Craft Punk fur-studded Fendi guitars

[gallery] One of my favorite designers, Moritz Waldemeyer, creates stage and electronic performance wear for a growing number of artists ranging from Bono to Rihanna to OK Go. One of his many outstanding projects includes a collaboration with OK Go and Fendi which resulted in a fantastical fur-studded laser-shooting guitar. The guitars will certainly bring out the rockstar in you.

Here's how the project is described from the Design Miami website: Design Miami/ and Fendi partnered last April to produce the highly acclaimed Craft Punk project in Milan during Salone del Mobile. Craft Punk built upon the Design Performance program launched in 2007, which was intended to showcase ‘design in action’ and to allow Design Miami / visitors to gain appreciation for the process underlying the creation of experimental design. For Craft Punk we invited ten designers and studios to create craft-based work in front of live audiences inside Spazio Fendi, commingling radical design with fashion, music and video. For Design Miami / 2009, we are advancing our project with Fendi even further by presenting an exciting collaboration between tech-designer Moritz Waldemeyer and pop-sensation Ok Go. Moritz has intervened upon the selection of Gibson guitars, customizing them with laser lights and Fendi materials, merging the handcraft tradition of the Fendi brand with futuristic, luminous elements. When played, the guitars’ lasers interact with a video wall and leave traces that illustrate the music in real time.The lasers emulate the strings of the guitar and the vibrations transmit beautiful visual interpretations of the sound, extending the performers’ musical expression into the space around them. The guitars become like musical paintbrushes that produce synesthetic experiences for viewers. This project stands as an exemplar of the ways in which the fingers of contemporary design extend without boundaries into every field of cultural production. Ok Go will perform onsite during the show, experimenting with the instruments for the first time. After the show, the guitars will be given to Ok Go to use on their upcoming tour.

Images from waldemeyer.com, Flickr (Ian Witlen) and the deli. For more info on Moritz Waldemeyer, visit his site.

FashionCamp comes to Los Angeles June 13

FashionCamp comes to Los Angeles June 13 and will bring together members of the mainstream fashion, independent fashion, and technology communities.  Participants explore the future of fashion through workshops, panel discussions, and presentations. It looks like it will be a fun event. Speakers and topics include:

• Bonnie Sandy, the founder of FashionCamp and Brooklyn Fashion Week will speaking on the Impact of Technology on Fashion Design
• Macala Wright will speak on Using Social Media + Creating Your Own Web Content
• Ralinda Harvey will speak on “How To Create A Successful Fashion Line” without going broke
• Syuzi Pakhchyan of fashioningtech.com will talk about technology in fashion and provide an introduction to soft circuits and wearable technology

For more info, go to fashioncamp.org

Even more light-up clothing

[gallery] However long it's been around in the wearable tech field, there seems to have been an explosion of light-up clothing in the news these days (read an earlier post about this topic). Now, I'm still not convinced that illuminating clothing is the best use of wearable technology, but it's tough to ignore all of the hype form celebreties performing and walking down the red carpet in illuminating clothing to DIY hackers creating Light Bright LED garments.

Here's some of the hype:

• According to talk2myshirt.com, there's a trend in light-up clothing including the Light Bright LED vest created by Erik Johnson that includes a total of 1,536 three color (RGB) LEDs
• Recently, Cute Circuit has created a variety of celebrity dresses including a design for Francesca Rosella and a light-up dress for singer Katy Perry for an event that she attended at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Met Costume Institute Gala
• Rihanna and Moritz Waldemeyer lit up the stage with an LED dress for her ‘Last Girl On Earth tour‘
• Fashion designer Zaldy created outfits for the likes of Gwen Stefani, Britney Spears or Jennifer Lopez designed for Michael Jackson’s ‘This is It tour’ his complete stage outfit including a illuminated Tuxedo for the ‘Billie Jean’ performance.

I'm still waiting for that killer light-up app that brings meaning to the functionality. Perhaps it will come from the $15 million consortium of leading companies and institutes in lighting and flexible electronics like Holst Centre/TNO, IMEC, Freudenberg, TU Berlin, Ohmatex under the lead of Philips with it’s inventive technology called ‘Lumalive‘. According to talk2myshirt "PLACE-it, the short form for ‘Platform for Large Area Conformable Electronics by InTegration‘ is a newly formed initiative under the umbrella of the European Commission under its Seventh Framework Program." I hope to see some real innovation come out of this research.

An actually cool light-up solution is a stage costume made and designed by Wei-Chieh Shih. According to fashioningtech, "the nylon suit is embedded with 200 laser diodes, transforming the performer into a mobile light show."

Now we're getting somewhere...

Images from talk2myshirt.com and fashioningtech.com.

Experiments with wearable solar energy

[gallery] Wearable technology designer Meg Grant is experimenting with solar energy. Inspired by a "Kitchen Science" DIY project, she has been exploring how naked diodes can generate and capture energy. She will be testing the circuits with rechargeable batteries and how to optimize it in July. In the meantime, here are her initial findings so far:

• it's very easy to snap the naked diodes in half where the white blob is, either while removing the casing or while preparing for sewing
• you have to connect them in series to build up enough voltage (duh!)
• not all black plastic diodes work, but most of the ones I used did
• not all "naked diodes" are equal. I had to remove one from the beaded panel in order to maximise the current
• if using salvaged diodes with short legs, solder a wire onto the leg before crushing the plastic

Continue reading on her project site. Photos from meggrant.com.

3lectromode aims to commercialize wearable technology

[gallery] Canadian designer Valerie Lamontagne of 3lectromode has a vision to innovate in the field of wearable technology with the aim to commercialize. Her latest creation, the Asymmetrical Dress focuses on making wearable technology accessible via her online store. The dress includes LEDs designed to respond to changing luminosity data. At the whopping price of $500 for ready-to-wear, the garment is experimenting with an audience but is still a bit  expensive for broader markets. She also offers a kit for $250 so you can make it yourself.

What's interesting about this project is the idea of commercializing a technology-embedded garment. Overall, we still have a ways to go to reach a broader audience.

Read more about this project on talk2myshirt.com or 3lectromode. Images from 3lectromod.

A 1930's prediction of the future of clothing

This fantastic 1930's video predicts what our clothes will look like and how they will function in the distant future: the year 2000. Some of the prediction are not too far off! In fact, some of them have been and are being realized today. Predictions include:

• a dress that can be adapted to morning, afternoon or evening wear
• a dress that explores new materials such as transparent knit and even glass
• shoes will have cantilevered heels
• an electric belt will adapt the body to climatic changes
• clothing that "scientifically" keeps the right atmosphere for the wearer
• an electric headlamp to "help her to find an honest man!"
• a suit for him that includes a phone, radio and pockets fo coins, keys and "candies for cuties"

Truly fantastic.