See The New Dress That Changes Patterns While You Wear It
In 1986, Alan Moore gave us Watchmen and, with it, the character of Rorschach, whose mask could change patterns on a whim. Now, close to 40 years later, Adobe gives us a real-life garment with the same capabilities. Adobe’s “Project Primrose” initiative has recently produced a “digital dress” that can change its whole look with the push of a button.
The real showstopper, however, came when Dierk demonstrated the dress’s ability to create an animated pattern full of constantly swirling and shifting shapes.
The dress was created by researcher/seamstress Christine Dierk who wore the strapless gown during Adobe’s recent MAX conference. At first, the dress resembles nothing more than a regular run-of-the-mill sequined cocktail dress. At the push of a button however, the dress becomes something out of Star Trek. Dierk held the dress’s remote control behind her back as she demonstrated the futuristic couture’s sci-fi capabilities.
Dierk changed the look of the dress from plain to striped to a crisscross lattice pattern—each one more impressive than the next. The real showstopper, however, came when Dierk demonstrated the dress’s ability to create an animated pattern full of constantly swirling and shifting shapes. While the shapes were fairly simple, one can easily see the potential for more complex images and even possibly videos to be shown on the front of the dress.
Adobe has yet to publish the specs of Dierk’s smart dress, but it appears to use similar high-tech sequins to those used in other Project Primrose offerings. Dierks and her co-researchers described a handbag and canvas tote with similar capabilities last year at a tech conference. Dierks explained that the “sequins” that adorn the two bags—and presumably the dress as well—are actually “reflective light diffuser modules” that employ reflective-backed polymer-dispersed-liquid crystals or PDLC.
At the push of a button however, the dress becomes something out of Star Trek.
Not actually sequins at all, the PDLC are actually tiny screens that can be cut into any shape imaginable. As cool as the dress is, however, it definitely has its drawbacks.
For one thing, the cumulative weight from having all of those tiny screens sewed together makes the dress much heavier than your average garment. This is most likely the reason why Dierk only put the PDLC on the front of the dress instead of all over.
Another big drawback would be cleaning. We can only assume that the dress isn’t safe to put in the washing machine. Then, of course, there’s the issue of a power source. It’s not shown in the video above just how Dierk powers the dress, but like every smart device, it will probably require frequent recharging. Imagine lying in bed at night. wondering if you remembered to plug your clothes in to charge.
Not actually sequins at all, the PDLC are actually tiny screens that can be cut into any shape imaginable.
High-tech fashion is nothing new, of course—kids have been rocking light-up sneakers for years—but it’s certainly never reached this level of versatility prior to Dierk’s invention. Once the technology behind the dress becomes more affordable and thus more accessible, we can just imagine all the inventive uses people will come up with for the material. Picture a t-shirt adorned with the same PDLC as Adobe’s dress with “Will you marry me?” spelled out across it.
Of course, like with any new technology, there’s also plenty of room for people to abuse the dress. Kids programming naughty words to flash across their tummy during math class, internet trolls walking around proudly wearing the latest memes. We can already imagine some Gen Z kid wearing a dress with the entirety of Shrek playing on the front of it.
Of course, there’s really only one real question when it comes to this new revolutionary dress, with its ability to change patterns and pictures on a whim.
Can the dress run Doom?
