The theme for this year’s Metropolitan Museum of Art Gala in New York City, as well the theme of the museum’s companion exhibit from it, is “MANUSxMACHINA Fashion in an Age of Technology.” As stars like Taylor Swift gavotted in a silver shimmery mini and Zayn Malik sported faux robot arms, their pop paparazzi sensibility couldn’t belie the very real seriousness of the marriage of technology and fashion.
With nanoparticles imbedded into material to incorporate antennas and transistors, dresses created with manipulating color capabilities–and even translucent properties–pulse monitors and sweat-cooling materials rendered into sport clothing, even Smart Watches as much part and parcel of wearable tech couture as any other wardrobe accessory, our clothes might very soon be even smarter than we are.
But what’s the future for wearable technology when it comes to our more intimate encounters? How will ‘wearable tech’ and ‘smart clothes’ aid and abet our sexual desires, fit into and inform the sexy clothes we wear?
It’s not just about the toys
Yes, “teledildonics”–the science of remote-controlled vibrators–has invaded fashion with remote motion control vibes embedded in clothing. But beyond receiving a well-timed buzz from a giggling knowing partner, or monitoring yourself with something like the “SexFit”, an apparatus that calculates how many calories you burn during sex, real fashion tech sex innovations will only ever make a lasting mark when they are more than just about little gizmos implanted in our undies. GPS trackers in our clothes might indeed cut down on a partner’s cheating, but for the fashionista interested in true sensuous clothing advancements the garment they wear need be more than just some sexy device or a seemingly alternative style.
Remote controlled panties have been designed for women to manage discreet Kegel exercises. Might we come to see undergarments for men that can either help train suffers of premature ejaculation or slowly help coax, over time, those suffering from mentally induced Erectile dysfunction? As nanotechnology enjoys ever further advancement, might couture be designed with hyper sensitive relays, made from both ultra-thin yet ultra-durable materials, so participants could enjoy intense foreplay while still clothed?
And in these very possible and important advances in fashion, might the paradigm of what is considered ‘sexy’ shift from less a revealing design, to a way of looking at wardrobes we have yet to even consider?
The sociability of fashion
“With our constant connectivity to technology, and social media metrics collecting data on every aspect of our lives, it’s not unreasonable to speculate that our personal desires and fetishes would be accessible and marketed back to us,”
Dawn Mostow, lead designer and owner of the latex house Dawnamatrix postulates.
As a leading U.S. designer, having outfitted Katy Perry, Kylie Jenner and seeing her pieces featured in television series and magazines throughout the world, Dawn knows well what people immersed in the lifestyle of dressing sexy will be looking for in the near future. From her experience, Dawn considers much more than just texture, color and material as important for our future sex lives clothing wearing.
“As a latex clothing designer at Dawnamatrix, I can foresee computerized garments that connect to our personal profiles, alerting us through subtle vibration when a potential interest has entered our vicinity,” Dawn adds.
Given our current need to reach out, post, comment, the idea of a grand great connectivity from our garments seems a fair accompli. Enjoying ever faster downloads, digital reproductions decreasing storage space and the complete 24/7 connectivity, would it be any surprise we’d take to what Dawn imagines: computerized garments connecting our sexual profiles just by us wearing specific clothing for that purpose?
The usual stutter steps of scientific advancements
No matter what invention or advancement we might wish, or with even those we are currently using, there come stutter steps in progress. In the world of fashion, material and style considerations are blown about by an often capricious breeze; what’s popular one moment may not be the next, Facebook likes can as much influence style as a magazine spread. But during the trial and error, or new fashions that create or kill whole new industries, we can be assured we’ll see a goodly amount of quite interesting clothing and accessories to inform and infect our sexuality, beyond just a remote control vibrator placed in a pair of panties.
