From cybernetic accessories to cutting-edge materials, we’ll look as hot as we feel

When not protecting the wearer against the weather—or in some cases other humans—clothing has always been about sex.

While materials came and went, the basic idea of fashion has stuck around. From power ties to high heels, corsets to tuxedos, jockeys to hot pants, we’ve forever been trying to accentuate, or downplay, certain parts of our anatomy.

But now it looks like things will really be changing. Frequently using what is called intelligent clothing or e-textiles, a few innovative designers are exploring wild new territories—and perhaps giving us a glimpse of the erotic fashions for the next century.

Anouk Wipprecht

To put it overly simple, technology plus fashion, plus sensuality, equals Dutch designer Anouk Wipprecht.

One of her designs called the ParticleDress, embraces the open-source movement: where all kinds of technologies are being made available for anyone to tweak or play with.

Basically, she created a 3D printed framework/garment that supports a standardized hexagonal ‘module’—then she reached out to creative people all over the world, inviting them to design their very own modules to be attached to the dress. The final selection of these submissions then made it into the final design, unveiled at the San Francisco Maker Faire in May of this year.

This idea has all kinds of sexy possibilities. Want to make the dress react to body temperature—thus indicating arousal? Want it to show where you want to be touched? Want to show your sexual preference? Want to be connected to your Bluetooth enabled sex toy—and really push your button?

All you need to do is design your own module and attach it to something like Wipprecht’s dress.

Playful, daring, and even interactive, one of Wipprecht’s other designs, called The Spider Dress, reacts to the wearer’s unconscious biosignals (like rate of breathing) using sophisticated sensors. In response, it triggers a microcontroller-operated defensive posture. In other words, it senses if the wearer is threatened or anxious and raises its plastic arms in warning.

Assembled using one of the brightest new manufacturing methods, 3D printing, The Spider Dress is a perfect melding of fashion, cutting-edge engineering, and social interactivity.

Daan Roosegaarde

The Intimacy 2.0 dress, created by another Dutch designer, Daan Roosegaarde, is much more directly erotic. In fact, this is a garment that will not just indicate that the wearer is turned on but will literally show it.

Fabricated again using state-of-the-art printing tech, the dress has sensors that detect body heat, and, when it reaches a certain special level, e-foil panels turn transparent.

If you’re feeling the touch of sexism in these designs, rest assured that Roosegaarde is currently working on garments designed for more than just the female form—though what part of the wearer’s garment will turn transparent hasn’t been shown yet.

Behnaz Farahi

Another take on the idea of a garment that reveals arousal comes from Los Angeles-based Behnaz Farahi. While Roosegaarde’s Intimacy 2.0 used electro-transparency, Farahi takes an equally elegant, though more physical approach.

Another difference between these two is that Farahi’s Caress of the Gaze dress uses eye-tracking technology to measure the interest, not of the wearer, but those looking at the garment or the person donning it.

Once the dress measures the viewer’s desire, a mesh of trigger muscle wires (Nitinol) then move 3D-printed feathers—revealing with their motion the (ahem) appreciation of anyone looking.

Do It Yourself

Going back to Wipprecht’s open-source project, one of the most intriguing aspects of this movement of combining tech, style, and sex is that there are a wide array of simple tools available—and many more on the way—allowing anyone to homebrew their own erotically stylish smart outfits.

The LilyPad from Arduino, for instance, is a range of miniature, attachable devices that can be joined to each other and to a garment using conductive thread.

Temperature, light, movement, proximity… you name it, you can buy a device that will react to it and then generate sound, light, text messages, or anything else you want to transmit. Turned on? Let your homemade smart suit do the talking and flash a signal to your object of affection.

And there are plenty others. Fabrickit and Flora, and its even-smaller kin, Gemma, offer all kinds of possibilities.

And, to get your signal out there, there are many manufacturers of electroluminescent panels and wires that will brightly glow at the touch of a switch or action of a sensor. There are even companies creating flexible LCD displays, which means with a little work anyone could create an erotic display to wear to a wild occasion—or make an event of their own.

Perfectly summing up both her Intimacy 2.0 design, and this movement of combining technology, fashion, and eroticism, Farahi says: “Technology will enhance our bodily function and give us a power that our body doesn’t have.”

