Clothes of the Future

December 22, 2004 8:00 AM

Flexgrid. A flexible LED display developed to be imbedded on a dress for the Milan Triennial 2005.
posted by Hands of Manos (26 comments total)

Ahh yes... i have long been predicting the day when kids express themselves not just through easily consumed goods lauding their favorite idol but also through affordable downloadable avatars for your easy purchase clothing. Imagine, designer brands will have atmospheric effect while thrift stores sell 256 color models. Style will be based on whether or not your model has blended color shifting, or is a tasteful black and white number.

Personally, i'd probably go around dressed in a constantly shifting belly dancer... but thats just me.
posted by sourbrew at 8:06 AM on December 22, 2004

also... that piece of material reminds me of one of those light up christmas ties only 99% more busy.
posted by sourbrew at 8:08 AM on December 22, 2004

Looks like it would be good for joggers...or ravers. Plur.
posted by tpl1212 at 8:15 AM on December 22, 2004

This needs to be piezoelectric, so it would light up based on movements by the wearer, rather than the obviously preprogrammed patterns.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 8:21 AM on December 22, 2004

Looks pretty damn thick, too.
posted by cortex at 8:25 AM on December 22, 2004

Dress is nice but that's a remarkably elegant little movie window thing in a minimalist design sense.
posted by Turtles all the way down at 8:25 AM on December 22, 2004

This didn't already exist? I'm kind of surprised. If someone wore a dress made of credit cards, what, a decade ago or so, then this should have been right around the corner back then.

I thought the technology was there for video on bendable surfaces by now. (Also time travel and a cancer cure, yeah, yeah.)
posted by chicobangs at 8:44 AM on December 22, 2004

I don't see photos of the actual dress - am I missing it? If you click where it says Milan Triennial on the left menu, you can see his idea about virtual creatures "living" on the clothes, which would react to the wearer's movements and sound. "If the wearer doesn't move for a while, the creature will lay down and go to sleep. If the user walks for a while, the creature will start to sweat. If the user talks too loud, the creature covers its ears".

So it's like a wearable tamigotchi.
posted by iconomy at 8:48 AM on December 22, 2004

neat, but does it come in jeans and t-shirts?
posted by kamylyon at 8:58 AM on December 22, 2004

While I wasn't picturing something as thin as fabric, I was hoping to see something less clunky. It's a bunch of not-so-tiny plastic squares linked together. I suppose you could project some pixellated Nintendo Entertainment System type graphics onto it though, which might be neat for a little while.
posted by picea at 9:00 AM on December 22, 2004

I was thinking something like this, but with these same lights. You mean they can't get the width of even a small projector light down to, what, a quarter inch thick?

That'd still be too unwieldy for jeans or t-shirts, but it would be fine for an evening dress or a blazer.

(And the idea anyone wanting a wearable tamagotchi gives me the willies. I don't want my clothes telling me they're hungry or that the music's too loud. Eesh.)
posted by chicobangs at 9:06 AM on December 22, 2004

Imagine the possibilities:
- Equip it for Bluetooth, and just watch the advertising scroll across!
- Clothing hackers.
- Being chokeslammed by the MPAA because you've got a movie playing on your back.
- Irritating creatures! On my underwear! Sweet! (Waitaminute...)
posted by FormlessOne at 9:19 AM on December 22, 2004

that's a remarkably elegant little movie window thing

You mean the big grey square with the tiny black square in the corner that does nothing?
posted by squidlarkin at 9:25 AM on December 22, 2004

- Equip it for Bluetooth, and just watch the advertising scroll across!

or read your email, hear voicemail, or even talk to your friends through your skirt...

perhaps they'll come with cameras on the skirts....futuristic upskirt pr0n anyone?
posted by Hands of Manos at 9:39 AM on December 22, 2004

Squid, whatchootalkinabout. The little movie window has a dual function status bar at the bottom: a main part that shows where you are in the movie and a skinny thing just below that shows how much you've downloaded. Plus (I just discovered this) when you click on either of these a further set of controls appears. Sweet!
posted by Turtles all the way down at 9:55 AM on December 22, 2004

- Irritating creatures! On my underwear! Sweet! (Waitaminute...)

OH NOES!!! I GOT TEH CYBERCRABS!!!!ELEVENTYONE
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 9:57 AM on December 22, 2004

OH NOES!!! I GOT TEH CYBERCRABS!!!!ELEVENTYONE

<:-)
posted by jimmy at 10:23 AM on December 22, 2004

Thank you, I'm here all week, don't forget to tip your waitress!
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 10:26 AM on December 22, 2004

tpl1212:... Plur.

I can't let that go unnoticed. Actually, I think I'm having a flashback. *shudder*
posted by OpinioNate at 10:47 AM on December 22, 2004

I hope they incorporate turn signals into this because I hate it when I'm walking behind someone and they suddenly hang a left in front of me.

That and can they make patterns go to make people looking at it motion sick? That would be cool.

And hook it up to my cell phone ringer so EVERYONE can see how cool I am?
posted by fenriq at 10:59 AM on December 22, 2004

only if your phone ringer is to the tune of Wrecks N Effect's "Rump Shaker"
posted by Hands of Manos at 11:11 AM on December 22, 2004

Now I know what its like to be a fish and about to be devoured by an octopuss at 20,000 feet deep.
posted by Keyser Soze at 11:28 AM on December 22, 2004

That would have been perfect for my roommate's "Wireless HotSpot" costume this past Halloween.
posted by quasistoic at 11:55 AM on December 22, 2004

Imagine what Jacqueline Duty could do with something like this :)
posted by kaemaril at 1:04 PM on December 22, 2004

I'll stick with one of these, thank you

in black
posted by 10sball at 3:26 PM on December 22, 2004

Very burningman-esque.
posted by bingo at 1:09 PM on December 23, 2004