Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck
Clothing design studio The Unseen has developed a new sculptural jacket that is capable of detecting and reacting to your brain activity, then changing its color based on how you’re feeling at any given time, not unlike a high-tech outerwear version of one of those old mood rings.
[STORY: Mood reading technology will soon be here]
According to CNET, the jacket is the latest entry in self-proclaimed alchemist Lauren Bowker’s clothing line and has been dubbed Eighth Sense. The serpentine piece of clothing is made from a flexible ceramic material which the company’s website claims can show a person’s “aura.”
Wearing your heart on your sleeve
“An unseen force or ‘aura’ is outwardly emitted from every human as electromagnetic energy, these wavelengths through certain lenses can be seen as color,” the studio’s website said. “The Unseen aim to discover and investigate this invisible energy field by using a physical garment that reads human magnetism coupled with the capture of EEG data.”
“These biosignals are translated visually through our sculpture with the use of color and pattern,” it added. “For instance red portrays anger, nerves, and anxiety, whereas green reflects teaching, sociality, and people. Blue reveals calming, truthfulness, and peace while white mirror’s an inner state of sensitivity, intuitiveness, and psychic ability.”
The jacket, which CNET describes as being similar in appearance to a cobra’s hood, has been supported by the British Fashion Council through an award from the Technology Strategy Board. It has been infused with color-changing ink and uses electrical conductivity in order to alter its hues, and is also equipped with an EEG headpiece that communicates wirelessly with an app.
There’s an app for your mood jacket
That app, which was developed by augmented reality firm Holition, takes the EEG data that has been collected and transmits it to the jacket, causing it to change color in response. The garment is set to be unveiled during London Fashion Week, CNET added, and those in attendance will be able to schedule a time to try on the jacket and have their ‘auras’ read on site.
As CNN.com explained earlier this month, Eighth Sense is far from The Unseen’s first foray into the field of technologically equipped fashions. The studio previously created a headdress which incorporated Swarovski’s gemstones and changed color based on the head given off by the neural activity of the person thanks to ultra-conductive gemstones and its special heat-sensitive ink.
The fashion-forward company
The Unseen was founded by the trio of Lauren Bowker, Christa Leask, and Jess Smith back in February, the media outlet reported. Bowker, who is in charge of its formulas and materials, had previously worked as a textiles consultant before deciding to join forces with her two friends to launch their own venture centered around the use of their unique color-changing compounds.
Bowker, who has a debilitating spinal condition, told CNN that she wanted to “create a product range for myself that means that I can monitor my spine and condition. I don’t listen to myself when I’m getting ill, and it gets to the point where I’m on crutches before I’ll listen to the fact that I have to look after myself.”
She worked with the UK’s National Health Service early in her career, helping to develop a series of responsive bandages, but became frustrated with the slow progress and lack of funding. She decided to return to her fashion roots, searching for “a quicker or more profitable way to do this, rather than doing this in pure research.” Thus, The Unseen was born.
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