Experimental fashion using origami and geometric patterning

[gallery] Artist Mauricio Velasquez Posada has created some gorgeous experimental fashion garments titled Geomorfos. The delicate and intricate pieces of work use complex folding techniques and patterning to create unique structures and forms. I can't imagine realistically wearing these, but as experimental structures they are quite visually irresistible. Imagine if the folds and patterning can move and bend in unique ways and intelligently like the kenetic dress. Watch some of the videos for more visual tastiness:

More on geometric patterning. Images from body pixel and Craftzine. Videos via body pixel.

Connecting the body with its surroundings

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University of Applied Sciences (Berlin) fashion design student Mareike Michel has designed an interactive dress that translates the body's movement into light connecting the response with environmental surroundings. The gorgeous project is titled Klight.

"To achieve the effect, a new stretchable circuit board technology, developed by Fraunhofer IZM, was integrated into the textile. The result is a unique symbiosis of fashion and technology which combines ease and dynamism." Continue reading on mareikemichel.de.

Images from mareikemichel.de.