Sound Jewelry
The Year 2030

Nadine was originally given her sonic jewelry as a present from her parents, who wanted to keep in touch with their busy daughter, a student in a large Johannesburg high school. The jewelry doesn't just look beautiful. It also emits various pieces of non-speech audio when triggered by a messaging system. It used to give a little holler when dinner was ready, or if her Mom wanted her to come home, but lately Nadine and her friends have been reprogramming all their jewelry to play coded melodies. They have almost entirely stopped passing notes in class. The teachers can't hear the melodies because they are pitched to play at a volume that is responsive to the environment. If the room is quiet, the jewelry plays quietly. In the crowded halls of the high school, the jewelry plays louder. Nadine can still hear her mother calling, but she doesn't always go home right away.

Designers
Ricardo Prado, Maria Ella Carrera, and Josefina Batres
Technology Collaborator
Nitin Sawhney


Tellevo
The Year 2029

Free-spirited and in-the-groove as he is, freelance sax player Jake J. keeps it all together on the move with his Tellevo personal communications system. He needs a system that travels well and packs light because Jake cuts a swath from Cameroon to Yemen on his regular tour. A personal digital assistant interface is attached to his shoulder. Using the string of mini microphones along his collar, and speakers with spacialized sound mounted on the front of his garment, Jake can record and play back a demo of his work to send on the Internet to potential clients. A series of small lights, directed so that only he can see them, alerts him when he has email or an immanent meeting or gig. Jake's address book, email, word processing, and date book functions are all housed in the pilot, which can be accessed by voice command or by removing it from the shoulder and using a sensitive pen. The Tellevo helps Jake keep on groovin', even in the most jammed week.

Designers
Ricardo Prado, Maria Ella Carrera, and Josefina Batres

Technology Collaborator
Sumit Basu


Mushroom Cap
The Year 2018

Jamie is one curious boy who loves a ramble in the hills of Dingwall, Scotland. To aid him in his explorations, he's got a hat, a command wrist band, and metamorphic shoes that are beyond cool.

Jamie's cap is equipped with a microphone, a recorder, and a speaker. Electrodes that can detect galvanic skin response have been knitted into Jamie's cap. So, when you see the cap begin to flash and get brighter, you know that Jamie's arousal is increasing. Jamie can also push a button on his wrist band to send an "SOS" signal home, triggering a siren. A voice receiver on his wrist band records data about Jamie's interests and discoveries.

Jamie's cool shoes conform to the shape of any child's foot. When hiking conditions require more traction, retractable cleats extend and make Jamie sure-footed.

Designers
Nanae Hashimoto, Ai Mizuno, and Seonhyu Na

Technology Collaborator
Jennifer Healey


Tono
The Year 2033

A guy with flash! An actor trying to get noticed in busy, competitive Hollywood! Zeek's "tono" shirt gives him a wild sonic presence! It has upwards of twenty-five sensors. As they touch his skin, the sensors transmit clock-pulses through his body to a mini MIDI board, triggering different musical events. A couple of sensors are configured so that he has to touch them with his hand in order to activate them. Shopping on Rodeo Drive, lounging at the latest trendy bar, or schmoozing with the top brass at an exclusive party, Zeek hardly even has to introduce himself. His shirt is about to make him a star!

Designers
Ricardo Prado, Maria Ella Carrera, and Josefina Batres

Technology Collaborators
Maggie Orth, Emily Cooper, and Maribeth Back


Lingua Trekka
The Year 2007

Moving quickly through the crowds at the airport in Beijing, Irina heads for her final destination, a hospital in the remote city of Hotan where a doctor awaits her precious cargo—a delivery of several ounces of rare plant extract from deep within the Brazilian rainforest. Irina is an investigative medical courier who has been searching the far corners of the world for this life-saving medicine for the past three months. Her job is made possible by the ambient linguistic device she wears. Microphones for receiving speech are located at the front neckline, and speakers for simultaneous language translation are at the back neckline. Irina's head movement is unrestricted, thanks to binaural spatialization. The tattoo on her midriff is a universal immunization allowing Irina to cross borders without quarantine concerns and protecting her against the pathogens she encounters.

For keeping in touch with clients and researching possible leads, the chest piece is equipped with a removable mini-screen and keyboard. GPS and Internet access came in handy once or twice on this particular visit to the rainforest. A battery box is installed in the back panel and connects to the front devices through flexiform conduits that can be positioned almost anywhere, making it easy to use the keypad and monitor.

Designers
Nao Muramatsu, Hisayoshi Kuroda, Junko Ito, and Keiko Minomo

Technology Collaborators
Sumit Basu, Jennifer Healey, and Thad Starner


Electric Dress
New Year's Eve 1999

It's Vienna, Austria, and once again the gorgeous and the gregarious, the simple and the elegant, the unpretentious and the outrageous, the visionary and the luminary, the traditional and the incredible all gather in the Grand Ballrooms to commemorate the Old and applaud the New Year. And this New Year heralds the turn of a century and the nascent millenium. What better costume to wear to the ball than this fusion between fashion and computer, the traditional and the futuristic?

Cetaline wears a gown inspired by the rococo style of the 17th century, an epoch considered to be among the most steeped in tradition. But look closely! What is she really wearing?

Cetaline's entire dress is embroidered with LEDs, wires, and switches most commonly found inside a computer. The LEDs on Cetaline's dress are designed to flash only upon her touch.

Look again! Ordinary batteries and micro-controllers have become further adornments for the surface of this dress.

This dress is the wearable computer, the fusion of fashion and computer, the integration of art and science. We hope that it shimmers a bright future!

Designers
Nao Muramatsu, Hisayoshi Kuroda, Junko Ito, and Keiko Minomo

Technology Collaborators
Maggie Orth and Emily Cooper