Fashioning Tech
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      Kinetic Couture: Introducing the Butterfly Dress

      January 25, 2017

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      Kate Spade Brings Whimsy to Wearables

      August 29, 2016

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      Aerochromics: Pollution Monitoring Garments Aim to Become A Sixth Skin

      August 17, 2016

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      ‎BODYSONG‬./Glitchaus GLITCHJK Jacquard Bomber Jacket

      February 27, 2016

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      3D Print and the Jewellery Industry: An Overview

      December 11, 2015

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      Biomimicry and Sports Apparel

      August 15, 2016

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      Bring A Little Bling To Your Workout with Misfit’s Solar-Powered Activity Trackers Made From Swarovski Crystals

      January 6, 2015

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      Wearables in Contemporary Ballet

      November 18, 2014

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      Fibers Software Transforms Your Fuelband Data into Art

      August 19, 2014

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      Adidas Reissues Micropacer OG

      August 14, 2014

  • Healthcare
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      Fashionable therapy brightens winter SADness

      July 30, 2015

      Healthcare

      Lightwear: An Exploration in Wearable Light Therapy for Seasonal Affective Disorder

      February 4, 2015

      Healthcare

      Vigour — A Gorgeous Wearable For Rehabilitation and Physical Therapy

      December 18, 2014

      Healthcare

      Space: What to wear?

      June 7, 2014

      Healthcare

      E-textile Pillow for Communication Between Dementia Patients and Family

      November 5, 2013

  • Wearables UX
    • Wearables UX

      Moff: Wearable Smart Toy For Kids

      August 21, 2014

      Wearables UX

      Temporary NFC Tattoo

      July 29, 2014

      Wearables UX

      Wearable Tech Guide to SXSW

      March 7, 2014

      Wearables UX

      PixMob’s LED beanies light up the SuperBowl by turning the crowd into human pixels

      February 3, 2014

      Wearables UX

      Cadbury Joy Jackets

      January 16, 2014

  • Interviews
    • Interviews

      Interview with Davide Vigano of Heapsylon

      April 30, 2014

      Interviews

      Make It Wearable Video Series by Creators Project

      April 3, 2014

      Interviews

      Interview with Sparkfun’s Dia Campbell

      March 26, 2014

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      Interview with Julia Koerner

      March 20, 2014

      Interviews

      Interview with Akseli Reho from Clothing Plus

      March 17, 2014

  • Materials
    • Materials

      Conductive Tattoos Turn Your Skin Into An Interface

      August 24, 2016

      Materials

      Biofabrication: The New Revolution in Material Design

      August 23, 2016

      Materials

      Aerochromics: Pollution Monitoring Garments Aim to Become A Sixth Skin

      August 17, 2016

      Materials

      Biomimicry and Sports Apparel

      August 15, 2016

      Materials

      Smart Fabrics Conference May 11 – 13

      April 27, 2015

  • DIY
    • DIY

      Techno Textiles – Concordia University

      January 18, 2016

      DIY

      Smart Fabrics + Wearable Technology 2015 Review

      July 8, 2015

      DIY

      Explore and Learn from the Students of the Wearables Class at CCA

      April 19, 2015

      DIY

      Make It Wearable Winners

      November 4, 2014

      DIY

      JPG Data Knit Blanket Series from Glitchaus

      September 22, 2014

  • About

Fashioning Tech

for fashion futurists & wearable tech enthusiasts

  • Home
  • Fashion
    • Fashion

      Kinetic Couture: Introducing the Butterfly Dress

      January 25, 2017

      Fashion

      Kate Spade Brings Whimsy to Wearables

      August 29, 2016

      Fashion

      Aerochromics: Pollution Monitoring Garments Aim to Become A Sixth Skin

      August 17, 2016

      Fashion

      ‎BODYSONG‬./Glitchaus GLITCHJK Jacquard Bomber Jacket

      February 27, 2016

      Fashion

      3D Print and the Jewellery Industry: An Overview

      December 11, 2015

  • Fitness
    • Fitness

      Biomimicry and Sports Apparel

      August 15, 2016

      Fitness

      Bring A Little Bling To Your Workout with Misfit’s Solar-Powered Activity Trackers Made From Swarovski Crystals

      January 6, 2015

      Fitness

      Wearables in Contemporary Ballet

      November 18, 2014

      Fitness

      Fibers Software Transforms Your Fuelband Data into Art

      August 19, 2014

      Fitness

      Adidas Reissues Micropacer OG

      August 14, 2014

  • Healthcare
    • Healthcare

      Fashionable therapy brightens winter SADness

      July 30, 2015

      Healthcare

      Lightwear: An Exploration in Wearable Light Therapy for Seasonal Affective Disorder

      February 4, 2015

      Healthcare

      Vigour — A Gorgeous Wearable For Rehabilitation and Physical Therapy

      December 18, 2014

      Healthcare

      Space: What to wear?

      June 7, 2014

      Healthcare

      E-textile Pillow for Communication Between Dementia Patients and Family

      November 5, 2013

  • Wearables UX
    • Wearables UX

      Moff: Wearable Smart Toy For Kids

      August 21, 2014

      Wearables UX

      Temporary NFC Tattoo

      July 29, 2014

      Wearables UX

      Wearable Tech Guide to SXSW

      March 7, 2014

      Wearables UX

      PixMob’s LED beanies light up the SuperBowl by turning the crowd into human pixels

      February 3, 2014

      Wearables UX

      Cadbury Joy Jackets

      January 16, 2014

  • Interviews
    • Interviews

      Interview with Davide Vigano of Heapsylon

      April 30, 2014

      Interviews

      Make It Wearable Video Series by Creators Project

      April 3, 2014

      Interviews

      Interview with Sparkfun’s Dia Campbell

      March 26, 2014

      Interviews

      Interview with Julia Koerner

      March 20, 2014

      Interviews

      Interview with Akseli Reho from Clothing Plus

      March 17, 2014

  • Materials
    • Materials

      Conductive Tattoos Turn Your Skin Into An Interface

      August 24, 2016

      Materials

      Biofabrication: The New Revolution in Material Design

      August 23, 2016

      Materials

      Aerochromics: Pollution Monitoring Garments Aim to Become A Sixth Skin

      August 17, 2016

      Materials

      Biomimicry and Sports Apparel

      August 15, 2016

      Materials

      Smart Fabrics Conference May 11 – 13

      April 27, 2015

  • DIY
    • DIY

      Techno Textiles – Concordia University

      January 18, 2016

      DIY

      Smart Fabrics + Wearable Technology 2015 Review

      July 8, 2015

      DIY

      Explore and Learn from the Students of the Wearables Class at CCA

      April 19, 2015

      DIY

      Make It Wearable Winners

      November 4, 2014

      DIY

      JPG Data Knit Blanket Series from Glitchaus

      September 22, 2014

  • About
Author

Valérie Lamontagne

DIY

Techno Textiles – Concordia University

written by Valérie Lamontagne

This past fall (2015), I taught an introductory class of technology textiles to fibers students at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. This was for many students a first introduction to the world of electronics, soft circuits, programming and designing for interaction. Needless to say, the final projects pretty much blew me away!

Techno-Textiles: The course was designed to make the world of electronics accessible for the creation of interactive textile art projects. The design brief for the final class project focused on building a “second skin” that communicates information (physical memory) to another human/animal/object.

Here are some of the projects!


