this section is about the work of previous researchers in the field of computational fashion design. its goal is to be a continually developing resource for historical reference and context. right now it's mostly people from the media lab. this will change as i learn more about what is going on.
groundwork
industry
companies with products or services that relate to this field in sometimes similar but sometimes very peripheral ways.international fashion machines (www.ifmachines.com)
eleksen (www.eleksen.com)
infineon technologies (http://www.wearable-electronics.de/)
reima smart clothing (http://www.reimasmart.com/)
thinking materials (http://www.thinkingmaterials.com/)
enlightened designs (http://www.enlighted.com)
academic research
katherine moriwaki + sabine seymour are faculty at parson's school of design in new york city. they teach a course through the center for new design in what they call 'fashionable technology'. the course lays the groundwork for exploring wearable technologies and their relationship to fashion. they touch on the basics of system design, networked environments, and various conceptual frameworks.
elise co studied architecture at the massachusetts institute of technology for her bachelor's degree, and graduated with a master of science in 2000 from the m.i.t. media laboratory. she conducted three + years of research with the aesthetics + computation group. elise wrote a master’s thesis entitled "computation and technology as expressive elements of fashion," which explores the ways technology and computation can expand the notions of fashion, relationships to the body, expression, and communication.
chimerical garment
glow
thesis (2.9MB .pdf)maggie orth received her phd. in media arts and sciences from the m.i.t. media laboratory in 2001 where she conducted research on new physical interfaces, wearable computing, smart textiles, and interactive textile musical instruments. she earned her masters degree at m.i.t.'s center for advanced visual studies, and her bfa from rhode island school of design. currently she is working at the company international fashion machines, where she is co-founder (with joanna berzowska) and c.e.o.
musical jacket
firefly dress
fabricating textile-based computingsaul griffith is a really brilliant guy. he studied materials science at the university of sydney in australia, and is now working on his phd at the media lab. he knows a lot about composite materials, weaving, and other textile related things.
joe paradiso may or may not realize he's doing research in this field, but his work with embedded technology in footwear is definitely interesting and inspiring. hence the reason he's on this page. his students also do really fabulous research in a variety of areas. here is a link to one of his papers and his research group's website.