Intelligent clothes for everyday fashion

Abstract

What are the reasons that wearables have not caught on and why do we hardly see these new aesthetic and functional expressions outside exhibitions, conferences, and stage performances? I propose that one reason is the aesthetic expression of wearables. Prototypes and commercially available wearables tend to be aesthetically and material wise quite far from the aesthetics and the material (fabric) of the clothes we normally wear. Many wearabes e.g. use LEDs as an aesthetic expression, which, however beautiful it might look, is quite far from what everyday clothes look and feel like, seeing that everyday clothes are mostly based on fabric. This project explores the question: How can we make wearables that relate to current, mainstream fashion trends, which is, mostly based on fabric, and yet still bring new expressions to the table?