Sara Graorac + Tess Kuramoto “I Care”

“I Care” is a pair of wrist and forearm splints that serve to communicate through several sources of energy. “I Care” splints function through a wireless signal and an interaction between wearers. “I care” explores the effects of holistic and alternative medicine, juxtaposed against aesthetics of modern healthcare. The wearable technology references light therapy and reflexology. “I Care” serves as an extension of the self; a reminder that our body can be a vessel for the intangible, and a centre for empathy, communication and ultimately for healing.
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Rita Kesselring + Lea Schwarz Dionne “Mediated Communication ( Device 1 )”

“Mediated Communication” is an immersive sound experience where two participants share different sounds in order to make sense of a bigger message. Each participant can listen to the sound they send and also the one transmitted by their partner. Drawing from the idea of technology mediating our understanding of information, this object is regulating the communication between the users and they are no longer communicating verbally.
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Lydia Laberge “Sans titre (Homme aux yeux qui vibrent)” (Untitled (Man With Vibrating Eyes))

This work features a bust constructed of painted canvas, with tiny mirrors embedded inside his eyes. When a viewer approaches the sculpture and looks into his eyes, a vibrator is activated, causing one’s own eye reflection to blur.
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Laïla Mestari “OK, on voit ta tête” (Ok, We See Your Head)


With “OK, on voit ta tête” I am interested in the link between our dependence on technology to perceive the world, and the loss of existing senses along the way. I see it as a quintessential example of the blind leading the bind.
___________________________________________________________________

Mireille Monette-Bouteiller “Breathe”



The project “Breathe” is a user-activated audio piece that provides a sonic environment to contemplate the landscape, and offer a respite from the busy student life. 


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Isabel Prado Caro “Fractions de la vie d’une manche” (Fractions of a Sleeve’s Life)

Slipping on a garment calls upon a movement of our limbs, who navigate and then settle in. This project explores the movement of a sleeve under three conceptual and technical angles.
___________________________________________________________________

Clara Quintela de Almeida “Heartbeat”

“Heartbeat” plays with the idea of being someone else, being in someone else’s “heart,” as an exercise in detaching ourselves/transposing ourselves into another body, another skin, another situation, another life. It is a metaphor for compassion.

Techno Textiles – Fibers Department, Fine Arts, Concordia University, Montreal Canada – Fall 2015
Valérie Lamontagne, Professor

Techno Textiles – Concordia University was last modified: August 15th, 2016 by Valérie Lamontagne
January 18, 2016 0 comment
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DIY

Smart Fabrics + Wearable Technology 2015 Review

written by Valérie Lamontagne

Smart Fabrics + Wearable Technology 2015 recently held from May 11-13 in the booming start-up town of San Francisco featured some of the most exciting and cutting edge research and innovation in fabrics and wearables tech. Smart Fabrics + Wearable Technology is a leading industry conference that blends business with the science of smart textiles and features speakers as diverse as engineers, business developers, and fashion and technology experts.



Given that 2015 has so far been a landmark year for wearables in the tech industry, the tone of the conference was decided tuned to business, emerging markets and productions modes as well as the touchy issues of intellectual property and legal frameworks around building a new business in tech. That said, a lot more internal questioning on the purpose and the design vision of wearables was considered in this edition of Smart Fabrics + Wearable Technology. Having attend this conference on a number of occasions in the past, I can attest to the focus having evolved from an insider group to a full fledged startup culture that is ripe to not only change the tech market, but our relationships to objects, data, and engineering as it becomes increasingly intertwined with personal issues of the body. The conference can best be summarized by an overview of a few of the highlight presentations.



Monday May 11, 2015
The fist day was focused on industry:



Denise Gershbein from FROG DESIGN started the conference by highlighting the role of good design in wearables. She focused on the inter-related nature of wearables and how “a wearable is just one touchpoint in a system of people, objects, data and processes.” Her argument was that now that we are at the tipping point of putting chips in anything and looking at ways of being cyborgs (google glass) or flying (jet packs) what do we really need from design? Ultimately for Gershbein, the potential positive impact of our wearable technologies is through social inclusiveness and progress.


Maggie Orth from INTERNATIONAL FASHION MACHINES is a pioneer in the world of smart and dynamic textiles. Her talk also had a very social and environmental message for the future of wearables. As a cautionary tale, she questioned the drive to make textiles smart, and that simpler and more holistic materials and manufacturing practices will in the long run make more financial, social and sustainable sense. One of the avenues she proposes is to make devices more physically long-lasting, and focusing on the software upgrades instead of the destructive drive for more consumer electronic products, and hence e-waste.


Andy Behar of VIVOMETRICS used the case study of his LifeShirt developed in the early history of wearables and body sensing technologies. The LifeShirt was an important catalyst for the the whole industry of wearable technologies impacting on the future of monitoring for health, safety, and well-being. An interesting outcome of LifeShirt’s successful ability to monitor up to 30+ physiological signs has resulted in weighty questions around the ownership and disclosure of data and metrics and its potential complications for health-monitoring devices.



Scott Miller from DRAGON INNOVATION focused on his company’s experience with scaling up a status production. He argued that the manufacturing is much more and far too little considered in the development of a product and business plan. He proposed that startups only launch their products once they have ironed out the production chain and can successfully deliver to the scale of demand.


Michelle Mancino Marsh, a fashion lawyer at KENYON & KENYON LLP with an eye for tech deconstructed from a legal standpoint the various patentable and IP protected elements of wearable technologies. Her goal was to sensitize the emerging independent researchers and designers to be better aware of the importance of protecting their technological and design IP. She cited a number of current patent cases involving fitness trackers, tech gloves (gloves with conductive tips), and smart shirts as both successful and complicated legal disputes.



Tuesday, May 12, 2015


The second day was focused on design:


Kristine Upesleja from the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising looked at the fashion angle of wearable tech from a diverse research angle. Spanning wearable devices to bio fabrication, she looked at how current innovation is going beyond tech gadgets and devices. She cited mood monitoring devices and display; bio printing and organic tech; as well as 3D printing as areas to look at in emergent wearables and smart fabrics research.
Koen van Os from the PHILIPS GROUP INNOVATION presented current Phillips research in light textiles and fashion applications. Phillips has a long history is merging excellence in design with light featuring products such as “HUE” the colour changing light and the large luminous surfaces for architectural settings. Featured was “Philips BlueTouch” a phototherapy textile products worn on the skin for the relief of pain, eczema, and psoriasis, as well as Pauline Van Dongen’s “Lumi League” illuminated sports garments.



Gihan Amarasiriwardena of MINISTRY OF SUPPLY featured a future in apparel design that would deliver custom design clothing with reactive smart features such as odour repelling and phase changing textiles.



Dr. Daniel Gloesener from SOLVAY SA presented research in thin flexible batteries innovation arrived at through chemical research. The company is already developing products for a number of industries including automotive, building, agriculture, and electronics as well as the recent solar-powered plane! They proposed that their Li-battery research could provide much needed solutions for thin/flexible batteries adapted to wearable products.


Amanda Boxtel of BRIDGING BIONICS FOUNDATION and Scott Summit from 3D SYSTEMS CORPORATION looked at how 3D printing could enhance functional robotics. Specifically they demonstrated the impressive and touching case of a full body robotics garment designed for Amanda Boxtel, who has since an accident in her twenties been unable to walk. In the live demonstration they showed how the robotics device worked, and Amanda was able to walk on and around stage with a customized and robotized 3D-printed exoskeleton. Scott also presented custom 3D printed casts that permitted more comfort, mobility, cost-effectiveness and various use and design aesthetics.



Jessica Floeh from HANKY PANCREAS also looked at the improvement of design and aesthetics for wearable diabetic medical devices. Her perspective stemmed from her person need for a diabetic monitor, and a desire to transform the self and collective perception of the illness through better design.
Dr. Tom Martin from VIRGINIA TECH and Lucy Dunne of UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA looked at the role of teaching and education in the advancement of smart fabrics and wearable technologies. As a case study, they described their students participation in the development of wearable technology prototypes for the NASA Johnson Space Center. Some of the impressive prototypes that their students designed included: liquid-cooling garments; moisture management gloves; wearable audio communicators; haptic navigation belts and a noise cancelling vest!



Todd Harple from INTEL did a quick overview of the promises, privacy and perceptions of wearable devices. He traced how mobile wearable technologies—from the smart phone, key and bracelet—are increasingly becoming more transparent, intimate, invisible, and of course, smart!



Dr. Vasileios Exadaktylos from M3-BIORES, KU LEUVEN walked us through the development of a real-time monitoring smart watch for the evaluation of stress levels for sports, work and other real-life contexts. 


Dr. Christian Holz of YAHOO LABS made a case for a future of biometric wearables and implanted devices. He demonstrated how everyday gestures and haptics could become input and output computational interfaces embedded into the body. He then presented an interface prototype (concealed in prosthetic artificial skin) which was tested in live contexts to evaluate usability, and the reaction from an uninitiated public. The conclusion was that many of the input (tapping; gesture) and output (sound vibrating) features were difficult to grasp in the wild, but that public acceptance seemed possible.



Dr. Edgar Rodriguez from VICTORIA UNIVERSITY OF WELLINGTON presented his research on how smart 3D printed fabrics could tap into gaming-like controls for a higher adoption rate of physical rehabilitation activity.



Wednesday, May 13, 2015


The third day was focused on the future of wearable tech:



Jeremy Wall of LUMENUS argued that “when a product shifts from useful to desirable, it has reached a tipping point” and this is what we are currently experiencing with wearable tech. He pointed out how many of tech’s recent success stories (which have been subsequently bought by Apple) such as Beats By Dre; and the Nest wall thermometer; have demonstrate a need for technology’s design to be aligned with lifestyle in order to be successful.


Andy Goodman from FJORD US asks the very valid question: “Who will truly ‘own’ the data which is generated by our bodies?” In a future where zero user interfaces will collect data and respond to programmed inputs, what role or agency will the human play? In a near speculative post-humanist future of 2020 where payments will be made through facial recognition; video displays will be embedded into eye retinas; and eating habits & diabetes could be enhanced through user interfaces: the future of wearable devices is wide open!



Montreal, July 8, 2015



Conference Presenter List:

Monday, May 11, 2015
– Denise Gershbein, Executive Creative Director, FROG DESIGN

“Expanding World Views for Wearable Design”

- Maggie Orth, Artist, Writer, and Technologist; Founder, INTERNATIONAL FASHION MACHINES

“Can Wearables Become Sustainables?”

– Andy Behar, Founder, VIVOMETRICS
“Can Wearables Fulfill Their Potential to Radically Improve Health-Care Outcomes?”

– Paul Gough, Strategic Marketing Manager, U-BLOX

“Where From and To…”

- Sundaresan Jayaraman, Kolon Professor, Scheller College of Business and the School of Material Science and Engineering, GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

“Today’s Wearables Revolution: Bridging the Origins of the Future”

- Scott Miller, CEO and Co-Founder, DRAGON INNOVATION

“The Hardware Challenge: Going from Prototype to High Volume Manufacturing”

– Michelle Mancino Marsh, Partner and Head of Fashion Practice Group, KENYON & KENYON LLP

“Navigating the IP Minefield in Wearable Tech”



Tuesday, May 12, 2015


- Kristine Upesleja, Manager, Textiles & Materials, FIDM/ Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising

“Engineering Fashion – INVENTIONS”

– Koen van Os, Intelligent Textiles, Device Integration Technologies, Research, PHILIPS GROUP INNOVATION and Pauline Van Dongen, Designer

“Wearable Light in Fashion”

- Gihan Amarasiriwardena, Co-Founder & CEO, MINISTRY OF SUPPLY

“Engineering the Apparel Design Process”

– Dr. Daniel Gloesener, Program Manager – Battery Technologies, SOLVAY SA – Corporate Research and Innovation

“Innovative Solutions for Thin Flexible Batteries”

- Amanda Boxtel, Executive Director, BRIDGING BIONICS FOUNDATION and Scott Summit, Senior Director, Functional Design, 3D SYSTEMS CORPORATION

“Walking in Style – How Can 3D Printing Design Enhance Functional Robotics?”

- Jessica Floeh, Designer & Founder, HANKY PANCREAS

“A Social Model of Design for Wearable Medical Devices”

– Dr. Tom Martin, Professor Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, VIRGINIA TECH and Lucy Dunne, Associate Professor and Director, Apparel Design Program; Director, Wearable Technology Lab, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

“One Part Neil Armstrong, One Part Miuccia Prada: One small step toward the future of wearable technology”
– Todd Harple, Pathfinding and Innovation Lead, Experience Strategist, New Devices Group, INTEL

“Promises, Privacy and Perception: Perspectives on Technology On and Of the Human Body”

– Dr. Vasileios Exadaktylos, Division M3-BIORES, KU LEUVEN

“Real-Time Monitoring by a Smart Watch”

- Dr. Christian Holz, Research Scientist, Future Technologies & Interactive Devices, YAHOO LABS

“Biometric Wearables and Implanted Devices”

– Dr. Christine C. Ho, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, IMPRINT ENERGY, INC

“Wearable Electronics: New Opportunities for Energy Storage Design”

- Anush Elangovan, Founder & CEO, NOD LABS

“Nod: Achieving Pixel Accurate Gesture Control”

- Matan Berkowitz, Co-Founder, SHIFT INNOVATION

“Wearables and the Future of Music”

– Dr. Edgar Rodriguez, Programme Director Industrial Design VUW. Co-Director Smart Interactions, VICTORIA UNIVERSITY OF WELLINGTON

“Smart 3D Printed Fabrics as Game Controllers for Physical Rehabilitation”



Wednesday, May 13, 2015


– Marco Della Torre, Co-Founder of BASIS SCIENCE and Business Development at INTEL


“Marrying Tech and Fashion to Deliver True Wearable Innovation”

– Jeremy Wall, Founder, LUMENUS

“Wearable Acceptance: Reaching the Tipping Point”

– Devarshi Shah, CEO, IMBUE
“Style, Size and Substance: How to Approach Connected Fashion”

- Caroline Loss, PhD Candidate in Textile Engineering, UNIVERSITY OF BEIRA INTERIOR PORTUGAL

“Textile Antenna Embedded in Clothing for Energy Harvesting”

- Andy Goodman, President, FJORD US

“The Design Challenges Which Will Arise from the Convergence of Technology and Biology: Who will truly ‘own’ the data which is generated by our bodies?

- Dan Ledger, Principal, ENDEAVOUR PARTNERS

“The Rocky Path Towards Insightful Wearables”

Smart Fabrics + Wearable Technology 2015 Review was last modified: August 15th, 2016 by Valérie Lamontagne
July 8, 2015 0 comment
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Fashion

Kate Fletcher – Fashion & Sustainability Interview

written by Valérie Lamontagne

After the recent Bangladesh’s garment factory building collapse, it seems an urgent time to rethink fast-fashion production and consumption. Kate Fletcher, author, educator, and pioneer in the field of sustainable fashion, in her recent book “Fashion & Sustainability: Design for Change” charts the ways in which the landscape of fashion production, consumption and use could be re-tooled with the aims to improving both sustainable uses of materials, and better social and economic livelihood of those involved in the making of our garments. Her book covers a number of avenues to asses the current modalities of fashion making and buying, as well as proposals (and limitations) on how our habits as designers and consumers could factor in more socially and environmentally sound practices.

BACKGROUND

Q: What is your background?

Textiles and design for sustainability.


Q: What led to your interest in fashion & sustainability? Was there an “ah-ha” moment that told you “now” was the time to get involved in having a voice in this issue?

I’ve always loved clothes… and made many of them as a young woman and I’m from a family of community activists – pairing fashion with working for the common good is in my blood.


Q:
How do you conduct your research? Do you engage in field work and conduct interviews, and how do these encounters shape your vision?

I use many different research methods: some are drawn from design process others methods like ethnography. My most recent research project uses ethnographic methods: object histories and photography to explore social practice.


Q: What was the most ecologically inspiring place you ever visited?

I am awe struck over and again in Nature. Though turning over my compost heap is both intellectually and physically a work of complete connectedness with natural systems.


Q: At present, what is the most problematic (environmentally and socially) place in the world where fashion is being produced, and why?

Every place has challenges and positive aspects.


1. FASHION PRODUCTS

Magenta Dress by Bird Textiles


MATERIALS

Q: What materials should we be harnessing as consumers or designers to improve fashion’s toxic carbon footprints? There are many different classes of fibers described in your book: renewable fibers, biodegradable fibers, people-friendly fibers, low-chemical-use fibers, low-energy-use fibers, low-water-use fibers, predator-friendly fibers, can you quickly explain the difference, or propose the most ideal type of fiber we should be aiming for?

The ideal type is the one that best suits the purpose of your design intention.


Low to No Waste Jacket by Sam Forno

PROCESSES

Q: Much of the fibers that we use are subject to many kinds of chemical and rely heavily on water processes, which are quite corrosive to the environment. Can you describe some of the more toxic procedures (i.e. chemical bleaching and dying) so that our readers are more aware of them and explain why these processes are being used in the first place?

No fibre has ever been transformed from natural or synthetic polymer into a state that we would want to wear without substantial investment of resources. The processing of fibres variously draws down water, consumes energy and involves process chemicals… but to not subject fibre to these processes would make it unfit for purpose. And of course the environmental value of any product (including a ‘green’ product) is only realized upon its use. If it is not worn even if has a low energy intensity, resources are wasted.

Q: I was excited to read about the “minimum waste” initiatives of some designers. Can you explain what this is, and the important role that “waste” plays in tackling the betterment of fashion production?

Cutting waste is an important way to influence the resourcefulness of fashion. Some designers are using their pattern cutting skills to minimize cut loss as a garment is cut out and use every scrap of a fabric width – from selvedge to selvedge – in a garment’s design. This is leading to interesting new silhouettes and a visible response to sustainability concerns.


Q: Hardware, such as zippers, buttons, snaps etc. as well as all other non-textile add-ons to fashion (beads, plastic piping etc.) can really minimize the materials potential for re-use. What should we be doing about this? Wearing only draw-string pants with no hardware??

I think novel ways of holding garments on the body are important: and offer a potential source of innovation for designers looking to develop new ways to foster change.

Dress by MATERIALBYPRODUCT

DISTRIBUTION

Q: What is the best way to carbon offset our fashion consumption? Buying online? Locally? Second hand? Making our own? Sometimes the choice is not as clear as it seems!

Best way to offset: to not buy.

Bodice Dress by Goodone

DISPOSAL

Q: Is the best solution to minimize waste, other than, of course, buying less?

Disposal and production are two sides of the same coin: it is impossible to look at one without the other.


Q: What do you think of e-textiles and smart fashion? How can we move forward technologically in fashion, without risking not being, for example, able to recycle textiles because of embedded circuits, batteries, and heavy metals?

I think such technologies have potential; but I would ask who is benefiting from them? If it’s people – citizens – then I’m interested. If it’s commercial interests over people, then I would want to ask many more questions.


2. FASHION SYSTEMS

Modular Dress Galya Rosenfeld

ADAPTABILITY

Q: What are some of the exciting modular-based systems in fashion that could be game changers? Do you have some of these in your wardrobe?

For me the most exciting ones are the pieces that help you develop skills to see the world differently.


Konaka Shower Clean Suit

OPTIMIZED LIFETIMES

Q: How can we optimize the lifetimes of garments? Is it more about quality, habits, or emotional attachment? What are some of the strategies that have best embodied this slowing down of consumption?

A combination!



Downloadable Pattern Jacket by SANS

LOW-IMPACT USE

Q: What is low-impact use design? I.e. low-no-launder, stain-welcoming, pro-wrinkle clothes. And why would we want it?

We’d want it because it’s easier. Such pieces shine a light on the lunacy of our unconscious unnecessary habitual behaviours around garment laundering that have been fostered by, among others, the detergent industry.

Reworked Trench by Junky Styling

LOCAL

Q: If the local is the new chic in gastronomy, how can make it so also in fashion? What are some good examples of local uses of materials and practices that could inspire the reader to make a difference at home?

Local designers fostering local skills and employment have an extremely positive impact. Search them out in your vicinity.

BIOMIMICRY

Q: What can we learn from nature in the process of re-thinking uses of natural resources?

Everything. Don’t pollute your nest. Don’t commute to work. Everything is a resource.

One Night Stands Disposable Shoes by Stephanie Sandstrom

SPEED

Q: In your book you advocate for both new forms of slow and fast fashion, so clearly the solution is not only in pushing the deceleration button. Can we have our fast fashion fix and still be eco-minded? And how?

With a pursuit of quality made possible through the development of an industry not only predicated on selling more…

Slow-Knitted Sweater by Marie Ilse Bourlanges


Q: What do you think of rapid prototyping and 3D printing? On the one hand, we can produce less and more locally which is good for the environment in terms of long-haul transportation of goods. On the other hand, 3D printing is mostly being done with plastic and chemical substrates that are not at present recyclable. And on the last hand (if we had 3 :)), is rapid prototyping just going to encourage more cheap, fast, and disposable production schemes?

I am all for a hybrid approach that recognizes the value of different processes for different contexts. We have become horribly reductionist in our thinking and prefer simple one-size-fits-all solutions. But fashion is not a one size fits all industry. We need a different approach. We need a more diverse approach.


Designs by Antiform Industries

ENGAGED

Q: What is “fashion hacking” and how can it empower us?

One of the mantras I try to live by is that gleaned from hacking: if you can’t open it, you don’t own it. By this token if you want to truly engage with something and properly ‘own’ it you need to understand how it’s put together and how you could ‘mod’ it to improve it. It’s a shift in power away from the factory to the home.

Hacking Fashion Workshops by Otto von Busch

FASHION DESIGN PRACTICES

Q: If there was one place from which we could begin to make a change as simple consumers, or as fashion designers, where and what would that be?

In our minds.


London-Montreal, May 2013

Kate Fletcher – Fashion & Sustainability Interview was last modified: May 6th, 2013 by Valérie Lamontagne
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Fashion

TECHNOSENSUAL Review + Interview with Anouk Wipprecht

written by Valérie Lamontagne

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ANOUK WIPPRECHT [NL] + ADUEN DARRIBA [ES] “SMOKE DRESS” (2012)



Recently developed as part of a TECHNOSENSUAL Artist-in-Residency at MQ, the “SMOKE DRESS” is a collaboration between fashion designer Anouk Wipprecht and technologist Aduen Darriba. The dress is a tangible couture “smoke screen” imbued with the ability to suddenly visually obliterate itself through the excretion of a cloud of smoke. Ambient clouds of smoke are created when the dress detects a visitor approaching, thus camouflaging itself within it’s own materiality. The “SMOKE DRESS,” with its loose net of metallic threads and electrical wire, works at the scale of the magical illusionists trick, permitting a hypothetical magician’s assistant to perform her own disappearing act!

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ANOUK WIPPRECHT [NL] “PSEUDOMORPHS” (2010)



“PSEUDOMORPHS,” developed as part of the Summer Sessions at V2_ Institute for the Unstable Media in Rotterdam (2010), aims to be a “self painting dress.” With a built-in valve system, and several containers of purple liquid, the dress can be activated by the wearer (or viewer) in order to “stain” itself, thus bleeding a permanent colour stain onto it’s pristine white felt structure. Occurring as an irrevocable event, with the resulting dress forever carrying the mark of its “stain”—much in the same manner in which we carry our physical wounds or scars—the dress captures an unforgettable, and unique moment in time, something rare in the mass-produced landscape of fast fashion. Interestingly, the idea of the dress was “borrowed” by Britney Spear’s stylist for her hyperbolic 2011 video “Would You Hold it Against Me.”



Q: What is your background?
I am an artist / designer, curator and lecturer from the Netherlands. Coming from a fashion design (couture/tailoring) & communication background (Netherlands 2000-2010) I started to occupy my agenda with interaction design classes and user experience courses during 2007 as a side study (Netherlands + Sweden) and graduated on both topics in 2010. At that time I freaked out with micro-controllers, tube systems, servo’s, sensors and mechanics in every spare hour I had left.

Q: What led you to your being involved in fashion and technology?

Regular fashion design bored me, and my interest in robotics and artificial intelligence went up, so I started to combine it; creating interactive creatures and ‘animating’ my designs. The body is a gorgeous platform for explorations of all kinds. By combining fashion with technology, a lot of unexplored territory opened up for me, and I finally could create the things that spinned my head.

Q: What kinds of materials and technologies are used and integrated into your designs? 
Could you describe the process / challenges / advantages of using these particular materials in fashion and garments?
I like to work with unusual and uncontrolled materials like fluids, smoke, inks, nano particles and foils to create effects around the body.

 I prefer the word ‘organic’ over everything else and am interested in mimicking nature’s charming tricks next to working with sensitive and experimental high tech technologies rather than overdeveloped products.

While creating in the realms of fashiontech, I often collaborate with fellow artists, engineers, scientists, designers, universities and innovative companies to research new areas where expertise can be combined. This is a major advantage, especially when there is a good ‘flow’ in a team, this makes a project really magical. Challenges come and go, some more evil than others, but without them there is no space for innovation.

I am working at this moment close together with Viennese software engineer and hacker Daniel Schatzmayr on a series of robotic dresses for a stage setting and there are always a lot of problems that occur; from design complications to technical disturbances, ‘how to power’ your design, making low weight and practical wiring / storage settings, agreeing upon interaction, and creating a comfortable user interface situation for the wearer. Next to last minute short circuits crisis, late night coding and system fails; during showcases, you often get a design to perform correctly after some tweaks in the last 5 minutes. You can basically just wait for that to happen. I think that challenges come and go, some more evil than others, but without them there is no space for innovation nor exploration.

Q: What does technology add to fashion?
Technology combined with fashion creates new ways of communication between people, a new relationship between interface and the body, and a new connection of the body with technology. For me it is a playful exploration, where the body is the platform of interaction and expression.

 The position that technology has in our society (i.e. to ‘please’ us) will get more and more intimate, and as technology crawls closer to the skin we will need to start to rethink and recreate the relation that we have towards technology. In a way, communication-wise, techno enhanced fashion has the potential to mediate a human in more ways than a human can mediate itself. Therefore, amongst other reasons, I am interested in how emotional, social and psychological processes can be influenced using electronics as an extension of the self.

Intimacy 2.0 Interactive fashion by Studio Roosegaarde from Daan Roosegaarde on Vimeo.

Q: If you could have anyone alive or dead wearing your fashion-tech design, whom would you pick, and where would they be?

Mostly a Scandinavian-look ash blonde model with a milky skin color. Any persona that gives the notion of a blank canvas for me, in where electronics or technology can be the source. Minimum expression, as the tech-enhanced parts should do the ‘work’ (interaction/expression/communication). Leaving the persona just to ‘be”.

Q: How do you envision the everyday fashion-tech of the future?

We will establish new connections – both with the garments around us, as with the space surrounding us.

Q: What do you think is the importance of the TECHNOSENSUAL exhibition?

The importance of the TECHNOSENSUAL exhibition for me, personally, is to inspire people and to give a glance of possibilities that occur when fashion and technology are combined. This way I hope to stimulate more designers, engineers and scientists to take a step in areas that might be unknown to them. We want to involve visitors in projects that are out in the world but stayed hidden in design and research studio’s; some of the designs in the TECHNOSENSUAL exhibition people might know from books or blogs, but have never been displayed before. As we live in a society that makes 3D models out of merely everything, the promised interaction of these mediated projects could also be hoaxes.

At TECHNOSENSUAL the visitors get an overwhelming amount of animated, responsive, and interactive designs that they can experience first hand. While the exhibition’s side program is created to stimulate the production of new works due to its Artist-in-Residency program and accompanying framework of workshops and symposiums, giving artists and audience the chance to explore new fields and practices. The exhibition brings designers, engineers and scientists closer together within the realms of fashion and technology, while also functioning as a platform for innovation.

Q: The TECHNOSENSUAL catalogue is now in full production. What will we see and discover in it that we didn’t see in the exhibition? Where will we be able to get our hands on a copy?
The catalogue gives a little sneak-peak behind the whole project; it features interviews and behind the scenes pictures with the TECHNOSENSUAL Artists-in-Residency’s, project descriptions and background information on the exhibition concept and design. It’s an 120 pages catalogue that is in production at this moment, to be released at the beginning of December. The catalogue will be in a selection of stores in Vienna and can be purchased through the internet. Keep an eye on the TECHNOSENSUAL website at the beginning of December 2012.

Credits: Photographer: Robert Lunak
Vienna, November 2012

TECHNOSENSUAL Review + Interview with Anouk Wipprecht was last modified: November 12th, 2012 by Valérie Lamontagne
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Interviews

TECHNOSENSUAL Review + Interview with Maartje Dijkstra

written by Valérie Lamontagne

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MAARTJE DIJKSTRA [NL] “DENZIPFADEN” (2012)



“DENZIPFADEN” is a baroquely embellished garment, which utilizes zippers as an interactive platform through which to DJ. It was develop in collaboration with the electronic music composer Beorn”Newk” Lebenstedt, as a new platform for musical expression. In an increasingly intangible musical landscape were music is made on laptops, from digital sound samples, and through built-in computational effects and filters—it is quite another dimension to create new tangible hardware to manipulate sound. Bringing us back to the physical instrumentation of sound through the manipulation of materials, the zippers on this garment function as body-clad switches, taking us closer to an instrumentation via embodied musical interaction.



Q: What is your background?
I studied fashion at the Artez Art-academy, in Arnhem the Netherlands.
 
Q: What led you to your being involved in fashion and technology?

I’m not so much a designer who is looks back in time for inspiration, but more towards the future. For me fashion is a platform to translate your most extreme thoughts, and ideas into a sculptural/design piece or collection. So I think fashion and technology are a great combination because everything is possible. In my work the use of special materials is a big part of the design process and end result. This is how I worked, for instance, on the fashion and technology project ‘Intimacy.’ For me, this was a great way of combining a interesting materials, sculptural parts, handcrafted details, and technology. After this experience, I was inspired to do more fashion and technology projects like the “DENZIPFADEN” outfit.

Q: What kinds of materials and technologies are used and integrated into your designs? Could you describe the process / challenges / advantages of using these particular materials in fashion and garments?

I’m very inspired by electronic music and my partner Beorn lebenstedt is a electronic composer. So every day I get inspired by great music/sounds, and a music/ fashion cooperation was a logical step for us to make and that is when we created the DENZIPFADEN ouftit! Beorn (aka NEWK) started by the idea that zippers  could be function as a midi controller.

Q: What does technology add to fashion?

The biggest thing that technology adds for me is amazing collaborations. To work with people from other (art) disciplines is a big inspiration!! I’m not a very technical person, and I sometimes have ideas that are just not possible without people who are technical. For me technology is a source of possibilities.


Q: If you could have anyone alive or dead wearing your fashion-tech design, whom would you pick, and where would they be?
I think that it is a pity we live in a time where famous people wearing your fashion pieces is so very important. It’s almost to the extreme that if no one does wear it, you do not exist as a designer… Of course, we all want to be recognized as designers, and would it be great if a person that promotes high fashion would like to wear “DENZIPFADEN.” But for me it is not so much about a specific person… I think I would be more than happy to be recognized by all the people who love and understand fashion in general.

Q: How do you envision the everyday fashion-tech of the future?

I think that fashion is something else then just clothes….clothes is a translation of fashion, things we wear in our daily live. If I look at a clothes perspective—I think if we want to integrate it in our daily live, it depends on the people, and on the technology that is being used. People love to wear practical things and integrating technology makes it complex to wear, to wash, iron etc…so it depends on how they translate the endless creativity and possibilities of fashion.



Q: Tell us about the piece you developed at Quartier21 during your Artist-in-Residency.

The name of the piece is DENZIPFADEN. It is a high fashion men’s outfit that functions as a music/dj controller. The suit and especially the top, is totally handcrafted out of golden silk/polyester wires, and custom made golden zippers that carry the electrical circuit of the suit. By pulling the zippers (6 including the bracelet) up and down the wearer can change the volume of the music or add samples—or anything else from a midi-controller. Our goal was to bring fashion, music, and technology together into a spherical, junglelistic, and dark high fashion men’s outfit. Although the suit is technical, it was designed specifically not to appear that way, making the midi-controller function of the suit secondary to its function as a fashion garment. By keeping the technology hidden, it adds a great element of surprise to the DJ set.

Credits: Photographers: Michele Pauty; Igor Kruter; Richard Sinte Maartensdijk; Carina Hesper.

Vienna, August 2012

TECHNOSENSUAL Review + Interview with Maartje Dijkstra was last modified: October 3rd, 2012 by Valérie Lamontagne
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Fashion

TECHNOSENSUAL Review + Interview with Kobakant

written by Valérie Lamontagne

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MIKA SATOMI [JP/SE] + HANNAH PERNER-WILSON [AT/USA] “THE CRYING DRESS” (2012)



When we think of wearables, we tend to associate futuristic streamlined shapes, innovative and synthetic materials, and sports or body enhancing technologies. Rarely do we envision the poetry of the combination of craft and narrative to bring wearable technologies alive, and emotionally vibrant. Kobakant’s recent project, “The Crying Dress,” is made for a speculative future where crafts are highly valued, and widows are bequest dresses which may cry for them. The design is Kobakant’s first foray into fashion, where previous projects saw them honing their craft and DIY e-textile skills. It is interesting to note how Kobakant foregrounds the importance of context, story telling, and of imaginative expectations of the future of wearables which are incumbent on the re-valuing of hand-skills over the machine made. “The Crying Dress” is exquisitely poignant and melancholic, suitable for a distant future that is sure to reawakens the past.

Q: What is your background?
Mika: Media Art, Graphic Design
Hannah: Industrial Design, Media Arts and Sciences

Q: What led you to your being involved in fashion and technology?
M: We used conductive fabric for our first collaborative project “Massage Me”, and we got hooked with the material property of the E-textiles.
H: Yes, the materiality of E-textiles got us hooked on electronics. “The Crying Dress” is our first real fashion project and we really enjoyed combining E-textiles with fashion as a medium to tell a story using visual aesthetics and the craftsmanship of the work, as well as the functionality and materiality of the electronics.



Q: What kinds of materials and technologies are used and integrated into your designs? Could you describe the process / challenges / advantages of using these particular materials in fashion and garments?

M & H: First of all, our projects are not necessary focusing on fashion or garments. The use of conductive textile materials in electronics brings us interesting ways to understand technologies instead of leaving them in a black box. Also incorporating textile techniques, such as embroidery, in the production of electronic objects gives us different ideas of time and skills involved in makings.

Q: What does technology add to fashion?

M: I do not have a particular answer to this question. I feel that it is similar to asking “what does Hat adds to fashion”, and I will not have answer to that.

H: There are so many different kinds of technologies involved in fashion design and production, but what does fashion add to technology? Fashion is a fun medium for telling stories, being extremely visual and bringing technology close to the body.

Q: If you could have anyone alive or dead wearing your fashion-tech design, whom would you pick, and where would they be?

M: Our project comes with the story of a rich man ordering a dress for his wife to wear for his funeral. I do not know who will be romantic enough to do that.

H: Designing “The Crying Dress” for a fictional character in a futuristic story was a lot of fun and gave us a lot of inspiration and room to make statements about the future of technology. I would love to work on another piece in similar style, where the garment exists within a context that adds meaning to the piece and also inspires details of the design and it’s electronic function.

Q: How do you envision the everyday fashion-tech of the future?

M: I do not think it is necessary that we are wearing fashion-tech in everyday life in future. We may be still wearing wool sweaters and cotton shirts. I think we are at the point to experiment and to play with this technology/techniques to see how we want to have them in future. We may end up not wearing them at all except for one day in your life. Let’s see.

H: I agree with Mika, in our work we are more interested in combining fashion with technology to explore ideas, rather than make our ideas an everyday reality.

Q: Tell us about the piece you developed at Quartier21 during your Artist-in-Residency.

M & H: During our one-month residency at the MuseumsQuartier, we explored the idea of exquisite electronics, electronics as high-end custom crafted goods in contrast to today’s mass-produced affordable electronics designed to suit the needs of many. As a basis for their exploration, we took on a fictional commission for a funeral gown that would accompany the wife of the deceased during her time of mourning. The result of this commission is “The Crying Dress.” Inspired by cultural customs that employ professional mourners to express sorrow for the deceased, the dress is designed to shed tears of mourning that drip from a headpiece onto the gown, passing over hand embroidered sensors that trigger a weeping soundscape played out through embroidered speakers.


Credits: Photographer:  Kiki + courtesy of the artist.
Vienna, August 2012

TECHNOSENSUAL Review + Interview with Kobakant was last modified: September 24th, 2012 by Valérie Lamontagne
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Fashion

TECHNOSENSUAL Review + Interview with Ying Gao

written by Valérie Lamontagne

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YING GAO [CA] “PLAYTIME” (2010) + “(NO)WHERE (NOW)HERE” (2012)



Ying Gao’s “PLAYTIME,” inspired by French film maker Jacques Tati’s 1967 movie of the same name, explores our slippery, and often plain old clunky, relationship to technological advancements. Where Tati proposed an ironic and humorist critique of Modernism’s overtaking of human agency—with automatic garage doors and self-cooking kitchens going awry—Gao looks at the intangibility of grasping our immediate technological environments. With “PLAYTIME” we are offered garments, which eschew documentation by kinetically blurring out (through rapid movement) their own image when being photographed. Like an unruly portrait subject, these garments resist photo documentation—arguably one of the key operatives of the fashion industry—to give us nothing more than a fleeting view, more like the runway performance than the photograph.

It is as if we have gone full circle from Eadweard Muybridge’s use of the camera apparatus to reveal more about the physical world—remember Muybridge first used his stop motion photography to prove that a horse was able to have all legs up in the air when running—to the physical world enacting strategies to hide itself from capture. “(NO)WHERE (NOW)HERE” is a new piece developed while in residence earlier this year at the Quartier21 and features high-tech perception-altering gold encrusted fibres. The garment has the ability to showcase two silhouettes: that of an exterior shell, and that of a “glow int he dark” interior shell, all depending on ambient lighting conditions.



Q: What is your background?
I’m a fashion designer and professor at Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). I graduated from both Haute École d’Art et de Design de Genève (HEAD) and UQAM. I’ve been working as a fashion designer for 15 years. I started to be interested in new technologies and media arts while I was completing a master degree in Interactive Multimedia 13 years ago.



Q: What led you to your being involved in fashion and technology?

The desire to experiment and expand my horizons.

Q: What kinds of materials and technologies are used and integrated into your designs? Could you describe the process / challenges / advantages of using these particular materials in fashion and garments?

I use two distinct methods of integrating technology with fashion design: The first method is direct, meaning the microelectronic technology is physically integrated into the garment. The challenge, in terms of fashion design, is to construct garments with free-flowing dimensions affording the potential for numerous shapes, unlike the fixed measurements of so-called traditional garments. My interactive projects propose an in-depth study on the garment’s adjustable structure and the integration of pneumatic and interactive technologies. These garments appear vivid, ephemeral and fluid in shape: one of the dresses vibrantly unfolds when triggered by a ray of light. Another one breathes gently as it is touched by a gust of air. The variety of physical shapes emerges from the art of folding paper, giving a poetic aesthetic form to the ethereal and intangible. It forms a creative framework in which media devices (sensors, cameras, microprocessors) become components of garments.



