Shine A Light: New Developments in Wearable Technology

With gadgets becoming evermore a part of our daily routines, it's about time that our clothing follows suit, capitalizing on technological advances to do more than just look good. Led by Hussein Chalayan—who gives us a peek of the near future every season with his wildly inventive tech couture—a vanguard of young designers are reconfiguring fashion as wearable technology, creating clothing and accessories that change shape, capture solar energy and even provide therapeutic services such as massage and phototherapy.

At the intersection of fashion, technology and art is English designer Di Mainstone. She creates haute architectural pieces that are also interactive: In her Skorpions project, kinetic dresses morph and transform in slow, organic motions, and her latest Sharewear collection, which was presented at V2 in Rotterdam, consists of two modular dresses that link together via magnetic modules to activate lamps that cast dramatic pools of light and shadow. The designer describes her new clothes as "practical, playful and visionary," adding, "Through this unbridled experimentation, we aim to draw innovative concepts that will prove to be commercial." To that end, Mainstone's newest project is exploring how embedded technologies could enable a garment to help combat Seasonal Affective Disorder (aka, the winter blues).

New York-based designer Angel Chang also works with smart textiles, recently delivering a ruffle-tiered dress whose heat-sensitive fabric, when warmed, reveals a map of Manhattan. When asked about her approach, Chang, who has worked with Viktor & Rolf and Marc Jacobs, explains quite simply that her aim is "to show that clothes can actually do something." One of Chang's strengths is that that special "something" doesn't have to be too over-the-top. Her hit debut collection featured a range of raincoats that lit up, and she's been on a roll ever since.

Speaking of light, sportswear that integrates LEDs has been a popular area of development of late. On the runways in Munich last November, fashion designer Willy Bogner sent down ski suits adorned with solar-powered LED lights and a "Sexy Space Suit" equipped with airbags. Taking skiwear in another, perhaps more practical direction, is O'Neill's NavJack ski jacket, which has an LED navigational display as well as audio connections in its hood to direct skiers cross-country.

For those of us whose primary sport is long-distance computing, there's Philips' Soft Therapy massage garment, which uses infrared heat and vibrating massage to reduce tension in strained muscles and joints in the shoulders and back. Elsewhere, in the novelty item category, the ThinkGeek web store offers a Wi-Fi Detector Shirt with glowing bars that change as the strength of the wi-fi signal in your vicinity fluctuates.

Mathias Gmachl, the director of design and research studio Loop.pH, is another name to remember when talking about enhanced textiles and reactive surfaces. With partner Rachel Wingfield, Gmachl created the clever, eco-friendly Sonumbra—a parasol by day, offering shelter from the sun, and a streetlight by night, using the solar cells in its canopy to shed light for the surrounding community. Gmachl also uses this electroluminescent technology in his Light Sleeper, a set of bedding that gently wakes the sleeper in the most natural way, with an alarm set to illuminate the sheets.

As in other areas of fashion, sustainability and eco-consciousness have become key focal points within the realm of technological development, with solar power in particular seeing an increased presence in luxe wardrobes. A new softer and more flexible range of solar panels can be found in C'N'C' Costume National's accessory line, which boasts handbags composed of strips of mini solar panels in contrasting colors. Along the same lines are Jane Palmer and Marianne Fairbanks' Noon solar bags. Made from sustainable materials and hand-dyed with organic pigments, the bags have solar panels woven into their sides that can charge cell phones, iPods and other electronic necessities. Italian designer Ermenegildo Zegna has also made use of solar technology, with his sports line featuring a jacket with a removable neoprene collar set with small solar panels.

Wearable technology still has many obstacles to overcome before being seamlessly integrated into our everyday outfit choices, but, as is evident, designers are already proceeding full-speed ahead—eager to explore and refine the emerging possibilities. As Mainstone says, "It may be a while before intricate electronic fashion becomes commonplace on the high street, but I feel certain that consumers are ready to accept new modes of fashion interactivity."

—Flavia Mendonça