Building a personal wardrobe

My thinking about the whole concept of putting together a personal wardrobe has advanced by leaps and bounds since the last time I posted in this subject. I have begun the process by thinking through my own wardrobe, and, more recently, that of a good woman friend. First of all, the whole idea of developing a personal wardrobe actually means changing one's wardrobe, since we all have a wardrobe we may have unconsciously constructed over years of time and choices. To focus consciously on our wardrobe is to recognize that we are in a prrocess of change. Part of this is about recognizing how our existing wardrobe was (unconsciously) designed - why we chose to wear the types of clothes we did, and what kind of new person we are becoming. The personal wardrobe we intend to create must act to enable and facilitate the emergence of the new person we are becoming, rather than be necessarily what we want (sometimes are desires are rooted in older ideas about the self and they may need to be challenged!).

For example, it has become clear to me that for years I have been wearing solid colors in my shirts and pants, often in quite dark shades, and that this represents both a kind of solidity and an invisibility. The kind of person I am becoming is much more forward moving, visible, engaging, and my clothes need to change to reflect that change.

Another consideration for designing a new core wardrobe is that the wardrobe needs to express a primary constellation of values related to the "new me", but that they may also serve to support several secondary constellations. Hence, for example, the primary set of values my new wardrobe is being focussed around is distinguished, assertive and engaged, but a secondary set includes a sense of edginess, and of exotism.

A third consideration which I also believe to be important, although it may sound odd, is that I think the wardrobe should include paying attention to underwear, not so much as a statement aimed at other people, as with regard to a recognition of how I view myself. Although we may share our underwear with one (or more?) significant others, ultimately, our underwear reflects our own relationship with our body and self image. Therefore, if we are moving towards developing a new personal wardrobe, underwear is an important component in such a move. In a sense, how we act in the world and how other people perceive us is based on only on our outer appearance, but also our choices regarding hidden aspects of who we are.

I'm not saying anything at all about what choices one should make - I think these will vary from one individual to another. But I do think we need to be aware of these choices.

Design Notes : With a view towards making interesting e-textile clothes

I have been thinking about the process of making clothes using smart textiles, and have a number of reflections to share.

First of all, I am overwhelmed and a bit bewildered by the range of sites one can find on the web dealing with different aspects of smart textiles. There seem to be dozens, perhaps even hundreds of new technologies under development or emerging on the market that provide new approaches to clothes. There is definitely a revolution in the making.

I've found a very interesting source of "artificial muscles" that could be integrated into clothes ("http://www.environmental-robots.com/products.htm"). Environmental Robots Inc (ERI) provide a number of kits to work with these materials, ranging from about 100$ to nearly 1000$ - these are really engineering kits, however, not for the faint at heart, I think. Nonetheless, they offer interesting possibilities for the use of shape changing textiles within clothes with a modicum of technical tinkering.

I've also been investigating the use of thermochromatic inks - inks that "change color" as a function of temperature. I've found one UK company that sells these (http://www.chromazone.co.uk/) - I'm sure there are more around, if I went looking. These inks don't exactly change color - they fade to invisibility and back when the temperature changes, but different inks may do so at different temperatures, or if they are connected to a powered heating link, they might be controlled into fading at different moments - this is what allows fabrics to change color. I think color changing fabrics is potentially of greater interest than the use of lights within clothes and as a result I think this is an area of experimentation worth pursuing.

I've also been thinking about the process of selecting fabrics in relation to the introduction of LEDs and fiber optics. Aside from the color-changing fabrics mentionned above, it is likely that one will choose fabrics for clothes differently when one is planning to incorporate LEDs or fiber optics than if one is doing conventional clothes. A lot of sites seem to be dealing with the incorporation of these devices into t-shirts. Personally, I believe the use of lights or color changing textiles is more interesting for more complex garments, but this likewise requires more care in design. Do certain fabrics lend themselves more to incorporating LEDs? As many of these are temperature controlled or may generate a small amount of heat, I imagine that more volatile fabrics such as acetate or triacetate will need to be avoided, but no doubt this should be tested. For that matter, does conductive thread operate equally effectively in different fabrics? Again, a good subject for testing.