Still in my catch up mode to hunt down interesting material for talk2myShirt I literally stumbled upon a beautiful textile dress made by Chung-Hay Luk and presented at the eTextile and Wearable Computing Showcase last May, the Sound Illuminating Dress.

The Sound Illuminating Dress is a cleverly designed strapless dress which made the technology involved part of the style decision. Part of the dress is kept in dark fabric while the other part containing EL (electroluminescent) wire at the seam is made from light, white color which wraps in an irregular shape around the front.

The light effect is activated by ambient sound picked up from a microphone. Instead of flashing the light Chung-Hay Luk choose to have a subtle, sophisticated, pulsating light intensity change in the rhythm of life music.

Watch the short video clip below you be surprised.

I have not been a big fan of EL wire designs up to now but seeing Chung-Hay Luk’s design I have to revise my low opinion about EL wire in garments – it’s a matter of aesthetic design understanding what a material can deliver.

Vega, the brightest star in the constellation Lyra and the fifth brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere gave the inspiration for Canadian clothing designer Angella Mackey who resides currently in Gothenburg, Sweden for her first illuminated fashion design, the Vega One.

The Vega One is a medium to lightweight Spring dress coat made of a satin finish 60% cotton and 40% polyester fabric and to justify the name – includes two sets of 2 super bright LEDs, one on the front and one on the back.

The light elements are nicely discrete integrated into the coats’ design and offer solid or flashing modes selectable via a switch hidden on the front of the coat.

The power for the electronics and LEDs comes from two button cell batteries which are build into Light Strip forming a soft unit that can be removed when the coat needs a cleaning.

The front LED light color is white while the color of the back is red. This color scheme indicates one of the options Angella designed  with the Vega One coat: for better visibility and safety. Or use the light elements for style/aesthetic purpose, adding sparkling, twinkling focus points to the coat.

To celebrate the launch of the Vega collection which will extend with the Vega cape and raincoat, Anglea Mackey’s shop offers a $100 discount from the full price of $449, valid until April 1st 2011!

It’s encouraging to see more and more products coming to the market that integrate some of the wearable technologies researchers, developers and innovators in the textile domain have been experimenting over the past decade.

The Vega One coat is made in Borås, Sweden, a small town just outside Gothenburg with a rich textile tradition and the University of Borås famous among wearable technologists for their activities in Smart Textile education and research.

Without pretending to be a oracle that knows what’s in the fashion stores of the future I do see light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to illuminated clothing.

The idea of illuminating clothing for aesthetic purpose has been around for some time and Cute Circuit started the commercialization of illuminated clothing earlier this year with their Twirkle collection.

2011 seems to see more light coming down the runway thanks to ‘Moon Berlin‘, a Berlin based fashion-label founded by Brigitte Franken and Christian Bruns with the aim to combine light technique with high fashion in a sensitive way.

Using light as a sophisticated design element to create many different aspects and effects, Moon Berlin cooperated with Stretchable Circuits, a spin-off from the Fraunhofer Institut which developed the soft circuit technique used in Moon Berlin’s first illuminated fashion collection which will be launched in 2011.

A sneak peek on MOON Berlin’s illuminated fashion can be seen in the video below.

Amy Winters is a new media artist and fashion designer whose work lies at the intersection of fashion, visual arts, music, film, dance and theater. The British/Swiss artist graduated from Central Saint Martin’s in 2006 with a BA in Theater Design.

Her first ready-to wear collection was on the runway during this month London Fashion Week, a capsule collection of wearable printed garments which change color in reaction to sunlight and water.

Based on Hydrochromic and Photochromic technology, Amy’s collection stands far out from the designs I have seen so far utilizing these chameleon affective materials.

Beautifully integrated into the style of a dress, using the technology to enhance and not to be an add-on.

Her Spring/Summer 2011 collection – yes the fashion world is already busy to get out the next season’s fashion – is inspired by the vibrant color of the Rain-forest, light rain, cloud bursts and tropical thunderstorms.

The water-reactive ink disappears revealing the color underneath the dress whilst the sun-reactive ink turns the Rain-forest dress purple.

