When Geeks make Fashion
the outcome is neither wearable nor very inspiring nor very futurist nor groundbreaking - even if the show is put on by the MIT Media Lab.
An huge LED display that must weight a kilogramm to display what you are listening on your 10 gramm iPod Nano. A helmet to protect you from sound and head injuries that had to be hold in place by the model otherwise it would fall off her head causing her neck to break.
The coolest and best functioning piece is a midi jacket - originally developed in the 1970s - the 2.0 version displayed at the show had a malfunction allowing only the armslider to work...
The FM radio jewelry looks like a FM radio headset with lots of wires coming from the jewelry - didnīt really get the point on this one - an iPod nano with a FM headset would have been more invisible then this stuff...
What seems a little gross is the living jewelry - you stick a piece of clear plastic on your skin and then an ornament grows out of it.
The bag with a lightcode that shows if the wearer likes other people fashion, the shoes that fold out the faster you walk or the number pattern scarf are all very uneventfull and wonīt advance civilization a lot.
Clothing as interface between body and environment sounds cool - the accompanion piece looks like a windfan worn on a body or a scarf with a build in gasmask that makes the wearer blind, or a ghettoblaster fitted into an expensive woman suitecase or a weddingdress with a built in iPod - why how or what - I have no idea...
What gives - do not let geeks near designing clothing - it just ainīt work - let them develop next generation materials for real designers to use - but designing those geeks canīt sorry. And yes the lighting setup in the MIT lunchroom is worth mentioning - because its really really bad - great sponsor they have no need to give them five minutes of airtime thanking them. Please MIT use your geniuses to advance civilzation on a technical level and leave the designing and putting on a show to those who are capable of it. Very obscure.
Have a look yourself if you have pesky RealPlayer.