Design of the Week: Spider Dress

This week’s selection is the astonishing Spider Dress by Anouk Wipprecht.

Based in the Netherlands, Wipprecht is a most unusual fashion designer, as she is able to integrate clothing and technology in a highly fashionable manner.

Wipprecht says, “What does fashion lack? Microcontrollers!” But this is not true in her designs, which include them. In the case of the Spider Dress, the controllers are used to perform delicate motions of the spider legs that extend from the neck area.

These motions are clearly very carefully planned and executed, as their speed, angle and sequencing are highly reminiscent of an actual spider’s movements. Watch the video to see what I mean:

It’s called “FashionTech”, where technology intersects with high fashion.

Wipprecht explains the design behind the Spider Dress:

“Aptly called the ‘Spider Dress’, this piece of wearable tech features animatronic mechanical limbs that respond to external stimuli while defend the personal space of the wearer. The dress provides an extension of the wearers intuition: It uses proximity sensors as well as a respiration sensor to both define and protecting the personal space of the wearer.

Approach the wearer to aggressively and the mechanical limbs move up to an attack position. Approach the system under calmer circumstance and the dress just might beckon you to come closer with smooth, suggestive gestures.”

While definitely not something to wear everyday, the Spider Dress illustrates the potential of the FashionTech concept. It takes artists like Wipprecht to explore the boundaries of technology to show the rest of us what is possible.

Via Anouk Wipprecht