By Joanne Joseph, Contributor
It's no secret that tech is plays a huge role in fashion. We recently featured DVF's collaboration with Google Glasses. In our search for #CertifiedCOOL tech style, we discovered the work of two game-changing artists. Amy Winters and Ying Gao are among the latest fashion innovators exploring the possibilities of tech and thread.
In her latest work, Winters uses color and pattern that reacts to sound, movement, natural light and water. The London-based artist's designs have become an interactive wearable-art experience. Her Sound Reactive Dress detects volume levels and responds by producing markings that resemble lighting. There's even a motion-sensitive morph dress that is triggered by human movements. She also invented a dress that you wouldn't mind getting caught in the rain with. The Orange Butterfly dress, changes color once it comes in contact with water.
Winter's touch-activated, fiber-optic dress was recently on display at the Consumers
Electronics Show earlier this year. “If you feel like
having purple, the dress will be purple,” she explained. “If you later feel
like having red, you have red. You just look at the sleeve and
decide what
color you want.” Her work has been featured in
magazines including Marie Claire Spain, Stylist, XO and Travel and Leisure
Southeast Asia. Her pieces have also made their way to the list of CNBC's
Future Fashion list of 10 Wearable Tech Trends to Watch.
Another innovator leaving their mark in the tech meets fashion revolution is Ying Gao. The artist's work includes a piece that moves on sight called (No) where (Now) here. It is embedded with eye-tracking technology fibers that move as the eye comes in contact with the garment, expressing a relationship between the onlooker and the article of clothing.
As a fashion designer and a professor at the Université du Québec à Montréal, Ying was inspired by the architecture of Beijing and its urbanization. She researched the relationships between individuals, their cities and their environments. This influenced her 2008 project titled Living Pod, in which light sensors are installed throughout the garment, causing the dresses to react to light. Ying's interactive and unconventional pieces have been featured in Vogue, Vanity Fair, Azure and Time Magazine and continue to be on display in various museums including the Quebec Museum of Fine Arts in Canada.
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| Living Pod Coat |
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