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
Book review: Metamorphosis
[gallery] Italian fashion design has been at the forefront of the global fashion industry for years and remains one of the prominent drivers of Italy's economy. Elisabetta Cianfanelli and Stoffel Kuenen along with research team Roberta Baccolini, Gabriele Goretti, and Ambra Trotto have published a book titled Metamorphosis that discusses how technology will evolve the fashion industry and help establish new and innovative global markets.
After waiting 4 weeks for the book to arrive, I can finally provide some highlights...
The book begins with a manifesto that is a call-to-action for designers to focus on a user-centered design approach that considers a balance of social and virtual spheres (described below and in the book) that they say are required when integrating new technologies into fashion products that introduce new interactions.
The book begins its argument with an analysis of the history of fashion design and manufacturing processes specific to the Italian fashion "system" as they describe. "New technologies integrated into fashion will lead to a metamorphosis of meaning associated with the use of a product, offering a new way of interpreting it… based on its ability to offer various dimensions of interaction of which the user forms the center and that create an entirely [new] experience.
The fashion system [fashion design, materials, technology innovation and manufacturing processes] allows for the study of its functional, its expressive, and its communicative aspects.
The challenge lies in transforming the male, rational and cerebral image of technology and present it in a sexy, female, elegant form that [fashion] naturally creates."
The book goes on to argue that advancing technologies provide a myriad of opportunities for the fashion industry to differentiate and position itself in a global market. For example, "material technologies offer new fabrics with new properties to work with, the miniaturization of electronics offer completely new types of functions leading to new forms of expression and interaction for wearable technology designers to give form to." This makes the relationship between the culture, context and the interactions that the wearable product provides incredibly important.
The book supports this argument through a variety of wearable technology products that explore the balance of value and interaction through the understanding and realization of social and virtual spheres (as they describe them). Some examples include:
Beehugged – encouraging a society where showing mutual care and sharing become a natural (and public) habit
Cache – a fashion product meant as an expression of identity
Stir it On! – providing a sense of personal space and protection
HearWear – transforming and visualizing environmental sound levels
Climate dress – raising awareness of environmental factors we are normally unaware of
And many more...
This book is definitely worth the shipping wait and I recommend that it should be in every wearable technology designer’s library.
Go to Polistampa for € 25,60 (20% off the list price) for ordering info. For faster shipping for those of you in the states, the book is now available at plugandwear.com.
A smart scarf helps people affected by speech dysarthria
[gallery] Interactive media student from the University of Dundee in Scotland, Calum Pringle, has created a project that helps aid people affected by speech dysarthria called Subtle Subtitles. Inspired by his mother, who suffers with slurred speech, the scarf helps provide additional context of the conversation while preserving the intimacy of the exchange. It uses an iPhone placed in a pocket and through a system of filtration that Pringle has developed, and existing speech recognition technologies, only the vital words in a conversation are subtitled and displayed on the iPhone.
Images from Subtle Subtitles.
Cushion controls by Droog Design
[gallery] I love these playful and simple cushion controls created by Didier Hilhorst and Nicholas Zambetti at Droog Design a few years ago. The project consists of different cushions each with its own function: one for the channels, one for the power, one for the volume and so on. The project aims to transform the fights over “who has the remote” into playful cushion fights. Like most of Droog's work, the project is conceptually strong as they change our perspective on the core interaction by re-imagining it and turning it into play.
Continue reading on didierandnicholas.com and droog.com. Images from didierandnicholas.com.
Energy-producing wellies that charge your devices
[gallery] Wearable technology has its challenges, especially with how they get powered. Here's a great energy-harvesting solution created by orange in collaboration with gotwind. Together, they created energy producing wellie boots that enable users to charge their phone or other mobile gadgets. The prototype wellies "use a unique ‘power generating sole’ that converts heat from your feet into an electrical current. This ‘welectricity’ can then be used to re-charge your mobile phone." Continue reading on gotwind.org.
Images from gotwind.
Wearable technology exhibit now through July 9
If anyone is close to Atlanta, it's worth stopping by to check out this wearable technology exhibit curated by Clint Zeagler and Thad Starner at the Museum of Design Atlanta entitled ON YOU 2. The exhibit "looks specifically at conductive thread embroidered and fabric manipulation interfaces. Garments design by Clint Zeagler and Tiffany Teague will be on display along side garments designed by students showcasing Clint Zeagler and Thad Starner's Georgia Tech research in wearable technology." continue reading at museumofdesign.org.
One of the projects developed at the GVU Center at Georgia Tech is this pleat interface made of embroidered conductive thread that senses which way the user strokes them. They state that the pleated interface can be used to control the volume on an MP3 player, select names from a phonebook, scroll a website, etc.
If anyone is able to make it to this exhibit, please send photos!