I’m often captivated by the wind swirling the plumage of wading birds like herons. There’s something beautiful about seeing a few feathers rise up and to see the colors play in the sunlight. I can’t help but feel the same sensation in this jacket spotted on STEMplusD. In fact, I would have to say it really resembles the iridescent wings of a Grackle.

The iridescence of the garment is actually induced by the wind and some magic. This color changing piece was created by Lauren Bowker and her mystical team at THEUNSEEN. I say mystical, because once you have visited their site, you will be under their spell. Think alchemy, sorceresses and engineering in a studio. The magic in this piece is due to special inks that are getting a lot of attention.

The ink and dyes inside the wind-activated fabric are made of nano compounds that detect and react to seven inputs from the environment: heat, UV, pollution, moisture, chemicals, friction and sound.

Different inputs cause different reactions in color — some creating scales of color change while others may be as simple as a toggle change of color. So, the garment itself becomes a barometer of the environment. Needless to say, the health industry and auto industry are already interested in the technology. If you want to learn more about it yourself, THEUNSEEN offers workshops throughout the year. Or, you can transform your home into Hogwarts and experiment with a FLORA, NeoPixels and our Temperature Humidity Sensor. Create an outfit that will react to your environment and soon friends will be following you for weather updates.

Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!