- Clothes you control (Image: Oscar Carmona)
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The collection, called Lüme, was shown last week at the International Symposium on Wearable Computers in Zurich, Switzerland. It consists of a bomber jacket, a tunic, and an open-backed dress – all of which have controllable LEDs built-in that can be controlled by a smartphone app. The LEDs are enmeshed in fabric so they don't touch the wearer's skin, and they shine out through several layers of fabric that diffuse the light for a softer glow.
The pattern of the fabric can be tailored with a laser cutter to make anything from polka dots to floral filigree, for instance. Their electronic components are designed to be easily removable, for when the clothes need a wash.
In a paper presented at the conference, Lüme's creator, fashion designer Elizabeth Bigger, wrote that wearers can "control the light pattern to match other elements in their outfit, react to a sensor event, or even echo the colours in the surrounding environment". For example, you can use the Lüme app to take a photo of a piece of clothing that you want to match with.
Feel the beat
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Lüme clothing can also change colours in time with the beat of music in a club. Bigger says the app could easily be tweaked to adjust the clothing colour according to the weather, or to sentiment in a wearer's Twitter feed.
Bigger says she started Lüme with her husband, Luis Fraguada, to answer one question: "Why, with all this tech, is there not something truly comfortable and wearable – a little more down to earth?"
When it comes to building electronics into our clothes, we have barely scratched the surface, says Victor Mateevitsi of the Electronic Visualisation Lab at the University of Illinois at Chicago. But he says Lüme is a good start. "I envision that in the future clothing itself will be a digital canvas similar to digital picture frames. People would buy 'blank' clothing that they will be able to customise through 'clothing app stores' – buying, downloading and installing various colours and designs."
"All of the Lüme pieces are regular pieces of clothing," says Bigger. "The tunic top – it's ridiculously normal. Wearable technology needs to be more than glasses or a watch. It needs to be incorporated into everyday fashion. Tech is the new black."
