Wearable tech: How three designers weave technology into fashion

1.Body-created beats

The MJv1.0
(Machina)

Tap your jacket to start the beat; swipe to change it; raise your arm to raise the tempo ­– that’s how music is made on the Machina Midi Controller Jacket. That’s right, it’s making music with your body.

Machina’s (pronounced Ma-chee-na) MJv1.0 is the first product to come out of the Mexico City-based design group. The jacket allows the wearer to control music with their bodies. Fueled by a Kickstarter that raised more than $77,000, Machina has set out to build wearable technology, or what it calls: “the wearable machine.”

“We’re a brand targeted to hackers and geeks,” says Daniel Fernandez de Cordova, a member of Machina.

Machina was formed roughly 15 months ago. Antonio Machina, the group’s fashion designer and creative director, wanted to make and wear more mechanical clothing. It was this desire for clothing that was more practical, more personal, and more unique that led Machina to their philosophy of the wearable machine.

The MJv1.0 comes with four flexible sensors that allow the jacket to detect finger position, an accelerometer to detect arm movement, a joystick, and four buttons on the side. The idea behind the MJv1.0 is that all of the sensors – and really the jacket itself – can be configured to work for any purpose. This means that the wearer can use the jacket to control a computer, PC programs, or gadgets.

“Most of us are firm believers in free software, and DIY, and care deeply about political issues and (h)ac(k)tivism,” Machina's website says.

True to its style, Machina has a T-shirt that was made with photoluminscent ink. The T-shirt features anonymous heads whose brains glow in the dark, or as Machina put it, “The brains light up the darkness of ignorance.” They also worked on different jackets at the same time as the MJv1.0. Their Kickstarter gifts included a hoodie made from silver cotton, designed to protect the wearer from electromagnetism.

“We want to be the first massive wearable-tech brand that makes wearable technology that’s modifiable and is conscience about technology,” says Mr. Fernandez de Cordova. Machina prints a series of T-shirts that advocates free information and free software. Some of the T-shirts, for example, call for the end of SOPA and CISPA, two bills that have come under fire from Internet advocates for handing over too much power to copyright holders and the US government.

“We need to fight for freedom of information, source code, and the right-to-privacy,” says Fernandez de Cordova.

People can buy the MJv1.0 jacket at the "early-bird" price of $285 from Shopstarter.org. According to Fernandez de Cordova, the jacket will retail for $400 in stores. Machina makes each jacket by hand, which elevates the price. Despite its many components, the MJv1.0 is washable. You charge the jacket through a USB port.

Machina’s MJv1.0 is set to ship in November. 

2.Designing to the beat of your heart

Soft light flutters down the model’s dress, one wave after another. They repeat in a pattern, but the waves don’t match music or movement. No, the dress’s lights are flowing in rhythm to the model’s heartbeat. This is the Presence of Heart dress.

Tech-inspired fashion designer and author Alison Lewis created Presence of Heart as a way to showcase her ideas for the fashion industry. The dress shows everyone the wearer’s heart beat in real time. Made of 28 LED lights, the HeartBeat dress made its debut at 2012’s SXSW show in Austin, Texas.

“What’s more vulnerable than showing your heart when you’re talking on stage?” says Ms. Lewis. “It shows intimacy, [clothing is] about us as human beings." 

The LED-lit dress gives off a soft glow. And while it may appear to be one whole piece, the dress is actually split into two parts. The outside fabric covers a slip that holds the lights in place and monitors the heart.

“I want to play with what we choose to share, and clothing is the ideal vehicle,” she says.

Lewis says that she designed her company, Agent of Presence, to embody her own “personal quirkiness.” The start-up and this illuminating dress aim to wed fashion and technology in a subtle way.

“It’s not Vegas lights. It’s designed to be soft. The more subtle the light, the better it is,” says Lewis. “We avoid anything that looks like kids’ blink shoes. I’m tired of [wearable] technology looking cheap.”

While the dress was a fun experiment for Lewis, Agent of Presence’s first product will be an illuminated purse called Geometry Darling. Geometry Darling can be worn as a normal clutch or lit up, with the underlying panels shimmering with an intricate design and lighting.

There will be 200 Geometry Darlings made to sell to the public, for $1,200 each.

“There’s nothing out there like this," she says. "If girls are going to go enter the technology field, we should be putting our mark out there.”

Lewis says that those who cannot afford their own Geometry Darling can still enjoy wearable technology. Her book, "Switch Craft," instructs readers on how to make your own wearable-tech items.

“ 'Switch Craft' is about independence and individuality with fashionable form and function," says Lewis's blog, IHeartSwitch.com. "It’s about technology’s role in empowering women to represent their ideals however they choose."

Lewis says that the book is her way of sharing her ideas and excitement with the world. “When you really love something," she says, "you want to share it."

For more tech news, follow Aimee on Twitter, @aimee_ortiz

3.Whimsical, magical, and technological

One of Diana Eng's precision laser-cut shirts
(Diana Eng)

Clothes that change color and shape seem like something out of science fiction. For Diana Eng, it’s just another day’s work. The fashion designer blends clothing and technology for a look that is unique to her.

“Fashion engineered from daydreams.” Those are the words emblazoned on Ms. Eng’s website. The New York-based designer wants her items to tell a story.

The clothes change shape through the use of inflatable parts and colors change thanks to LED lights.

The Fairytale Fashion collection was used as a teaching tool via the Internet. High school students in the US were able to see weekly videos on FairytaleFashion.org, which allowed them to see the process behind making wearable technology. The students suggested the design elements and Eng created them.

“I was doing something where I was educating kids in the public,” says Eng, “using technology to make something magical happen.”

Fairytale Fashion allowed Eng to work with LEDs and electroluminescent wires. The outfits were made with sensors that allowed the LEDs to change color. For example, the Twinkle dress lit up when it detected sound. 

“I was thinking along the lines of fairytale,” says Eng. “Each of my designs has a story to tell.”

Eng can take as long as two years working on a single item of clothing. 

“I just want to create something special,” says Eng, who started her ready-to-wear brand in 2010. 

Eng likes to draw inspiration for her laser-cut T-shirts and reflective scarves from nature. Her laser-cut lace T-shirts were modeled after the cellular structure of plants.

The designer has incorporated math and science into her clothing, as well. She’s already designed a Fibonacci scarf, knitted in the style of the famed Fibonacci sequence. Then there are Eng’s Jack Frost scarves, which have snowflakes appear in the cold. The colder the weather, the bigger the snowflake that appeared. And Eng’s "retroreflective" scarves look different depending on where the light is coming from.

Her laser lace T-shirts sell for $68 and her accessories (scarves, necklaces, pins, and fortune-cookie coin purse) range from $36 to $275.

“I’m hoping to always manufacture in the [Unites States],” says Eng. “I would never sell to Target. I never want to do mass-market.”

And much like fellow designer Alison Lewis, Eng also published her own do-it-yourself book. "Fashion Geek," which was published in 2009, tells people how to create their own wearable technology.

“If you can’t buy it, make it yourself,” says Eng.

For more tech news, follow Aimee on Twitter, @aimee_ortiz