I love the aesthetically sophisticated look of her collection which shows the full potential of Hydrochromic and Photochromic inks applied to clothing.

Amy Winters is a fashion designer to follow closely if you are looking for the Haute-Tech touch in your wardrobe. Check out her amazing collection and other projects at Rainbowwinters.com

Two years ago Mary Huang, at that time student of Design|Media Arts department at UCLA started weaving and knitting with light.

The interview I have done with her was inspiring and shed already some light on her future relation with fashion and technology.

Fast forward into our present day, Mary’s Rhyme&Reason collection evolved technically up to the point at which she started a ‘made to order’ business enabling techno fashionistas to own and wear illuminated dresses with a magical light touch.

Each piece of her collection (scroll down on her Website and browse through the different styles) is handmade so every garment will be unique. Slight customizations to the design for each individual are also welcome.

Mary incorporates dozens of bright white LEDs into each garment with the connections made of conductive yarn woven through the knit or sewn onto the fabric for an invisible finish.

Included in the dress is a custom made Li-ion battery that lasts for around 8 hours of illumination as well as a battery charger. Making a dress takes around one month.

The prices range from around $ 600.- for a scarf to $2200.- for a coat.

Rhyme&Reason can be see on Sept 24 + 25 at the Center for Performance Research 361 Manhattan Avenue, Unit 1, Brooklyn, NY during the Indelible Dance performance.

The video below is a short teaser of Mary Huang’s Rhyme&Reason collection that captivates through the magic of illuminated fashion.

For fashionistas looking for the extraordinary wardrobe touch, Rhyme&Reason is something to consider adding to the growing Haute Tech collection of her wardrobe.

It looks like CuteCircuit is heading into a bright fashion future with their recent launch of the twinkling Twirkle Shirt collection and soon to be launched M-Dress.

The latest Haute-Tech dress CuteCircuit is preparing to launch is according to Grazia the K-Dress. I guess the ‘K’ of this dress comes from Katy Perry’s sparkling dress CuteCircuit made for her red carpet appearance during the Met Gala of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The K-Dress is a scaled down version, using less LEDs but from my perspective look gorgeous with the light element running down one side of the dress, pleasantly to look at.

UK retailer Selfridges announced to exclusively launch the K-Dress as part of its Christmas offer.

According to information from Selfridges ‘… the lights in the dress can create a stunning dynamic range of colors fully controlled by the wearer using the tiny push button controller.’

The light up element  of the K-Dress is capable to display waves of color shades, changing the intensity of the light from discrete to eye-catching, in short, creating a magical style element controlled via a tiny button on the dress.

Knowing myself how challenging the integration of LED light elements into clothing is I am truly amazed how soon CuteCircuit made it happen to bring such sophisticated, technology enriched fashion not only on stage put make it available to the general public, to feel and be like a star by wearing it.

The K-Dress will retail for £1,350 or around $2,100.- a steep price point at first look but for this type of high fashion wardrobe, a small amount for a very unique wardrobe item.

[via: StyleGuru]

Francesca Rosella and Ryan Genz, the creative force behind CuteCircuit are pushing the limits of wearable technology far into the future with their recent activities which ranges from illuminated stage-wear for artists to launching their own CuteStore for technology enhanced fashion.

In the ‘coming soon…’ section of the store we can find the famous Hug Shirt and the latest and coolest addition, the M-Dress.

The M (Mobile Phone) Dress is, as the name says, a mobile phone in form of a dress. That’s the coolest mobile phone form factor there will be on the market, surpassing the iPhone be far, at least from style perspective.

I am of course as curious as you our dear reader how this dressed up phone will work but according to CuteCircuit’s Website it does accept a standard SIM card which goes into a small slot underneath the label and the antenna is concealed in the hem of the dress. No mention which battery is used or where it will be stored in the dress.

The M-Dress will have the phone number of the SIM card you have used in the old days where people used plastic and metal boxes to make a phone call.

When the dress rings (or may be vibrating is more appropriate) raising the arm to your ear will open the call triggered by a motion sensor. Putting your arm down will close the call. Simple and beautiful.

