TECH MEETS FASHION! INTIMACY 2.0

While I am all for technology and progress; some of the inventions just done make sense to me anymore. I always thought necessity was the mother of invention, but apparently so is fashion. Couturiers, bored with just plain fabrics are experimenting with various elements of technology as well.  A diamond studded suit or a jacket that lights up at the touch just aren’t innovative enough anymore, but INTIMACY 2.0, now that’s something new. To give a whole new meaning to wearable tech,  Studio Roosegaarde, a social design lab for art and fashion has come up with the INTIMACY 2.0; a dress that becomes transparent when you are turned on!

The dress is made out of smart e-foils that become transparent based on close and personal encounters with people. The degree of transparency depends on the heart beat of the person wearing it. It is currently available in two models:  INTIMACY BLACK and INTIMACY WHITE. According to the project description on the website, the dress is intended to explore “the relationship between intimacy and technology.”

I can’t help but question the utility and practicality of the dress. Even if I ignore the very obvious shortcoming of the dress, that is its transparency relative to the heartbeat, which quickens even if the person is scared or excited about something , where would one actually wear something like that?

Mumbai Mirror recently carried out a survey, where they took in the opinions of people from different occupational backgrounds and age about this very peculiar invention, and most of them had various reasons all of which disregarded the invention in some way or the other. While in a creative space, there is no right or wrong. In the real world however, I think most of us prefer to use the traditional ‘eyelash batting’ and the ‘smiles across the room’ as hints rather than bearing it all (well almost!).