Technologists Address the Future of Fashion

Fashion and technology have been gnawing into each other’s domains for some time now. But the time may come soon when both work in concert with each other to produce clothes that enhance fashion, improve health and safety, and make life easier, said fashion and technology experts during the “Extreme Fashion” conference, held Aug. 3 at the Siggraph convention in Los Angeles.

Margaret Orth of Seattle-based International Fashion Machines, a developer of interactive textiles, moderated the conference, which featured panelists Elise Co of Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.–based Mintymonkey; Katherine Moriwaki of Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland; Thad E. Starner of the Georgia Institute of Technology; and Jenny Tillotson of London’s Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design.

Orth said recent developments from mainstream brands such as Adidas and outerwear maker Marmot are lending more credence to tech apparel. Marmot’s “El Phenomenon” jacket ($750) features illuminated safety panels that allow users to be seen in the low-light conditions that occur during storms, hikes and climbs. The “Adidas 1” running shoe ($250) has a built-in 20-hertz microprocessor and cable-drive system, which adjust cushioning based on terrain and response during running.

While corporations have been working on their technology initiatives, the panelists have been addressing the issue from an academic and social standpoint. During the conference, they outlined various projects.

Starner of Georgia Tech can usually be seen with a viewing device attached to his eyeglasses. It is part of a wearable computer with a Palm keyboard that allows him to type 130 words per minute. He uses it to take notes during discussions with people as well as during the courses he teaches. He said it helps him retain his memory. With advancements in hardware technology, the wearable viewers are becoming more compact and less noticeable, he said.

Starner, a leading developer of wearable computer systems, has been exploring how computers can help improve everyday life as well as help the disabled and other special-needs groups. One project incorporates artificial intelligence to interpret physical conversations and responds by logging notes and dates during those conversations so the user does not have to write them down. Another work-in-progress is a visual-based computer system that translates sign language and converts it into a voice system. In another application, Starner is examining how infrared light can interpret the brain’s response to speech and other actions.

Tillotson has been working with what she calls “emotional fashion” by developing fragrance-releasing apparel and jewelry.

“You can create your own personal scent bubble,” she explained. “Nice smells have been known to shield negative feelings and deliver well-being.”

Tillotson said she has been providing scent jewelry and apparel to AIDS patients to help them cope with the down periods associated with the disease. She added that advancements in aromatherapy and scents in general received a giant shot in the arm when Richard Axel of Columbia University in New York and Linda B. Buck of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle won the Nobel Prize last year for mapping smell codes sent from the brain.

Moriwaki has been studying the social fashioning of America, examining how consumers react to fashion in both public and private settings. Her clothing line, Urban Chameleon, reflects the affects of social interaction. Her garments are dubbed “Breathe,” “Touch” and “Speak.”

“Clothing reveals and conceals,” she said. “Wearing tight jeans can affect how you walk. The clothes you wear send a message.”

Her chameleon project focuses on how the senses react to the environment. The “Touch” skirt, for example, changes its visual properties upon contact. “Speak” reacts to urban noise, and “Breathe” measures pollution and urban exhaust as they travel through sensors on the garment, alerting the wearer to extreme pollution.

Co of Mintymonkey discussed luminescence in fashion. One of her projects is the “Puddlejumper” raincoat, which features hand silk-screened electro-luminescent lamps that are wired to interior electronics and conductive water sensors on the back and left sleeves. During rain, the diodes light up, creating a flickering pattern that mirrors the pattern of the rainfall.

Finally, Orth discussed how textiles can interact with the electricity human bodies can conduct. Her company has developed textiles that change color. Her textiles feature woven electronic circuits and inks that change color and motion. They do not light up and are considered a reflective material.

“Technology is starting to take over strategies in fashion,” Orth said. “After all, what lasts longer: a bra or cell phone?”

The panelists, however, said there were obstacles such as the slow commercialization process and funding.