Rips, tears, stains, holes and patches…. these are some of the marks left behind that tell a story for an item of clothing. There is physical evidence, wear and tear, a history. I wonder how this idea can be incorporated into wearables using technology. The History Tablecloth 
was created as part of the Equator Project with the Royal College of Art’s Interaction Design Research Department. The table cloth draws attention to the flow of objects over a surface in the home by signalling how long things have been left upon it. If an object is left on the table for a while, a glowing halo forms beneath it that grows slowly over time, until the object is moved. It uses electroluminescent inks printed onto a flexible substrate.
The project has me wondering: “what happens if an article of clothing can tell a story like this?” Besides the blemishes in the fabric, how else can a wearable display its history? What else can clothing tell us? What interesting secrets can articles of clothing keep? And how can we allow the clothing to express itself?
As I read this, I was thinking that it would be very challenging to separate the different histories of a garment. Guess that would depend on what one was focusing on. Like that book with fingermarks on electric dream blog. And also how our culture focuses on cleanliness. Neat ideas, I’m inspired.
You should put up a link or a post about your video!
[...] 25, 2009 · No Comments After thinking extensively about the history of a thing and how garments could tell a story by their wear and tear, I wondered how our skin might tell [...]