Whispering dirty little secrets

Designer Addie Wagenknecht created this conceptual piece called Dirty Little Secrets during a wearable technology class in NYU's ITP program. Wagenknecht is interested in the implications of communication that is not edited or hidden and the reaction of people in both public spaces and smaller intimate settings. As a result, she integrated audio circuitry that plays vocal tracks of her "dirty little secrets" such as lies, passwords, credit card numbers, and unspoken desires. And the garment reacts to how the user wears it by adjusting the volume of the audio.

There are a couple of interesting concepts that she's investigating with this project. One is her interest in public vs. intimate spaces and the threshold of information in which people are willing to respond to. The other is the idea of using different positions of the garment on the body to cause a response. I'd love to see more examples of the gestures and their potential with this garment.

She documented her process here, which includes a video of the audio.

Capturing moments of excitement

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Designer Diana Eng created this heartbeat hoodie that captures moments of excitement throughout your day. It's equipped with a heart rate sensor and a camera that snaps a photo whenever your heart rate increases. The photos automatically upload to a blog that you can refer to or share with your friends. According to Eng, it is intended as a form of involuntary blogging.

What I love about this project is that it uses wearable technology as a way to sense and capture both reactions with our bodies and the context of our surroundings. Designers should constantly explore how technology can enable or enhance those relationships. Heartbeat hoodie succeeds in merging body sensing, environmental context, and social communication into a simple and beautiful concept.

Evoking memories of relationships

Designer Elena Corchero focuses on creating work that explores lost values through the combination of clothing and technology. "By evoking the beauty and melancholy of craft, her work challenges the aesthetics and function of smart fabrics emphasizing the emotional value of keepsakes and garments." One of her many beautiful projects is WhisPiral, a gorgeous spiral-shaped shawl that carries whispers of your loved ones. It explores how technology can enhance the way garments and accessories evoke memories of these relationships.

The circuitry is integrated directly in the textile and allows your friends and loved ones to record short audio messages at different locations. These are then "whispered" back when you either wrap the shawl around you or if you caress a different area of the garment.

Bubelle blush dress reacts to emotions

Philips design probe program has created a variety of projects under the theme SKIN. The concept behind these experimental garments is to investigate the expression of emotion and personality through reactive wearable technology. The futuristic garments "show emotive technology and how the body and the near environment can use pattern and color change to interact and predict the emotional state" of the wearer. 

One of my favorite dresses is the gorgeous Bubelle Blush Dress, which uses biometric sensing technology that senses your emotions on its inner layer and projects them onto the outer layer. The result is a beautiful dress that illuminates light patterns within its textiles and reacts differently to every individual.

source via popgadget, we make money not art

Communication apparel

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Alis Cambol, interaction designer and design analyst at frog design in New York, has created a series of gorgeous garments that explore non-verbal communication titled Communication Apparel. Her work investigates a new language that can be expressed through clothes in combination with the wearer's gestures. She was inspired by the non-verbal communication of animal behaviors through their skin, fur, and behaviors. "By incorporating the non-verbal communication habits of animals into clothing, I proposed to enhance this capacity for expressivity. Using responsive technology, I was able to create a new visual language in human apparel, calling upon the dynamism of animal behaviors in response to danger, aggression, pleasure, and other feelings."

I particularly love the dress inspired by the frilled lizard, which raises its collar in moments of aggression. The lizard dress raises its collar when you cross your arms much like you would do if you were upset or becoming more aggressive. As you cross your arms, the collar raises, reacting naturally to the physical gesture.

Check out her beautiful videos that demonstrate the garments here. More info on the making here.

A match made in heaven

Fashion designer Cait Reas of 1of1 Studio and digital artist, C.E.B. Reas collaborated on a set of beautifully patterned one-of-a-kind garments. 1of1 Studio is an "independent design studio that synthesizes fashion and art into one-of-a-kind apparel, made to order in Los Angeles. Each piece results from a collaboration between a commissioned artist and fashion designer Cait Reas."

Although the garments are not interactive, the technology used to generate the textiles was. With Ben Fry, Los Angeles-based C.E.B. Reas intitiated processing.org, which is an open source programming language that is used to create algorithmic patterns, images, and interactions. Reas used this language to programmatically generate a series of gorgeous patterns that were then printed on the fabric used for each garment. The result is a beautiful collision of technology and fashion.

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