And, as always with us human beings, we know that power will become a beautifully sexual one.

Image Sources: Depositphotos

The post Tying The Future On: Fashion Designers Combine Style, Tech, And Eroticism Like Never Before appeared first on Future of Sex.

In the future, our clothing won’t just make us “look” sexy

Corsets to fishnets, codpieces to tube tops, mini skirts to pantaloons, history is rife with clothing specifically crafted to make us appear, to put it mildly, as hot as possible.

Fine and/or dandy, but due to recent technological advancements such as the development of state-of-the-art materials, soon we’ll also feel erotically stimulated—including the ability to don uniquely structured garments made to enhance both our and our playmates’ sexual pleasures.

So let’s put on our top hats, muss up our white ties, dance in our tails, and imagine how future fashions might have us sporting big and quite steamy smiles.

Built-in pleasures

Like how today’s wearable sextech lets us turn ourselves or—allow whoever’s fortunate enough to have their finger on the remote control, have it done for us—our future wardrobe may come with pre-installed sexual technology or designed so miniature vibrators, massagers, and such can be swapped out, replaced, or upgraded whenever necessary.

Not forgetting arousal is more than what you or anyone else happens to have between their legs; the same tech could also be brought to other erogenous zones, as well. 

Neck massages get you going?  Slip on a jacket, a scarf, stole, or collar fitted with an array of miniature actuators to fire you up.  

Someone caressing your thighs have you purring like a kitten?  A special set of leggings or a pair of our titular hot pants could also rev up your sex drive.

There’s no limit to what we might create, and considering how fast the sextech industry is already moving, we might have our exciting new arousing garments in less than a decade—or possibly sooner.

Super-sensual fabrics

We’re all familiar with how this or that material can kick our bodies into sensual high gear, so it shouldn’t be challenging to produce someday bolts of super-sensual fabrics formulated to boost an assortment of physical pleasure centers.

Unlike lingerie, which, let’s be honest, is rarely worn for more than a few minutes, we’d leave new materials on, super-stimulating a single sexual act like oral sex or maybe provide more generalized sensations for a range of erotic activities.  A one-size-fits-all approach, you might say.

RECOMMENDED READ: Kinky and Green: The Rise of Sustainable Fetish Fashion

There’s also no reason why these arousing new fabrics couldn’t deliver more intense sensations.  For example, leather chaps—a mainstay of the BDSM community—could be tweaked so that when struck during a scene, they wouldn’t insulate but amplify the impact, dialing it from a run-of-the-mill nine to a Spinal Tap eleven.

Speaking of leather, we might have the choice to wear not just our hearts but perhaps our lover’s actual skin on our sleeves, compliments of a dash of cloning tech woven into our haute—or rather hot—couture.  

We may even sport garments sewn from a thousand different vat-grown species, all without harming a single animal or person, as celebrities also may offer their fans an opportunity to wear their cloned flesh.

Brainy and beautiful

Today’s clothing may make us appear smart, but we’re on the way to developing truly intelligent materials that can alter their shape, color, and texture on demand.  

Smart materials, sometimes called programmable matter, might even turn instantly into anything we desire, be one or many sextoys, an item of pleasure-enhancing clothing, or a combination of both.

Looking further, tomorrow’s closets may contain a single, shape-and-color-shifting garment occupying an equally single dresser drawer, waiting for us to say how sexy we want to look and how sexy we’d like to feel.  

Goodbye dirty laundry

Another innovative breakthrough already appearing on today’s store shelves is stain-resistant nanotech clothes.  

A technology that will undoubtedly become a fashion mainstay, if not making washers and dryers, laundromats, and dry cleaners—or the very idea of needing to clean our garments—obsolete.

Along with saving time, effort, and money, we wouldn’t waste valuable resources or energy maintaining our sensual wardrobe, not to mention the damage soaps and other cleaning products do to the environment.

Looking good, feeling better

Like technology, fashion trends prove it’s practically impossible to predict where what the future may hold.  

After all, who couldn’t have predicted the 80s shoulder pads craze, bell bottoms, bustles, the 18th century’s mountainous wigs, flappers’ skirts, or the missile-tipped bras of the 50s?

What we can say is when fashion and technology meet, we may find ourselves living in a world where dressing for success means our clothes will arouse others—and ourselves, too.

