Youth Make Wild Wearables for Judges of The Voice #WearableWednesday
Somehow my delightful array of filters missed this gem on the net, yet I was still destined to find this post on Fire Tech Camp about an exciting group of costumes made by youth at one of their camps in the UK. This is like coding unplugged, because these young folks were asked by the BBC to design outfits for the judges of The Voice, and what they produced is like Colorforms gone wild. We are talking color changing, spinning and sensing. The microcontroller fashions were presented at the Big Bang Fair, which is a science and engineering event in the UK. Good times!
For Rita Ora, a color changing dress was created that is dance activated, thanks to a Doppler proximity sensor embedded in the front. It’s likely that stranded RGB LEDs were used within the white underskirt of the bubble hem, creating a beautiful burst of color underneath the lasercut style top fabric. With some large black velvet platform heels and twice the feathers, I’m sure Lady Gaga would also sport this beauty!
See how the bow tie looks crooked on this outfit? That’s because it spins, thanks to a motor connected to a light sensor on the belt of this outfit. Designed for will.i.am, there is also a 3D printed hat that uses photochromic pigments, so UV light changes it’s color from yellow to red. It seems like light is the theme here–hot, right?
Ricky Wilson’s outfit allows crowds to see his true feelings with a 3D printed heart and LED connected to a pulse sensor. The next time Ricky sings Stay With Me, his vest will prove it is heartfelt for sure. Maybe the paparazzi will start counting LED blinks!
Sir Tom Jones got a tie that can react to singing, including a visual display to show the strength of sound. Although it can’t pick the best singer, it can certainly pick the loudest. There is also an attached sound board that allows for fun quotes from the show, so you might hear a zinger after your performance.
Fire Tech really gets exploring wearables in a way that teens and tweens can understand. So, if you are a STEM teacher, definitely check out their site for more ideas. Of course at Adafruit, we love to inspire, so also check out our crazy fun Laugh Track Jacket. You’ll learn how to embed cow mooing, cat snarls and bad one-liners into your fave clothing. You know you want to do it!
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!
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
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!