Victoria's Secret Fashion Show Uses EL Wire

Hey all! Found another example of "high-tech" fashion. I've posted before on Katy Perry's EL peacock tail, and this year Victoria's Secret did a similar thing with their EL Angel wings. While I think they looked overall cute (and were structurally robust, props to whoever mechanically designed them), I was a bit disappointed in their electronic simplicity. I feel like the amount of work for audio processing/visuals isn't that hard. Bright wings that stay on are pretty, but just a little too boring. I would've really like it if Victoria's Secret made their lighting more dynamic (like the beating heart bra worn at 2:00). It's clear that they were technologically sophisticated enough to know how to vary brightness/speed of their lights, but didn't for their wings. At the end of the day, I suppose my main gripe lies with their decision not to. *Shrugs* I'm too judgmental :P

On the bright side, at least I now know of who might want to buy my EL Shutter Shades :)

Make Magazine Thinks I'm Shiny! :D

This weekend I went to Maker Faire: NYC and got interviewed by Make Magazine! Make sponsors this convention/fair for creative people throughout the US. This year it was hosted in New York. One can register as a maker or as a normal spectator. If you're a maker, you have something to present. I went with the MIT Electronic Research Society (MITERS), and together we had a bunch of modified electronics, and, of course, shiny things.

This was pretty neat as a personal step for electronic fashion!

I also saw lots of other wearables, learned some neat ways to deal with lighting, and had a fun time! Definitely an event worth attending!

I'm making a giant leaf planetarium...

:P Will post more as it goes along.

Smart Hood 1.0

This summer I have the best job ever! I'm working at the MIT Media Lab with High-Lo Tech, a cool group that does a lot of e-textiles and electronic craft applications research. Basically I get to do fashion engineering and learn new things, which is always super awesome. Anyway, one of the projects I'm working on is this smart hood that lowers/raises itself in response to light and temperature, and also heats itself up. Not finished yet, but I have a video of it being silly, so hey. :D

Fashion Imaging Applications

Powerpoint on different imaging techniques/applications for fashion. At the bottom are two videos originally in the last side.

OLEDs!

Adorable Projector Pattern Demo! [Secretly an ad for Google Image Search lol] 

Fashion Engineering != LEDs

Fashion engineering isn't always a light show. Understandably, I think there's too much emphasis on lights. Regardless, never forget, wearable tech, like all technologies, can be deadly, functional, and wonderful.

What do you think Iron Man is if not the best fictional example of fashion engineering?

Real-Time

I've noticed I put a lot of links on twitter about fashion engineering, so I think I'm going to start posting smaller, but hopefully still thoughtful, entries more.

Let's start.

I love EL wire. I find it rather elegant compared to LEDs, but anyway. The thing about this video that confuses me is whether or not Katy Perry's peacock tail is externally controlled, a timed display, or incorporates real-time processing. I'm pretty sure it's not some kind of on-the spot signal processing, but if your audience can't tell, you should re-think your display. Counter-intuitiveness is never chic. Otherwise, the costume's pretty cute.  

GC[hat] Analog

Woo! Analog version of GC[hat], my little light-up hat, fresh from Eagle (with a few imaginary values *cough cough*). Based off of the status colors of gchat (and every other IM), GC[hat] is a little hat that displays when you are available (green), idle (amber), or busy (red). It's also a little social experiment. Are our methods of virtual communication backwards compatible with the real world? 

Spark 2011

Every semester I try my best to teach a Splash/Spark class on fashion engineering. Why? Partially because I wish I had someone to believe in during high school. I try to fill the void of my own personal role model by being her. Of course, there are issues with this. For example, sometimes my life can feel stupidly meta. Nonetheless, obscure dreams tend to make things difficult when planning out classes, careers, departments. Honestly, were it not for the MIT Media Lab, I don't think I would've stayed with engineering. Until I learned to blend fashion and EE, I was hopelessly trying to find elegance. However, I'm too concrete to enjoy theory; layers upon layers of abstraction frustrate me, regardless of their inherent beauty. I like pictures, visual data, something I can engineer with my own hands. 

I was never going to be a theorist. 

Anyway, here are the slides from my 2011 Spark class on fashion engineering. Mind you, this was for 7th-12th graders, but cutesy can be refreshing from time to time. It's a shame I didn't write notes for it, but hopefully you can glean some information from it. Also, I demo-ed my EL glasses. They were a major hit. Huzzah!

Double Rainbow Tron Shutter Shades [EL wire, because LEDs are sooo last season]

During IAP I had a lot of free time. So, I made a pair of rainbow el wire shutter shades that light up according to frequency. The higher the volume, the more el wires light up. Tron+Kanye+Double Rainbow ftw! Go fashion engineering! 

Since classes have begun, I'll post the schematics later. I just wanted to have this out there. :-)

Does my pocket protector make me look fat?

I bet you've never heard of a fashion engineer. Don't worry, you're not the only one. My name is Qiaodan (often pronounced as Jordan) Jin Stone. FYI, Jin Stone is my complete last name, no hyphen. Once upon a time, I wanted to be a fashion designer, yet through a series of miracles (both big and small), I managed to get into MIT and now am trying to figure out a major. For the longest time, engineering was never my interest. Fashion was. Fashion still is. Strangely enough (due to a little thing called calculus) in high school, math was my favorite subject. Naturally, engineering projects drew my interest and soon I was making robots by day and sketching evening gowns by night. With three inch heels and a garter protector (imagine a pocket protector but a garter belt), I surprisingly became the captain of my high school math team and founder of its robotics club. It was great fun. Didn't help my career choices though...

See, I didn't want to be a fashion designer anymore. There was something missing from clothing - the ability to directly affect people's lives. Sure a little black dress can bring about confidence, but can it also locate its wearer if s/he were lost or regulate its temperature to keep its wearer comfortable? I'm too much of a pragmatist to just love an aesthetic design. A tool must be both pretty and useful. Beauty and utility became my personal optimization problem. That's why I ultimately decided to pursue my own (at the moment nonexistent) field - Fashion Engineering. Whether I'll be successful or not, who knows, but come watch me as I grow up on the fabulous campus of MIT, and let's see how far I can stretch my lace gloved reach.

After all, someone must bring the tech back to clothing tech!