Fashioning the future: tomorrow's wardrobe

This book is the first to comprehensively map the convergence of new technologies and their application to fashion design. Recent years have seen a surge of interest in this field but prior to this book few resources existed, with even scarcer inspirational examples for fashion practitioners.

Having created a wearable technology resource for the internal college library I was approached by Professor Caroline Evans to turn this archive into a book as part of her AHRC-funded Fashion and Modernity project (2001-04). Taking fashion as a standpoint, the book aims to reach a wide global audience, pulling together disparate research areas such as military and computing with health and textiles.
The book acts as a guide to historical context and contemporary fashion/technology prototypes whilst also showcasing ‘future fashion visions’ created especially for the publication in association with a world-respected fashion image team (Warren du Preez & Nick Thornton-Jones - photographers/image-makers). It relates back into current research in fashion, textile and smart technologies, functioning as a resource for different design constituencies as well as a sophisticated fashion research community.

It also aims to provide a platform for establishing a new discipline spanning disparate research communities. Inspiration, thinking and working methods are revealed through interviews with key international researchers and designers. It explains technical terminology and provides extensive further resources for reference via a web-index and bibliography.

The spray-on dress --
The programmable jacket --
The growable suit --
The invisible coat --
The glowing ballgown --
The shape-shifting skirt --
The instant bikini --
The caring camisole --
The talking T-shirt --
The self-assembling raincoat.

It was reviewed in the mainstream press and featured on the cover of The Independent Magazine. It resulted in my being invited to write for trade journals (Drapers, Textile View) as well as to speak at many international conferences for both academia and industry. It features on university reading lists both at home and abroad.