Although research showed us this week that one-third of users are abandoning wearable tech devices, it’s probably because there aren’t yet enough quality wearable tech products on the market that serve a practical, everyday purpose.
Well, we’ve just found one: A haute couture dress that becomes transparent when you become aroused. Why? Just, y’know, ‘cause it feels like it.
The INTIMACY 2.0 project (because it can’t truly be INTIMATE unless it’s in ALL CAPS) comes from Studio Roosegaarde (the same studio behind the “electronic vacuum cleaner,” which is targeted at reducing urban smog), a “social design lab for interactive art, fashion, and architecture” based in China and the Netherlands. According to the project description on its website, the garment is intended to “explore the relationship between intimacy and technology.”
The garments are made of leather and opaque smart e-foils, which are wired with electronics and LEDs. As the wearer’s heartbeat quickens, as a result of “close and personal encounters” with people, the garment becomes more and more sheer, until it turns completely transparent.
So what kind of “close and personal encounters” actually cause the dress to become see-through? The project description is purposefully vague, simply stating that “social interactions determine the garments’ level of transparency, creating a sensual play of disclosure.” But judging by the models’ heavy-lidded, post-coital gazes and their nipple-tweaking poses in the promo photos, it’s pretty clear that the dress responds to sexual stimulation of some kind or another.
Via Roosegaarde Studio
The dresses come in two colors, “INTIMACY White” and “INTIMACY Black,” and they’re actually quite lovely, in a Judy Jetson-meets-high-end-escort sort of way. But it’s still kind of unclear why, exactly, someone would purchase such a garment, or where they would wear said garment to.
The website helpfully suggests that the INTIMACY 2.0s are “perfect to wear on the red carpet,” but that probably wouldn’t go over too well unless you’re planning to go to the Hookies or the Adult Video News Awards anytime soon. Presumably, the best place to wear the INTIMACY 2.0 is in the bedroom, though considering that Studio Roosegaarde says it’s in talks with haute couture designers to work on the next version, it’ll probably be a little pricier than your standard Spencer’s Gifts crotchless panties/Bart Simpson-shaped nipple tassel lingerie combo.
H/T Mother Nature Network | Screengrab via Roosegaarde Studio