"Walking City" kinetic dresses

Montreal-based fashion designer, Ying Gao, takes movement in fashion and garments to a whole new level. One of her recent collections, titled Walking City, includes three garments that respond to movement, wind and touch. The monochromatic garments seem simple, but they beautifully tailor an integrated complex web of air pumps and sensors that allow the garment to react and move.

Walk up close to the garment and it reacts to your proximity to it. Or blow softly and it reacts to the breeze. This brings a new aesthetic to the intangible forms that the garments react to that is both playful and gorgeous.

The following video shows a garment that includes a proximity sensor, which allows it to react to the proximity of a nearby person:

The following video shows a garment that reacts to wind. Breathe into a wind sensor and the garment opens and expands, mimicking you by appearing as if it's taking its own breath:

Additional resources via designboom.com and talk2myshirt.com

A wearable device that helps you walk

Honda recently unveiled a robotic wearable device that helps you walk. The seat is similar to a bike seat that connects a robotic leg to your shoes. It's strong enough to reduce the stress of body weight on the knees and gives you extra strength for actions like walking up stairs. Similarly, Cyberdyne created a full robotic wearable suit called HAL (Hybrid Assisted Limb) that enhances your natural physical capabilities by sensing and reacting to your nerve signals.

The technology is incredible, but aesthetically awkward if you had to walk around in public wearing one. This could be a great opportunity to integrate the technology directly into the aesthetics and textiles of the garment so if a wearer needed assistance, it would be as simple as putting on a pair of pants or slipping on a jacket. In fact, I would prance around town like a superhero if it looked like Dainese's gorgeous etched leather bike racing suit:

(source trendhunter.com)

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:

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: