Kinetic Dress by Kerry Jia Yi Lin

We love to transform ourselves by selecting our clothing carefully according the lifestyle, the belonging or the mood we want to represent.

Clothing that transforms itself based on our ever changing mood swings or social needs must be the ultimate solution for our desire to change outfit: Instant reaction on changes and taking away the need to rush home or to the next shop for a wardrobe change.

Kerry Jia Yi Lin, a postgraduate student at the University of Sydney with a great love for wearable computing, data visualization and sustainability created for her Master Honors Degree a shape shifting dress called ‘Silver – a kinetic dress for data driven self representation‘.

As amazing as the title itself, the dress functions as a wearable tactile display, visualizing the wearers emotional state through sensing her heart rate and body movements by altering the dress appearance.

The kinetics which in woven into the dress structure and powered by a LilyPad keeps on changing it’s shape based on the changing emotions of the wearer throughout the day.

Kinetic or shape shifting dresses have been shown before by Hussein Chalayan, Di Mainstone or Ying Gao but Kerry’s shape shifting Silver dress is likely the most advanced design yet with it’s high degree of integration making the complex kinetic mechanics underneath the dress invisible and advanced in terms of the use of shape shifting clothing which connects to the wearers personality and reacts to it.

Check out ‘the-making-off’ the Kinetic Dress which Kerry has documented in all it’s details on her project blog. A interesting reading and great source of inspiration for people interested into shape shifting fashion.

Kerry Jia Yi Lin keeps on surprising me with her highly creative designs like this one or the ‘How much I miss you‘ zipper communicator – first class examples on how technology and textiles can enrich your senses.

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