Richard Etter, Diana Grathwohl and Sigmund Homolya created AwareFashion, clothing that senses and visualizes today’s invisible, digital layer of wireless networks that surround us wherever we are.

AwareFashion’s concept is based on the idea to visualize the digital environment we are living with, which surrounds use. All the radio waves, be it radio or TV broadcast, GSM for cellphones, WiFi, Bluetooth or GPS or other wireless systems.

We can’t see, smell or feel radio waves but sometimes it would be useful to know what wireless networks are reachable for us at the place we are right now.

The team envisions to integrate wireless network sensing into clothing, making us aware of the surrounding digital environment.

One of their concept designs suggests the integration of the detection antenna and electronics into a shirt to visualize GSM cellphone activity. The shirt could be worn by staff at venues where cellphones should be switches off for security or privacy reasons.

The visualization of the invisible GSM signals is done via a radio wave to light signal converting electronics. The light signals are guided to the end of the shirts sleeves via fiber optics.

Richard Etter and Diana Grathwohl created another AwareFashion design concept called AwareCuffs, sensing nearby WiFi signals.

I like the AwareFashion concept as I am very much in favor of using our future clothing as replacement of the senses we would usually have via our skin and to add new senses, making us aware of benefits or danger in our environment of things that did not exist in our evolutionary history long enough to be sensed by any of our body parts to sense them, to make us aware of the digital dimension that surrounds us.

In our series of introducing the prototypes on stage during the Sept 25  ‘Smart Textile Salon‘, a jointed European workshop organized by the European projects SysTex and Proetex, we have a sneak peek at the Illuminative Sonic Top by Travis Li, currently Research Assistant at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

The ‘Illuminative Sonic Top’, inspired by the aesthetic forms and functions of a ceiling lighting has been transferred and transformed into a chick fashion accessory which is able to sense the changing sound waves of the surrounding environment and translates it to sparkling light flashes.

The prototype, shown during the Smart Textile Salon exhibition, has 128 blue, yellow purple and white LEDs embedded to display different patterns corresponding to the change of the volume and sound frequency.

Sound is detected via an embedded microphone in the chest area receiving the sound signals which are then amplified by the pre-amplifier circuits for further processing.

The LEDs and processing circuit are powered by three 9V batteries which will last for about 2 hours in full interactive mode.

Travis envisions this concept could be interesting for performing artists on the stage, I could not agree more with him but to my humble opinion, this interactive sparkle would look great on the dance floor or evening gowns alike.

Rainy days are usually grey days and if the rain stays for too long, the grey reflects on our mood as well. Late autumn is such a typical time of the year where grey and rain are often dominant.

To bring some colorful light into rainy days check out Puddlejumper, a concept from Elise Co, multimedia designer and programmer, who demonstrated with her project in 2004 how to brighten up those grey days filled with rain.

The Puddlejumper is a luminescent raincoat that glows in the rain. Hand silk screened electroluminescent lamps on the front of the jacket are wired to interior electronics and conductive water sensors on the back and left sleeve.

When water hits one of the sensors, the corresponding lamp lights up, creating a flickering pattern of illumination that mirrors the rhythm of rainfall.

Elise used for her project EL technology silk screened onto the raincoats outside fabric, a rather delicate operation but I can very well imagine to use e-textile LEDs which are readily available in the market. This makes things simpler if you plan to light up your rainy days.

The water sensor is simple enough to make, embroidered conductive thread (see photo on the right) in places where the rain interaction should take place. When the textile gets wet the electricity can flow between the two threads of the sensor and the switch is activated turning on the light. An amazingly simple e-textile water sensor.

A fantastic idea to use the elements to interact with clothing and change the outlook based on environmental influence. I hope the Puddlejumper concept from Elise Co can serve you as source of inspiration to light up your mood even when the rain stays for days.