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Entertainment

Viral Style: Music Reactive Clothing, Surveillance Vests, And Magnetic Dresses

Scouring dashboards and the URL world to bring you a selection of fashion tidbits in digestible weekly portions.

COUTURE TECH OF THE WEEK

Couture apparel is difficult enough to make without throwing techy concepts like manipulated textures into the mix—but hey, that’s why we’re such big fans of Iris van Herpen <3. Made in collaboration with product designer Jólan vander Wiel, Herpen’s latest collection incorporates a selection of dresses inspired by the attraction/repulsion concept of magnetism—crafted out of iron fillings and resins, the flexible mixture is warped with and then placed onto the fabric base shapes for spiky tactile finish. Not recommended for wearing through airport security.

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SNEAKER COLLAB OF THE WEEK

In one of the hottest footwear collabs of the year, Converse have teamed up with avant-garde French fashion house Maison Martin Margiela on two limited-edition high-end sneaker designs. We know what you thinking—oh man, surely there’s no way to make a pair of Converse feel fresh—but trust, it works. The classic Chuck Taylor All Star hi-top and low-top Jack Purcell have been stripped back with MMM’s trademark pure white wash to create a minimal, de-branded look. Details have yet to be revealed regarding release, so watch this space.

WEARABLE SPY TECH OF THE WEEK

Forget James Bond’s movie gadgets, this garm is the real spy deal. Surveillance brochures have recently leaked online (reportedly designed for FinFisher, a technical surveillance program by Gamma Group), revealing a wearable vest that’s able to capture data from nearby mobile phones—which can then be used to track a phone’s (aka the owner’s) location. It only takes the vest 90 seconds to record a phone’s unique identifier number, and can work on any network, in any country. If that’s not creepy enough, there’s also a memory stick that has the ability to hack into wireless networks to obtain personal and banking info.

MILITARY BIO STEALTH TECH OF THE WEEK

TIL that military tech-heads are going under the sea in search of new bio stealth tech that could help soldiers stay on the DL on nocturnal missions. Taking inspiration from squids (yes, you read that right), infrared camouflage is currently being developed by the University of California Irvine team from reflectin protein that will allow the user to choose what kinds of light to reflect/absorb, retuning the protein to various light wavelengths. It’s a long way off from being used in the field yet, but we figure the developers over at CoD should take note in their next game.

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HUMAN AUDIO TECH OF THE WEEK

In one of the oddest tech developments we’ve heard in a while, a new device has been created that is able to transmit sound through the human body—but here’s the thing, it was developed at Disney. Using a regular microphone, Ishin-Den-Shin is fitted to the skin and converts recorded audio into an inaudible signal transmitted through the body of the user holding the mic—they can then touch someone’s earlobe to make an organic 'magical' speaker. The sound can then be passed from person to person via touch. Cool? Yes. Creepy? Kinda. We can only hope Disney won’t be using this trick for spontaneous movie advertising anytime soon.

FLYING ROBOT OF THE WEEK

Growing up as kids, many of us were probably tricked into believing that we’d all have our very own robot buddy by 2013 (thanks, TV)—but now

a new Kickstarter project

 looks set to make that pipe dream into a reality. Meet Spiri, an autonomous flying (yes, flying) robot that’s designed to help you in everyday life, with whatever you want it to do. It's programmable capabilities mean that, from courier to gardener to reporter—or just a fun playmate—there are a lot of possibilities with how you can use Spiri. Built as a “well-balanced and sensitive physical machine”, Spiri is able to fly without a remote control independently, and even knows when to return and charge itself. If all goes well with funding, Spiri is set to launch publically in April—keep your eyes peeled for this one.

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INTERACTIVE APPAREL OF THE WEEK

If you wanna make a statement next time you’re at da club (and your best jacket/bag/shoes or whatever just ain’t cutting it), Coded Environments apparel might just be for you. Created by designers

Maxim Yahontov

and Valeria Pekarskaya, it’s an interactive piece of clothing that responds to music with light, upgrading your party experience with a whole new visual dimension. And hey, your friends will always know where you are on the dance floor.

William Edwin Wright and Charlotte McManus are creative director and editor at LOGO, respectively. LOGO is a London-based collective of stylists, photographers, designers, and directors specialising in making creative fashion content for the internet and beyond.

@williamewright

@char_mcmanus

@logoculture