Image Sources: Depositphotos

The post Hot Pants: How Tomorrow’s Fashions Will Turn Heads—And Us On appeared first on Future of Sex.

Dressing for pleasure—while saving the planet

Since 2020, Copenhagen Fashion Week, Northern Europe’s largest haute couture celebration, has embraced sustainability by requiring its participants to use Earth-friendly materials in their designs. 

Other events have followed suit, such as New York’s Green Show, which is all about looking good while being environmentally aware. 

With all this in mind, it seems pretty evident that modern designers are becoming not only aware of up-and-coming fashion trends but also supporting the use of next-gen, recycled, and bio-based materials.  

But can this growing movement to create low-impact, recyclable clothing extend to, shall we say, specifically kinky garments?  

Or, to put it another way, will green soon become fetish wear’s new black?

Fetish fashion: what is it, and who wears it?

Financial Express defines fetish fashion and why it seems to be so ever-increasingly popular as: “Anything that adds a sense of sexuality, kinkiness, quirkiness, and representation of freedom can be classified as fetish fashion.”     

Fetish and fashion have been steamy bedfellows for quite some time. In fact, the argument could be made that it and modern designs have always been closely intertwined.

As Financial Express further explained, “After the Met Gala and the VMAs ceremony, it became more prominent. The comeback is proven by the appearance of Kim Kardashian, wrapped from head to toe in a black cotton Balenciaga “T-shirt.”

Alternatives on the horizon

The problem is fetish fashion tends to come with a less-than-earth-friendly price tag. For instance, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), one of kink-community’s most popular materials, is made from non-renewable fossil fuels.

As author and founding director of the Collective Fashion Justice non-profit  Emma Hakansson put it, “While it’s worth being aware that producing some synthetic materials actually has significantly smaller climate and other environmental impacts compared to materials like leather and wool, ‘less bad for the planet’ is not the same as ‘good for the planet.”

Fortunately, there might be some more environmentally sustainable choices on the way, including some postulated by Håkansson herself, who’s consulting on sustainable fashion legislation and working with fashion brands to transition from animal-derived materials towards greener choices.

Håkansson suggests cork, a naturally water-resistant material that, when mixed with cotton, can be dyed and embossed to closely resemble leather, could be a good replacement.

Another possibility is Mirum, which is made from—among other materials—rice hulls, coconut husks, charcoal clay, and plant-based oils and waxes, which can be easily recycled when no longer used.

Latex: best for what ails us?

Another fetish-wear staple is latex. But while it may look and sometimes feel like PVC, it’s not as environmentally harmful.

“Latex has often been related to fetishism, but I think designers are starting to realize (sp) that it’s a natural fabric,” French fashion designer Arthur Avellano told Dezeen, “which makes it very interesting in today’s discussions about ecology and ethical issues.”  

Dawn Mostow of Dawnamatrix Designs agrees, writing, “There are many reasons why latex is an eco-friendly product—at the same time being one of the more popular for fetish wear.”

She continues, saying, “First of all, it’s made from trees, but the trees don’t need to be cut down to cull the substance needed to make latex. Secondly, it is biodegradable. And lastly, latex takes time and skill to render, and that workmanship generally means that the work that goes into making latex garments cuts down on the aspect of rampant commercialism and mass production.”

So, it looks like one of the most popular fetish garment materials might already be an eco-friendly fetish fashion choice. 

Wild for us, smart for the planet

From Elvis Presley wiggling in his Nudie Suit or black leathers— not forgetting his legendary white jumpsuits—to Madonna’s pointy bras and Lady Gaga’s meat dress, the desire to show off has led to fantastic performances, ever more interesting art, and numerous iconic and very arousing fashion moments.

But the best could be yet to come, thanks to how the fetish fashion industry is learning how to make us look fabulous while saving the planet at the same time. 

We might soon see new, fantastically brilliant dyes derived from fruits and plants, ever-more eco-friendly, supple, and strong materials, and even paraben, vegan, and bleach-free detergents to clean our ultra-arousing new garments with.

Best of all, we could live in a world where looking sexy will go hand in hand with ensuring the world we’re living in will be green and beautiful for a very long time.

Image Sources: Photodeposit

The post Kinky and Green: The Rise of Sustainable Fetish Fashion appeared first on Future of Sex.