High-Tech Fashion: Navigation Clothing

Article

N.Y. / Region
High-Tech Fashion Redefines Meaning of Revealing Clothing

FEB. 3, 2015

By JIM DWYER

New to the city last year, Billie Whitehouse was struck by the inevitability of small-scale disaster on the streets of New York. Everywhere, it seemed, people walked with noses pointed into their smartphones. Like herself, these pilgrims were seeking directions. But they were liable to step blindly off sidewalks, to walk up the backs of people ahead of them, or to not notice that shop doors swing open.

A designer from Sydney, Australia, Ms. Whitehouse, 27, said they were also missing a thrilling world.

“It seemed like there was a possibility to create something in navigation clothing,” Ms. Whitehouse said.

Now, a pair of mannequins wearing handsome blazers designed by her are part of an exhibition in a Brooklyn show called “Cloud Couture,” which explores how digital technology is being embedded in clothing. The show, at Pratt Institute’s Brooklyn Fashion and Design Accelerator in Williamsburg, runs until Feb. 12, with an open house on Sunday and tours by appointment at other times.
Photo
Some of the fashion on display was made possible by laser-cutting machines. Credit Sam Hodgson for The New York Times

The Navigate Jacket created by Ms. Whitehouse provides haptic feedback — basically, an electronic device in the garment that gives a light tap on one shoulder or the other to steer a person, not unlike a phone vibrating to announce a call.

“It’s a physical language to direct you through your shoulders where to turn left, where to turn right,” she said. “There’s a difference between a hard left and a soft left. It’ll give you a double tap, on both shoulders, when you arrive at your location.”

For her jackets, the directions come by Bluetooth from a person’s phone to the electronics in the shoulder. There is no sign of the gadgetry in the jackets. “Wearable technology should be invisible,” she said. “And you’ll be able to see things around you with your own eyes, instead of looking at the world through a screen.”

The show, which is housed at Pratt’s space in the old Pfizer building on Flushing Avenue, opens up the power and risks of advanced technology and clothing. For outright silliness, a designer added LED lights to a bra created on a 3-D printer that could change color depending on — well, who knows what.

Debera Johnson, the executive director of the accelerator, pointed out dresses with cascades of what seemed to be embroidered petals over a semi-sheer backing; the entire creation was made possible by laser-cutting machines.

“It’s very couture, but quite easy to manufacture,” Ms. Johnson said. “You get a tremendous amount of style for a much lower price.”

The introduction of technology into garments has also introduced a new layer of monitoring and tracking into the human experience. “It has gotten more intimate,” Ms. Johnson said. “It’s not just your hand on a computer; it’s your clothing talking to the computer.”

Similar to the fitness monitoring devices worn on the wrists, a Hexoskin smart shirt, for instance, monitors breathing, heart rate and other vital signs. The information cannot be read directly from the shirt, but communicates by Bluetooth to a smartphone.

“All of it has very interesting privacy implications,” Ms. Johnson said. “Say I’m a big brand. I’m going to implant technology into my garment to track where you are in time and space, and understand who you’re talking with and what they are wearing, so I can understand behaviors of my clients better. That is something the brands would love to do.”

In exchange for agreeing to this intrusion, she said, the customer might get a $10 discount.

Every article of clothing has the potential to be a membrane that harvests data signals from our bodies — pulse, breathing, temperature, blood pressure, pheromones — and send them to the vast constellation of remote computer servers known as the cloud. For most fitness devices, the data from the user does not remain on the phone, but goes to the computer servers controlled by the maker of the gadget.

One possible benefit would be remote monitoring of people with chronic medical conditions. But clothes that disclose may speak not just to the cloud, but to the people around us.

As a graduate student, Kristin Neidlinger studied what tools would be useful for people with sensory processing disorders. Along the way, she devised a Mood Sweater. “It reads your excitement levels,” she said. “Two sensors located on the hands read humidity and translate that into a palette of affective colors.”

The neck of the sweater changes color with the mood. “It’s an external blush,” Ms. Neidlinger said. “It’s a concept that I call ‘extimacy.’ The way your body speaks before you can filter yourself.”

The end of coyness?

“Exactly,” she said.

Email: dwyer@nytimes.com Twitter: @jimdwyernyt