Secondly, I use the indirect method. Technology is my source of inspiration, it is the base of my creations, but invisible on the garment. Some works are based on the unconventional application of software. “Indice de l’indifférence” used the data of an online survey to modify the pattern, angle and width of a man’s shirt according to the indifference of voters. In “(uni) forms,” a morphing software rendered new uniforms within seconds, ignoring their social implications.


Q: What does technology add to fashion?

I often say that fashion is a sort of “encounter with time.” The future belongs to those who use the technologies of their time. BUT: Both technology and fashion embody the most fragile and ephemeral aspects of our culture, insofar as that which is cutting-edge today will be old news tomorrow. Fashion designers have known for a long time that they are working with a fleeting material that will never be timeless. However, the integration of electronic technology seems to modify the creative process, both in terms of the surface and the structure of garments.



Q: If you could have anyone alive or dead wearing your fashion-tech design, whom would you pick, and where would they be?

A wooden dress mannequin.


Q: How do you envision the everyday fashion-tech of the future?

In certain areas such as sports, military, and medicine, yes, it’s already there. I wonder if our everyday wear will become communication tools in the near future, even if methods are developed to facilitate the integration of these devices.



Q: Tell us about the piece you developed at Quartier21 during your Artist-in-Residency.
The use of the sham within the fashion system is at the core of the conception of the pieces in the series “no(where), now(here)“. Two “sham” garments will allow the public to get a feel of the illusion and repetition that fuel the inner workings of the collection.



Two pieces of clothing; the first is made from a stiff material, it is visible from afar, in day or artificial light. The second is made using photoluminescent thread and pigment, it is visible up-close, in darkness. The two pieces are suspended on a hanger, the first superimposed over the second. A proximity sensor connected to the lighting system detects the presence of the spectator; when he or she enters the room, the lights go on and the first piece is visible, when the spectator leaves, the lights go out and the second piece “unseeably” shows itself.


This play of light and darkness reveals the truth of the forms, and brings to light the pieces’ representational relevance. Their presence is so ephemeral and deceptive that they don’t seem to exist in space and time at all. Are these objects real, or not?

This game of perception and illusion plays with what is not quite real, despite the concrete reality of the objects themselves, whose forms are shaped by the darkness, providing a response to the light.



Credits: Photographer: Dominique Lafond; Portrait Photographer: Marc Tomass.

Montréal, September 2012

TECHNOSENSUAL Review + Interview with Ying Gao was last modified: September 18th, 2012 by Valérie Lamontagne
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Interviews

TECHNOSENSUAL Review + Interview with Local Androids

written by Valérie Lamontagne

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LOCAL ANDROIDS [NL] “LIKE LIVING ORGANISMS” (2012)



“LIKE LIVING ORGANISMS” by Local Androids is literally a second skin. Both having the colour, texture, and feel—as well as movement—of skin, this synthetic dress/garment/appendage—which in fact keeps uncovered many of the essential parts of the body such as the buttocks and breasts—has the capacity to inflate and change shape when touched. Much like our own bodies in times of distress or intense emotion, the garment shape-changes to suit the wearer’s mood or state. In its disturbing similitude to real skin, “LIKE LIVING ORGANISMS” seemingly extends the wearer’s physiognomy to unexpected results, playing on our willingness to accept the garment as an a physical extension of our skin.

Q: What is your background?
We, Cor and Leonie Baauw both studied illustration at the HKU art academy.

Cor: We didn’t limit ourselves to the 2D platform, or pencils within illustration. Leonie graduated in interactive installation, and I in concept video animation with augmented reality.



Q: What led you to your being involved in fashion and technology?

Cor: For us it was less about fashion but more about the body, and technology I suppose. In our work the body is a returning subject, creating something that adds to the body through technology was a natural step for us. When Anouk asked me [to develop this] I felt challenged and excited.

Q: What kinds of materials and technologies are used and integrated into your designs? Could you describe the process / challenges / advantages of using these particular materials in fashion and garments?

Leonie: Skin is an important subject in our work. Also realism, so dragon skin (silicone) and psychopaint is a fitting material for its realism and flexibility. The technology we use depends entirely on the concept, so we are not bound to a specific technology. I think it is challenging to make skin people want to touch. Making it look like skin without making people grossed out.



Q: What does technology add to fashion?

Cor: Difficult question. It depends, sometimes only a spectacle or aesthetic, sometimes it’s functional, for us I hope it helps to illustrate our concept.

Leonie: We’re still in the beginning state of fashion-tech. Now it’s mainly exploring the possibilities and also researching what technology CAN add. From my vision it’s not commercial enough for real purposes yet, but I am curious as to what it will add in the future.



Like living organisms from Local Androids on Vimeo.


Q: If you could have anyone alive or dead wearing your fashion-tech design, whom would you pick, and where would they be?

Leonie: Eve! (from Adam and Eve). Anyone who dares to wear it.

Cor: The people from the future. Then again, it is not really meant to be worn as a fashion item.



Q: How do you envision the everyday fashion-tech of the future?

Leonie: From my vision it will be more practical instead of a spectacular lights shows, if it matches with the commercial world. However, we live right now in a consumption-throw-away-society and technology is too expensive for that. But if it becomes commercial it’s more likely to be solving comfort problems in regards to clothing. For instance sweat spots, the white skin under the bikini after sunbathing, or cold feet/hands in the winter. So heating-shoes, cooling shirts, bikini’s that let UV through. Also I, and perhaps a lot of other women, would enjoy buying printed shoe models on the internet, which you can 3D-print at home. No more drama with package services, and it will always fit!

Q: Tell us about the piece you developed at Quartier21 during your Artist-in-Residency.

“LIKE LIVING ORGANISMS” is an interactive organic skin suit that expresses emotions like between two people when they first meet. It’s all about the first impression.

Our work responds to the visitor by showing a pulse through the veins when being approached. Tension builds up, the closer the viewer get’s to the work, the faster it pulses. The neck, a sensual part of the body, is hidden until someone dares to make contact, then the suit will relax and show it’s vulnerable side.

Cor: Most challenging for me was finding a solution in making the garment seem alive, and giving the impression that the work presented a new way for people to express themselves through their clothing. A more emotional way perhaps. We chose to use air. This was particularly challenging to control, but perfect for our concept because of it is difficult to control yet organic in behavior.

Leonie: I think the most challenging part was how can you work with a stretchable material without blowing it up or overheating it over long period of time. Or not making it too loud, while being able to inflate it within a short time.
 


To built it we used: Dragonskin (silicone); Psychopaint (silicone paint); 2 pumps; A lot of wires; A proximity sensor to measure the distance between the piece and the visitor; And a touch sensor; Home made valves.



Credits: Photographer: Viktor Krammer; Design: Local Androids; Engineers: Ralf Jacobs, Daniel Schatzmayr & Berend-Jan van Dijk.



Vienna, August 2012

TECHNOSENSUAL Review + Interview with Local Androids was last modified: September 12th, 2012 by Valérie Lamontagne
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Interviews

TECHNOSENSUAL Review + Interview with Melissa Coleman

written by Valérie Lamontagne

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MELISSA COLEMAN [NL] + LEONIE SMELT [NL] “THE HOLY DRESS” (2012)



Constructed from a hacked 1990s lie detector and a novelty shocking pen, Melissa Coleman’s “THE HOLY DRESS” is not for the weak of conscience. Fabricated as a large gold star-shaped armature-like array of LEDs that sits atop a white form fitting dress, “THE HOLY DRESS” invites the viewer to place her/his hand on a metallic “lie” detector and speak to the dress. When (or if) the speaker displays vocal stress, the dress both illuminates and administers a shock. When worn on one’s body, it has the ability to function as moral apparatus of “sousveillance,” the act of self-surveillance, encouraging its wearer to deliver “truth” utterances, or suffer the immediate physical repercussions.

