Dresses for the future

The clothes and accessories we wear reveal countless things about us. Dressing has always been a spectacular form of self-expression, but at last year's festival, fashiontech designer Anouk Wipprecht demonstrated that there are even more possibilities hidden in our wardrobes than we might think. What if our clothes could show our emotions? Or our heartbeat? What if they could create a visual barrier for our personal space? Today, technology not only permeates our everyday lives but is also becoming a part of our everyday attires.

Anouk Wipprecht brought four futuristic dress creations to the stage of the 2023 Brain Bar to showcase to the audience. The first special creation was the Heartbeat Dress, which she created in collaboration with Swarovski. The uniqueness of this dress lies in the sensors embedded in the fabric, which detect the wearer's heartbeat, displayed in a circle adorned with crystals located between the sternum.

The second item on display was the Proximity Dress, which sets a boundary for our private space. The accessory placed on the neck is an ultrasonic distance sensor, which, when sensing someone is too close, raises the skirt at the hips, indicating where our personal space begins. Thirdly, we saw a black dress that Anouk Wipprecht showcased to the public for the first time. This dress can monitor the wearer's emotions, with panels on the dress moving accordingly. On stage, the panels were in an open position, indicating openness to the outside world and a lack of desire to withdraw. The last creation was named the Screendress, which can display cognitive load. The eyes encircling the dress as tendrils dilate if the wearer is more anxious and constrict if the wearer is calmer.

Anouk Wipprecht's work has garnered attention from many renowned artists, including James Cameron, with whom the talented robotic dress designer collaborated in 2022. She is involved in numerous exciting projects, often directly unrelated to fashion, such as smart fabrics requested by companies or small microcomputers. Anouk's interest in fashion began at the age of fourteen, and by seventeen, she had turned her attention to robotics, intrigued by the idea of our clothes being able to adapt to our moods.

- explained Anouk. In her work, she attempts to intertwine robotics, fashion, human emotions, programming, the unique behavior of animals, and human anatomy. With her garments, she aims to build a bridge for better understanding between people. According to her, many of us suffer from some form of mental crisis, and the technology she employs tries to inform both the wearer and those around them about the individual's state. Currently, it's not possible to display and differentiate every emotion because the instruments respond to brainwaves and body reactions, which are often very similar for two completely different emotions.

At the festival, she also shared insights about the important role of data protection and privacy in her work. This is why she never uses cameras in her creations: she needs to consider not only the rights of the wearer but also those of the people around them. She is full of ideas yet to be realized, and hopes that one day the technologies she envisions will assist people in their everyday lives.