The recently published ‘Keyboard Jeans‘ by designer Erik De Nijs on Yanko Design is adding a new twist to the Interactive Fashion trend which is slowly but steady growing.

Sure, the ‘Keyboard Jeans’ are easily labeled as ‘Geeky’ and ‘Nerdy’ pushing form far beyond function but is this not the case with many Haute Couture designs in the fashion world?

Only when designer go beyond the limits progress in fashion (and anywhere else) will be made. Without people challenging the set limits means no progress in life, technology and fashion.

Haute Couture fashion designer like Christian Dior, Giorgio Armani, Versace and Yves Saint Laurent are experimenting and pushing the fashion limits in every new collection by presenting iconic models that will not make it to the shops but explore new techniques and materials which eventually will become our new fashion trend one day.

Haute Tech Fashion will follow a similar path to make progress and become part of future ‘ready to wear’ collections. The first name of a growing list of Haute Tech fashion designer, Hussein Chalayan is adding to his fashion shows Wearable Electronic inspired models to explore the value technology can add to fashion, emotion, aesthetics and style.

Back to the design concept of the ‘Keyboard Jeans’: having the complete multimedia system integrated in jeans might never be something that people will buy but it is demonstrating how jeans would look when having this type of interactivity.

Taking existing technologies like Fibretronic’s wearable remote control or ElekTex fabric keypad technology, some sensible and practical interactive functions in jeans would be possible for the ready-to-wear market.

Point in case is Levi’s RedWire DLX Jeans first launched in 2006. The ReWire DLX was only available a short time and the integration of the keypad was not the best of what design could do (technically and aesthetically) but it was a first step into exploring the possibility clothing could offer on interactivity with our every shrinking electronic devices.

Our clothing gives plenty of space for convenient, fun and stylish looking interaction with our micro and nano devices.

Less than two month after Levi’s® presented the Redwire™ DLX spring/summer 2007 collection, the Jeans are hitting the stores now.

The Redwire™ DLX is available in US and Japan in two different styles and two colors for men and for women.

One model is named Carrot, has the Slough fit and tapered leg. The Capri Redwire DXL is based on the Knee Knocker models with Slough fit as well.

Both Redwire™ DLX models have the iPod® docking cradle built into a hidden side pocket. A red wire (yeah, that’s why they call it Redwire) connects the cradle to the Jeans. Retractable headphones are fixed in a housing on the waistband.

The removable joystick is part of the watch pocket which controls the standard functions of the iPod like play, pause, track forward/back and adjust volume.

The Carrot and the Capri models come in black-casted indigo ‘Black Matrix‘ or bleached-out ‘White Nasty‘ denim.

Our style verdict: the Carrot looks far better than the very basic model from Levi’s first range last year. We welcome the larger selection of colors and styles. Let’s give Levi’s a thump’s up for their new Wearable Electronic range.

You can order the Redwire™ DLX Carrot on Levi’s® US online store for $260.- and the Capri goes for $ 250.- If you live in Japan, you can order the Redwire™ DLX models by ZoZo.