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MELISSA COLEMAN [NL] “MEDIA VINTAGE ALPHA” + “MEDIA VINTAGE CHARLIE” (2009)



Alan Turing, British War World II code breaker extraordinaire, was also in his essay writings a positive proponent for the abilities of computers to benefit human kind’s cognitive and expressive abilities through their capacities for large data storage and processing. “MEDIA VINTAGE” as a project seeks to re-materialize digital media though the means of textiles and clothing. “MEDIA VINTAGE ALPHA” is a suitcase with a re-mediating ribbon platform that can be used to write analogue morse codes. “MEDIA VINTAGE CHARLIE” is a trench coat carrying textile punch cards on which are contained audio files of the childhood memories if an American man born in the 1920s. Situated somewhere between the early concepts of media storage such as Vannevar Bush’s “memex” (a hypothetical proto-hypertext media storage system he envisioned around 1945)-and today’s notion of portable data storage platforms as seen in cloud computing to mobile phones, “MEDIA VINTAGE” can be understood as a trip “back to the future” of technology to better understand present day data storage and computation.



Q: What is your background?
I have a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and a Master’s in MediaTechnology from Leiden University. I currently lecture at art and design schools, curate a traveling exhibition [entitled PRETTY SMART TEXTILES] and make interactive art. I do some programming on the side and host e-textile expert meetings at V2_ with Piem Wirtz.


Q: What led you to your being involved in fashion and technology?
During my Master’s I started making interactive art focusing on the body and technology. Clothing—and later fashion—was inevitable. It’s really the most natural interface for the body after one’s own skin.

Q: What kinds of materials and technologies are used and integrated into your designs? Could you describe the process / challenges / advantages of using these particular materials in fashion and garments?
In “THE HOLY DRESS” we’re using brass wire that’s been hard soldered and coated with a copper layer to create the cage-like design. The lights that have been glued on the inside of the design are connected to the back of the dress with very thin copper wire. The advantage of using copper on copper is that the wiring is nearly invisible unless you look up close. The challenge is you have to be very careful with isolating the wiring to avoid short circuits.


Q: What does technology add to fashion?
The potential for transformation.


Q: If you could have anyone alive or dead wearing your fashion-tech design, whom would you pick, and where would they be?
Loie Fuller, the first light designer. She would have understood the poetry and potential of wearable technology. The arm extensions she made for her serpentine dance were basically analog wearables.


Q: How do you envision the everyday fashion-tech of the future?

Everyday fashion-tech would be made of specialty fabrics that would seamlessly integrate technology. They would be pretty, self-charging, wireless and available by the meter.


Q: Tell us about the piece you developed at Quartier21 during your Artist-in-Residency.
“THE HOLY DRESS” was developed together with fashion designer Leonie Smelt. Joachim Rotteveel did the metal work. “THE HOLY DRESS” is a wearable lie detector that punishes you through an electric shock if you don’t tell the truth. By wearing the dress you have the opportunity to become a martyr for truth.

Credits: “THE HOLY DRESS”: Photographer: Sanja Marusic; Model: Bibiche for Dune Agency; Hair & Makeup: Darien Touma. “MEDIAVINTAGE ALPHA & CHARLIE: Photographer: David Joosten.

Vienna, August 2012

TECHNOSENSUAL Review + Interview with Melissa Coleman was last modified: September 7th, 2012 by Valérie Lamontagne
September 7, 2012 0 comment
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Interviews

TECHNOSENSUAL Review + Interview with Pauline van Dongen

written by Valérie Lamontagne

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PAULINE VAN DONGEN [NL] “MORPHOGENESIS SHOES” (2010)



The pliable world of new synthetic constructions from 3D printing to other forms of rapid prototyping is changing the manufacturing paradigms of the 21st century. Pauline Van Dongen’s impetus to develop the 3D printed shoe stemmed from a need to create a very small number of custom designed shoes, which led to a collaboration with the seminal Amsterdam-based 3D printing company Freedom of Creation. The result was an ornately detailed, and fantastical shoe, which defies previous cobbling techniques as well as visions. The “MORPHOGENESIS” shoe opens up the design paradigm to unique customization and production flows divorced of present manufacturing means of production. 3D printing, and other rapid prototyping manufacturing schemas, are giving creatives an opportunity to produce limited, on-demand, need-based design objects both locally, and from materials that are increasingly in view of becoming sustainable, thus potentially limiting future carbon footprints while expanding aesthetic expression.



Q: What is your background?

I’m a fashion and shoe designer. I graduated from my Master in fashion design in 2010 and started my own label afterwards.



Morphogenesis 3D printed shoe animation from Pauline van Dongen on Vimeo.

Q: What led you to your being involved in fashion and technology?

To me ‘Innovation is the only way forward’. In my work I’m constantly challenging myself to make the impossible possible. I think this is why I’m also drawn to technology, which also has this nature of ‘problem solving’.  I prefer to work like a researcher.



Q: What kinds of materials and technologies are used and integrated into your designs? Could you describe the process / challenges / advantages of using these particular materials in fashion and garments?
I always like experimenting with materials that are new or that I haven’t worked with before. Often they are not commonly used in fashion. For example I’ve created shoes which are 3D printed and garments made out of buntal (a woven wood fiber from the Philippines)


I think it’s because of my inquisitive nature that I constantly like to surprise myself. I’ve recently started experiments with ferrofluid, not because I see it being applicable in fashion right away but just because it fascinates me.


It doesn’t always have to be a newly developed material, but it can be something more traditional like leather that I work with or treat in such way that it gets a new look/surface. So it’s not only about the material but also about applying or mastering a certain technique.


One of the challenges when using an uncommon material is finding a good way to finish it in a garment. For example, I’ve worked with ‘crin’ which is a braided nylon and it almost falls apart once you cut it.


Q: What does technology add to fashion?
I think technology opens both eyes and doors towards new opportunities; it offers designers new ways of construction or fabrication, the possibility to add certain features to garments or fabrics. It changes perspectives!


Q: If you could have anyone alive or dead wearing your fashion-tech design, whom would you pick, and where would they be?
I’d like to create a fashion-tech design for an astronaut, to wear it during a journey in outer space. This would need a lot of special and high tech features though!

Q: How do you envision the everyday fashion-tech of the future?
To me hi-tech is not solely a dress that moves or a T-shirt that lights up. It’s also about using new innovations that could add certain qualities or enhance performance to the person wearing it. Like using for example nanotechnology to create textiles with, for instance, integrated electronics or self-cleaning abilities. Or using biomimicry, and being inspired by nature’s processes to create water repellent surfaces or phase change materials. To me it’s also about achieving an intelligent design with new characteristics. I do see this becoming beneficial for every day life.

Q: Tell us about the piece you developed at Quartier21 during your Artist-in-Residency.
During my residency I’m developing an interactive garment made with flip-dots. These dots are commonly used in a flip-dot display; an electromechanical dot matrix display technology used for large outdoor signs. I’m collaborating with Daniel Schatzmayr, software developer/robot hacker, who helped engineering this kinetic piece. The company Alfa-Zeta has provided me with the flip-dots of which 600 will be covering the upper part of the body and can be individually addressed by a computer to animate patterns swirling around the body.

Vienna, August 2012
Credits: Morphogenesis: Photography: Mike Nicolaassen; Kinetic Landscapes: Photography: Mike Nicolaassen, Model: Macha at Fresh Model Management, Hair styling: Tommy Hagen at House of Orange, Make-up: Vera Dierckx at House of Orange, Styling: April Jumelet, Shoe design: Anna Korshun, Jewelry: NAT art & Jewelry; FlipDot: Photography: courtesy of the designer.


TECHNOSENSUAL Review + Interview with Pauline van Dongen was last modified: August 28th, 2012 by Valérie Lamontagne
August 28, 2012 0 comment
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