CMU School of Drama


Tuesday, October 08, 2013

LED Costumes and Clothing

hackaday.com: Our tips line recently received an influx of wearable LED projects, both for casual and professional wear. [Elizabeth] and [Luis] have created the Lüme wearable collection, aimed at accessorizing by adding adjustable accent colors to jackets, t-shirts and dresses. The electronics are custom-made, built around an ATMega32u4, and each is Bluetooth enabled to interact with a user’s cell phone.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

This is so freaking cool! Just looking at all the pictures and video I can't help but think of all the cool ways that these could be used in both theater and dance. Specifically, what would it be like if there was a dance piece with very minimal lighting, but all the dancers wore these suits. It would insane! The audience would be able to really focus on how the body was moving because to me that is one of the most interesting parts of dance.

Sarah Keller said...

It's interesting to see how LED clothing is being explored in both the fashion and entertainment industry. I'm especially interesting in the "Lume," since it uses the LEDs much more subtly than the flashy dance suits, making it almost wearable in a normal context. I've only ever seen LEDs used in clothing like in the dancing examples- very bright and impressive, but only applicable for that form of entertainment. This makes it seem much more feasible for use in theatre or more serious dance. It will be interesting to see how this concept is expanded into other art forms and into clothing/accessories for daily use.

AnnaAzizzyRosati said...

This is so cool. I have a friend who was in my art classes in high school who loved these Tron-inspired LED jackets. She is a dancer, so for our IB art show she made one and took some really neat shots of herself dancing in it. Incorporating light into something like clothing is such a unique idea, and it's interesting to see it used in everyday clothing as opposed to just costumes. Honestly, I don't think I'd go around sporting one of the LED fashion statements, but I appreciate the creativity and the concept.

Jason Lewis said...

I think this is really cool to think about. The fact that a couple of people came up with different ways to think about how to use LEDs in a clothing concept is awesome. I also love the bluetooth feature that was mentioned. I think that's a really cool way to make the clothing more marketable and, in general, cooler to think about. I'd love to see the use of media concepts within these articles of clothing, like we use the LED panels we got last year in the Chosky. It could be a really cool costume, media, and lighting concept in a design concept. Food for thought.

Keith Kelly said...

Technology is taking over the world! Everything that is traditionally not technological is starting to incorporate it. Clothing, which is traditionally natural fibers has now shifted to include plastics and now even LEDs. When this technology first came out just a few years back, the system wasn't even that advanced. This might have included a heavy batter pack attached to the user's hip. Now the technology is so advanced that the software can be controlled from your smart phone! This will allow for so such advanced designs. Soon enough these LED will be within the fabric and will allow the costume designer to slightly change the hue of the fabric. Altering the light during a show could add contrast and also make the fabric conflict less with the lighting design. I really want to get my hands on some LEDs and experiment with them on clothing. Cant wait to see what people are going to be creating in a few years with this technology.

Emily Bordelon said...

These are really beautiful, creative, and fun to look at, but I don't think that they would be useful or practical for everyday use and wear. The color matching aspect is really cool and I think these would make for great costumes, but for clothing to wear to work or school on an everyday basis, it seems inconvenient and distracting.