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| Tea Gown | ||
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| Author(s): | Jane Eu |  |
| Instructor: | Wilson, Kathleen Papadopoulos, Despina |
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| Class: | Final Project Seminar Personal Expression & Wearable |
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| URL: | http://www.vintagewearables.com | |
| Documents: |
TeaGown(JPEG)
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| Documents: | TeaGown_320_240(JPEG) | |
| Keywords: | physical computing, wearable computing, fashion, history | |
| A wearable computing garment that contains technological capabilities while simultaneously giving the impression of history and the past. | ||
| The purpose of this dress is to create a wearable computing garment without overtly emphasizing its technological capabilities. Specifically, I have re-created a tea gown--a dress that was worn during afternoon tea in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Traditionally, the dress was worn in the home and was considered comfortable because women did not have to wear corsets with this dress. They are described as being “garment of mystery to future generations” and since this dress gave the sense of femininity through its materials and non-restrictive structure, this project additionally explores the social ramifications of this dress in a modern and cultural context. | ||
| Background: | Technical Influences: This past spring, I attended MIT Media Lab’s Seamless wearable computing fashion show. While I was very inspired by the pieces in the show, I found that aesthetically the pieces looked very futuristic. It seemed that the technology drove the look of the piece, making some pieces look intimidating—I would never put some of those pieces on, much less near my body. After the show, I started to wonder, why do wearable pieces have to look like they came off the set of the Matrix? Fashion has had centuries of beautiful clothing, why would we ignore the past? How can we have technology influence the beauty of historical fashion pieces, rather than ignoring it altogether? Non-technical influences: Shabby Chic is a major influence on my motivation to do this project. Rachel Ashwell, creator of Shabby Chic, emphasizes the recycling or as she likes to put it, “keeping the bones”. For example, when she was remodeling her house, she made sure to keep the structure of the house in tact—as it had been originally constructed. While her constructor recommended breaking down walls to make her bathroom larger, she insisted on keeping the structure the same and finding ways to adapt her lifestyle and comfort to the original size of the bathroom. Her mantra is to adjust to what currently exists creatively. I feel that wearable technology can work off of centuries of fashion rather than forcing a futuristic look on the piece just because it contains technical capabilities. | |
| Technical System Description: | In this piece, the dress contains LEDs that are set off by switches at the side of the dress: when one switch is triggered, the lights brighten, when both are triggered, both lights dim. The key of the piece is to be aestetically beautiful on its own and having the LEDs add the extra beauty and attention to the dress. The piece is completely wearable; in other words, all the physical computing components are self-contained so that anyone can wear this piece. | |