twenty1f: fashion for the 21st century

The School of Textiles and Design at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh have begun a study on how women’s clothing affects the bottom.

Models with variously sized posteriors will wear different types of clothing as part of the research, which will examine how designs, colours, patterns and fabric types affect perception. Others will be asked to assess how big or small each model’s backside appears to look in the outfits.

“This study will provide for the first time detailed and usable information that would enable designers to make the clothes that help women make the most of their natural assets,” said Dr Lisa Macintyre, who is leading the study. ” There’s much discussion in the media of clothing styles that flatter the body and it’s generally accepted that enhancing body perception can improve confidence and self-esteem. “But the factors behind this have never been fully investigated in a proper scientific manner. Designers and consumers don’t currently have access to established information that could enable them to make or choose garments that enhance body size and shape.”

Four models had been chosen to provide a representative sample of female backsides, Macintyre said: the “standard”, the full “pre-Raphaelite” type, the smaller backside of a slim model and a curvier behind, like the famed example of actress and singer Jennifer Lopez.

Also featured in BBC News.

TAGS: bottom, perception, study

posted by : regine on 30 Dec 2005

The advanced nanotech underfoot insulation offered by ToastyFeet insole liners from Polar Wrap.

Most insulation requires loft but when you step on it, it gets compressed and loses its loft and therefore its insulating power. Aerogel doesn’t require loft as it contains nanometer-sized pockets of air that can maintain thermal protection and shape even when you step on it. In partnership with NASA, this same flexible aerogel technology is being developed for next generation space suits but you can get it now and keep your feet warm.

Polar Wrap focuses on products providing cold weather comfort. Its other products include the Heat Exchange Mask that traps warmth from exhaling breaths in order to warm cold air as it is inhaled.

Aspen Aerogels supplies nanotechnology-enabled aerogels with insulating properties that outperform traditional materials. Unlike other aerogel material providers, Aspen provides the thermal and acoustic performance of aerogels in a ready-to-use blanket impregnated with the silica nanostructures. This blanket format makes it easy for Aspen customers to conserve energy and save money in oil and gas recovery, LNG shipping and storage, apparel, military, aerospace and energy industries. In addition, Aspen is actively developing applications in the building/construction, automotive and fuel cell markets.

TAGS: aerogel, nanotech, sole, warm

posted by : regine on 25 Dec 2005

People lacking any sense of fashion no longer need worry about their scarf clashing with their clothes this winter - researchers have created one that automatically changes colour to suit an outfit.

The colour-shifting garment, dubbed a chameleon shawl, was developed by Akira Wakita and colleagues at Keio University in Tokyo.

Interwoven into the scarf material are pixels containing red, blue and green light-emitting diodes, so adjusting the brightness of each type of diode turns the scarf a different overall shade. A sensor embedded in the garment also enables it to identify the colour of the nearest item of clothing. A microcomputer then selects a suitable colour for the scarf itself to adopt.

“In the default setting, the microcomputer in the shawl is programmed to change to the coordinative colour of the input data,” Wakita explained.

This means that if its owner is wearing dark blue, for example, the scarf will instinctively turn a tasteful shade of light blue to match. “A kind of colour coordination will be established automatically,” Wakita says. If, however, the wearer fancies making a more daring fashion statement, the scarf’s computer can be configured to match more unusual colours together. “Theoretically, about 4000 colours can be generated,” Wakita says. “However, the difference may not be perceivable for human eyes.”

By the same researchers:
Wearable Synthesis

The concept is based on the perception of clothing as a module. This clothing has both input and output. Say, we have an inner wear that senses the body temperature and changes its color. In this case, body temperature is input through a temperature sensor and processed by microcon-trollers. Here, by assuming the output of a module as the input of another module, linkage between two modules is realized. By connecting another fashion item, for example outer wear, that inputs the light output from the inner wear, “the coordination of information” can be established. Effectors, for example accessories, hats and bags, can be also thought that amplifies the output of a module.

This conceptual model is similar to the analog synthesizer. In analog synthesizer, users can generate infinite original sound by connecting and tuning three modules, VCA, VCO and VCF. We have named our model “Wearable Synthesis” in the meaning of enabling original fashion expression by combining individual fashion items.

TAGS: chameleon, colour, japan, keio, LED, scarf

posted by : regine on 16 Dec 2005

by Suzanne Lee

Fashioning the Future examines the work of those scientific researchers and fashion designers, such as Issey Miyake, Hussein Chalayan and Walter Van Beirendonck, CuteCircuit, 5050, who are transforming today’s visions into tomorrow’s reality.

Spray-on dresses, growable suits and self-cleaning shirts may soon become everyday items. This visionary exploration of where fashion and clothing are headed provides the first guide to the astonishing ways in which contemporary science and technology are shaping what we wear.

Fashioning the Future is essential for those interested in the long-term future of fashion, design and lifestyle – as well as for everyone wanting to know how to stand out from the crowd.

Suzanne Lee is Senior Research Fellow in Fashion at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, University of the Arts London, UK. Fashioning the Future is published by Thames & Hudson.

Is available directly from the publisher Thames & Hudson .

TAGS: context-aware clothing, experience design, interaction design, reactive wearable interfaces, smart textiles

posted by : francesca-cutecircuit on 9 Dec 2005