When Maartje Dijkstra posts that she is working on something it is rarely small; her fashions are extreme, futuristic goth works of art. Her latest piece, Surface Distortion was just presented at Future Flux Fest Rotterdam. It’s important to first understand the gist of this festival in its own words.

Operating drones with your body? Exploring the Onderzeebootloods with autonomous machines? Draw with a robotic arm? Or would you rather have a beer, hear the makers present their latest designs, and dance to some nice beats?

Well, I don’t know about you, but I would pretty much be game to do all of that, and now you can understand why Maartje’s work is the way it is. Sometimes you want your fashion to express all of your being, and this outfit really does.

This is a performance piece and lights inside this 3D printed dress respond to the electronic music being played, just like the concert lights for the show. I’m not even sure why Lady Gaga isn’t wearing this work by now. Notice the matching Shooties and face accent piece which really move this to fast forward. Something that really makes Maartje’s work stand out is the fact that it is manually 3D printed, which means she is using a 3D printing pen to layer strands of plastic, giving the appearance of tribal macrame. I can only imagine how long it might take just to do a 4 in. section on this dress! Here’s what it looks like in the making.

Lighting was insane for this show and I’m going to leave you with my fave photo really showing the dress lights and stage lights to the max. A special thanks to photographer Fred Ernst for really capturing the dress, as well as the atmosphere. Each time I think I’ve seen Maartje’s best work, there is something new to amaze, whether it be the technique, style or environmental responsiveness. It’s really wonderful when an artist just lets loose to explore.

Making wearables that respond to music is great fun and I’m going to recommend that you take a look at our learning guide for Ursula’s Seashell Necklace. Not only does it have a flair for the outrageous, like Maartje’s work, it combines electronics with 3D printing. You can use the shell idea for some mermaid cosplay or 3D print something of your own design to light up. Just make sure you have your playlist ready because the lights will look amazing!

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!