CuteCircuit has developed special gesture recognition software to enable the smart M-Dress to work in an intuitive way, blending into the fabric of our digital life.

Lets hope CuteCircuit is also serving the other half of the population, the boys, with a similar futuristic designed piece of garment.

One of the pioneers and trendsetter in the wearable technology fashion world, London based CuteCircuit has made their name by integrating new functionality into fashion through the use of smart textiles and micro electronics.

This integration has been recently demonstrated with the design of dresses for Katy Perry and Safura or the Galaxy Dress. To bring sparkling clothing to consumers CuteCircuit has opened their own online store offering technology enhanced clothing.

Rather then relaying on crystals releasing a sparkle when hit by a light beam, the Twirkle collection from CuteCircuit is the source of the sparkle, releasing a night sky star twinkle on a dress or shirt.

To ignite the sparkle you need to move, as more as you move as brighter you will sparkle and twinkle. I love this design twist by CuteCircuit to relate the light pattern to movements via a motion sensor.

The light sparkle effect is similar to the sparkle created by crystals that catch the surrounding light. The motion activation gives a more natural appearance, random light patterns rather than static, predefined and programmed light sequences that dent to be artificial and cheap looking light effects.

The Twirkle collection items run on basic coin cell batteries which are included in the retail price which ranges between $ 140.- and $ 187.- depending on the model.

The CuteStore is open for business and takes pre-orders with delivery by October, just in time for the darker season that need to be spiced up with a bit of sparkle coming from your shirt or dress.

Canadian designer-artist Valérie Lamontagne founded 3lectromode with the vision of innovating in the field of wearables by combining technology with customizable prêt-â-porter fashion.

Valérie and her small design group is focusing on the development of accessible wearables combining state-of-the-art technology and current fashion research, creating designs that resonate with our everyday needs as well as being sensitive to our environment.

Instead of creating design concepts that surprise and are lovely to look at, 3lectromode is commercializing the creations via their new online shop.

What’s more, you can either order the Asymmetrical Dress (in the photos) or the Symmetrical Dress as ready-to-wear for $500.- or as kit for $250.-

The kit contains everything needed for the eTextile seamstress to make an LED-embedded dress: Dress pattern and graphics printed on 100% cotton, lining pattern and circuit guides on Polyester blend, Conductive zipper, programmed LilyPad, 15 LEDs, conductive thread and batter inclusive charger.

I love this retail concept where one can chose to buy the complete functional and gorgeous looking dress or to use a kit for personalization adjustments.

The LED pattern will light up based on the selection you make when ordering the dress or kit: light sensor, temperature sensor or Accelerometer sensor.

A fabulous concept, design wise as well as business wise – it’s as unique as interactive clothing is in itself – ready for a Brave New World of fashion.

Our first technology enhanced fashion item of 2010 comes from Marina Polakoff, fashion designer and interactive technologies enthusiast who creates costumes for music and dance shows.

Marina’s gorgeous looking dresses set the right frame for a colorful and eventful wearable electronic year ahead of us.

Her garments interact with music, voice and movements, blending the appearance of the dress with the acoustic dimension of the performer.

Each of her dresses contain hundreds of mini LEDs, integrated into the fabric to diffuse the high bright LEDs for a softer, more natural appearance.

The intensity, color and light effects are controlled by the surrounding sound and movements and translated into lighting effects ranging from very subtle to highly dramatic color plays on the costumes.

I am happy to present this particular designer/work today as exactly one year ago, in the opening blog posting of 2009 I was lamenting a bit about the too techno looking clothing in the wearable electronic arena.

One year later and we can look back to various high tech fashion items from forward working designers which conceal the technology, pushing it far back and only show the effects technology can provide – in this case beautiful, magical color and sparkling light animated costumes.

These sensual yet sensational interactive fashion designs are not available in the ready-to-wear market but Marina will be more than happy to make you a tailor made Show of Light dress for your next event or party.

Want to see Marina’s dresses in action? Check out this Youtube video and this one.