Hi-Tech Fashion

The fourth annual Siggraph Cyber Fashion Show has a few items that I can see catching on, such as the Nyx Illuminated Clothing–jackets with illuminated text and patterns that scroll across chest, arms, and back. (The text is entered using a Palm Pilot device and beamed to the jacket display screens. A cell phone-enabled Palm Pilot allows text messages, emails, and Internet information to be downloaded right to the jacket.) That doesn’t sound like it’s too far away….Nor does (I’m somewhat sorry to say) something like the “exquisite stainless steel exoskeletons,” especially among the punk set. And maybe the Oakley Thump “high-performance optics forged with an integrated, state-of-the-art digital audio engine to listen to music virtually anywhere.” It has a minature stereo system on the earpieces….On the other hand, let’s hope Jenny Tillotson’s Scent Whisper, a jewelry set that dispenses fragrances in response to a humidity sensor, stays in the prototype stage.