New visions of applications to the face and body

It is very apparent (to me at least) that innovation to the face and body should partly come through the same process of engagement through visual enquiry that is used within textile innovation. My previous explorations through paper application on the face does just that, and it does not disregard other possibilities, materials or vehicles as part of the urge to seek new roads of investigation.

The video below is an example of a textiles study using Shape Memory Alloys by Lynda Fletcher, currently a student at Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design. The project was inspired by the Arctic fox and its ability to adapt to temperature changes by increasing the thickness of its coat during the cooler seasons. The textile study was an examination of how a change in temperature can affect the textiles ability to control it's "thickness" and weight.

Lasercut, modular pieces of dense fabric are "snapped" together like a construction set to create fashions that suit the body as much as the interior walls that house it. Eunsuk Hur, a textile designer and a recent graduate from Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design, created Nomadic Wonderland "to push the boundaries of fashion and interior design by exploring different materials and approaches leading to new textile futures."

Again, my own interest is seeking to enquire whether this approach can be linked to cosmetic application


Heat Sensitive Fabric (Thermochromic cloth)

Memory Rich Garments
This experiment in memory rich garments consists of dresses that explore touch, embodied intimacy, and the technical implementation and construction of visually reactive substrates for manipulating use data on a textile. The conceptual framework consists of the gathering and displaying of intimate touch events but also explores social choreographies that emerge when bodies actively inhabit identical reactive costumes.


Wearable artifacts, by virtue of the fact that they are worn on the body, are a very intimate technology. Social and cultural changes are implicit in any new technology. These dresses explore the idea of wearable technologies that encourage physical touch and contribute to create embodied as opposed to virtual proximity between people.

Below are examples of the integrated shape memory alloy Nitinol in felted textile substrates to create animated structures that move or change shape over time, using resistive heating and control electronics.