Syuzi's Blog – February 2010 Archive (16)

Fairytale Fashion Collection by Diana Eng

This week Diana Eng presented the Fairytale Fashion Collection, fashions that use technology to create magical clothing, at Eyebeam.

The collection consisted of fashions that illuminate, change colors and transform shapes. My personal favorite was the deployable hoodie whose hood expands and collapses as a result of its origami structure.

The Research and development for the Fairytale Fashion… Continue

Added by Syuzi on February 26, 2010 at 10:30am — 1 Comment

From Motorized Garments to Sound Reactive Fashions, RISD Takes on Wearable Tech

Nate & Kirk Mueller teamed up to teach "Seamless", an introductory wearables technology course at RISD: The Rhode Island School of Design. From dresses that unzip themselves to sound sensitive fashions, the course produced some nicely designed experiments and investigations in high-tech… Continue

Added by Syuzi on February 24, 2010 at 9:30am — 2 Comments

Rodarte's Illuminated Heels

I become absolutely overjoyed when my favorite fashion designers employ the tiniest bit of technology into their collections. Rodarte, the two scissor sisters of voluminous deconstructed clothes, adorned their models for their Fall 2010 collection with these spectacular illuminated heels.

Rodarte's Illuminated Heels

The three-inch heels! the texture! the light! swoon.

Light to the Rodarte sister's is… Continue

Added by Syuzi on February 22, 2010 at 10:30am — 1 Comment

Wearable Textile Radio

Katharina Bredies, a research scientist at the DeutscheTelekom Laboratories, developed an intricately hand-made wearable textile radio as research for her doctoral thesis on "the value of irritation in design."

Wearable Textile Radio

Hacked radio connected to…

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Added by Syuzi on February 19, 2010 at 11:36am — 1 Comment

Inspirational Video of a Collection of Soft Circuits

Lovely collection of soft and flexible circuit prototypes by the e-textile mavens Emily Lovell, Leah Buechley and Hannah Perner-Wilson from the High-Low Tech research group at the MIT Media… Continue

Added by Syuzi on February 18, 2010 at 3:24pm — 1 Comment

THE NEXT IDEA: ART AND TECHNOLOGY GRANT

Tech Grant

Hello All,

Here is a wonderful opputinity from Prix Ars Electronics to receive a grant and support for your wearable projects.

I highly encourage all of you to apply. Make me proud!

Deadline: March 5, 2010

Link to Onliine Submission…

Continue

Added by Syuzi on February 18, 2010 at 12:16pm — No Comments

Climatic Changes Activate Networked Garments

Valérie Lamontagne has developed three fantastical networked fashions inspired by the peculiar fairy tale by Charles Perrault in which a young princess, to avoid marrying a king, demands impossible dresses made of the sun, the moon and the sky.

Lamontagne interprets the fairy tale by creating magical fashions that use live weather data to reflect the changing barometric… Continue

Added by Syuzi on February 17, 2010 at 11:30am — 1 Comment

Sewing Machine as Musical Instrument

Conductive textiles have been used to create a number of novel interactive musical instruments but Lara Grant's use of the sewing machine as a musical instrument is by far one of my favorites.

Lara modified a sewing machine so that the needle and conductive piece of fabric that is being sewn functions as a switch. Every time the needle makes a stitch it also plays a note.

Additionally, the machine… Continue

Added by Syuzi on February 17, 2010 at 10:30am — 3 Comments

Guerilla Intervention: Human Bee Pollinators

The Human Bee Pollinator was one of the more imaginative wearables created for the guerilla intervention at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference 2009. Designed by CIID students Laura Boffi and Jacek Barcikowski, the…

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Added by Syuzi on February 10, 2010 at 1:00pm — No Comments

Wearable Tech and Environmental Politics

Recently I've been thinking a lot about the role wearable technology can play in sustainability. This was mostly triggered by an article Is Wearable Technology Hype or Hope that I wrote for Ecouterre.

What I failed to imagine when I wrote the article was the imaginative and powerful role that wearable tech can play in performative…

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Added by Syuzi on February 9, 2010 at 11:30am — No Comments

Designer's Musings on Wearable Tech

Anke Loh

Chicago-based designer Anke Loh is known for her early experimentations in wearable technology. Earlier projects such as "Dressing Light" (2006) used Philips Lumalive fabrics to craft garments with wearable displays.

In her spring/summer 2010 collection, Anke reflects on her past…

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Added by Syuzi on February 8, 2010 at 9:00am — No Comments

Wearable Instruments and Performance Art

barbwired

'When two objects or people touch, they exchange electric charge.'

"barbwired", developed by artist Ewelina Aleksandrowicz, is a conceptual sound performance piece that literally and metaphorically uses the "energy" exchange between two individuals to create a dynamic aural experience.

"Sensual feelings, toxic obsessions, intense emotions" Ewelina says, "are translated through… Continue

Added by Syuzi on February 3, 2010 at 10:00am — No Comments

Free Swatch of Luminex Fabric

Want a free swatch of Luminex fabric and a copy of Alison Lewis's amazing book "Switch Craft"?

All you have to do is fill out a "Help Make Switch Better" survey for your chance to win.

You have until Feb. 12 so… Continue

Added by Syuzi on February 3, 2010 at 8:29am — No Comments

Detectair: an Eco-Wearable that Detects Air Quality

Detectair:

A soft vest with an oversized collar, Detectair senses, alerts and protects wearers from environmental toxins in the atmosphere.

Designed by Industrial design students Genevieve Mateyko and Pamela Troyer at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, the vest contains sensors that detect the ambient air quality… Continue

Added by Syuzi on February 2, 2010 at 9:30am — 7 Comments

Twitter Dress at Grammys

Twitter Dress

Wearable tech hits the red carpet at the Grammys with Imogen Heap's Twitter Dress. The dress is once again thanks to Moritz Waldemeyer who most recently developed Rihanna's laser outfit for the American Music Awards performance.

Imogen Heap's Twitter Dress, which… Continue

Added by Syuzi on February 1, 2010 at 10:00am — No Comments

Crawling Knit Soft Robots

RoboKnit

Check out this amazing ~~knit~~crocheted critter titled "RoboKnit: Hello, World" created by Osamu Iwasaki and Hanakomet. The critter takes the form of our lovely planet earth and is nicely designed by Hanakomet to house the electronics.

I love the movement of the… Continue

Added by Syuzi on February 1, 2010 at 9:00am — 1 Comment