Hussein Chalayan brings wearable tech to Paris Fashion Week

You don’t really think wearable technology and Paris Fashion Week, however, Cypriot-British designer Hussein Chalayan unveiled his collaboration with technology giant Intel at his spring/summer 2017 catwalk show.

Chalayan is known for his experimentation with technology and pushing the boundaries of fashion, he once showcased a coffee table that turned into a dress, another season he unveiled a series of dresses that featured hidden mechanisms that allowed them morphed from one design into another, and then there was the video dresses embedded with 15,000 LEDs.

For spring/summer 2017, the designer has teamed up with Intel on a range of connected wearable glasses and belts, which have been designed to improve awareness and pro-active management of stress.

Five models in this show wore the wearable tech, which had two pieces, the “stress-sensing connected” sunglasses powered by the Intel Curie sensor and a “powerful connected” belt that features the Intel Compute stick inside.

The glasses gather biometric data from the wearer using sensors that monitor brainwave, heart rate and breathing data to infer stress in real time. This information is then transmitted to the tiny computing device the size of a pack of gum inside the chunky belt that featured steel studs on its back.

Hussein Chalayan introduces wearable technology to improve stress

As the models moved down the catwalk, a projector in the side of the belt beamed visual representations of each emotional measure on the wall alongside the catwalk. The projection included dancing figures, the more nervous the wearer, the faster they danced. For stress, two hands were shown pulling a coiled rope in opposite directions, and to show emotional feelings, a rose was projected.

The connected accessories shown on the catwalk are just concept designs, so don’t expect them to hit stores next spring, however, Intel has stated that these designs do showcase how fashion and technology can work together.

“The result was not only an amazing visual experience for showgoers, but an exciting step forward in creating desirable, tech-infused wearables that empower the wearer to understand and respond to the world around them,” said Sandra Lopez, vice president of the New Technology Group at Intel. “As technology becomes smaller, smarter and more connected, it’s creating an entirely new world of immersive experiences and solutions that will rapidly transform and grow the fashion industry. It will also change the way we look at our clothing and accessories from things we simply put on to things that improve our lives.”

The Hussein Chalayan and Intel collaboration will be on display at the Design Museum's "Fear and Love: Reactions to a Complex World" exhibition in London starting in November.

Images: courtesy of Hussein Chalayan and Intel