Wearable Technology on Display at MFA’s #TechStyle

The undulating torso reacts to the noise of the crowd. Fine chest hairs, each two-inches long,
stand on end, rippling as if in the breeze. Upon closer inspection, the hairy chest becomes
hundreds of silver dressmaker pins, meticulously placed on a silky, white, long-sleeved blouse,
moving in rhythm to the voices around them. Each sound sparks a new movement, breathing life
into the headless human porcupine of a garment.

Ying Gao’s “Incertitudes Ensemble” is just one of an eclectic array of fashions on display
through July at the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) #techstyle exhibition, designed to showcase the
intersection of art, fashion, and technology.

A large flat screen greets #techstyle visitors with a pirouetting Catwoman-like figure, a ballet
slipper on one foot and a conical prosthetic on the other. Designed by MIT Media Lab, the pencil
sharp point of Viktoria Modesta’s “alternative limb” clangs and scrapes against the floor, the
sound of metal on metal seemingly more suited to machinery than dance. “Some of us were born
to be different” ends the video, a fitting introduction for what’s to come.

The exhibit’s three dimly lit rooms feel otherworldly – it’s as if we’ve launched into space with
bare black walls and soft new-age music adding to the ethereal feel. Unlike other galleries, there
are no benches upon which to sit and contemplate. Instead, #techstyle includes more than a half-
dozen flat-screen monitors – one with headphones for a more immersive experience – and a wall
that becomes a movie screen.

More TVs line the narrow hallway connecting #techstyle’s Performance and Production sections
and feature runway shows with music from Lady Gaga – apropos given that the fashions are
reminiscent of the singer’s famous ensembles. Indeed, the entire exhibit could have been donated
from Gaga’s closet, with displays like a remote control dress and LED tuxedo.

“I expected things I would not have imagined,” says Sarah Thompson, assistant curator for the
MFA’s Art of Asia, visiting during lunch.

“As usual with upscale fashion, a lot is to admire as art,” says Thompson. But several designs
“have applications for real people,” including a slinky reptilian sheath dress by Sally LaPointe
with a vibrant mix of scaly gold, reds, and blues digitally printed on sequins.

While photography is verboten in some parts of the museum, the exhibit that is a literal hashtag
is a multimedia event, encouraging visitors to “Tweet,” “Instagram,” and use all manner of
mobile communication and social media to capture and share the experience.

And in an age when the medium may well be the message, perhaps the logical next step is to
start wearing our Tweets.

The collection’s centerpiece, “CuteCircuit” does just that. Using the hashtag #tweetthedress,
visitors can post messages on social media that will appear on the black, floor-length dress
embroidered with Swarovski crystals.
The message of this exhibit? “Sustainability, interactivity, and immediate gratification” are a
few, says Curator of Textile and Fashion Arts Pamela Parmal. According to Parmal, fashion is
evolving “to meet the needs of contemporary society.”

This evolution includes a focus on recycled materials. The exhibit features a jacket created from
recycled waste and a chic dress made from bacteria that one could easily imagine on Audrey
Hepburn circa “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” Inspired by the 1980 film, “Alien,” “tortuous,” gothic-
looking high-heels by Alexander McQueen in a shade of “oil” offer slick commentary on our
reliance on the fuel source.

Designs range from the practical – a Ralph Lauren handbag that charges a cell phone battery – to
the fantastical – 3D printed “Molecule Shoes” in aquatic hues look like they were built out of the
Great Barrier Reef.

Twenty-something Topeka Ellis watches closely as a video explains the 3D printing custom-
fitting process.

“I like all of the explanations,” says Ellis, an engineer. Visiting with her sister Teigen, a
chemistry major at Boston University, Ellis is interested in the mechanics of the pieces.

“I was trying to find out how it works,” she admits, “I keep peeking underneath.”

Would these young women of science wear any of these fashions? “Yes, definitely.”

Aspiring fashionistas of all ages can appreciate #techstyle. Amy Shapiro from Jamaica Plain
brought her two daughters, ages 1 and 4. “My 4-year-old really likes dresses,” she says.

Indeed, dresses rule this exhibit, which includes futuristic frocks like the “Solar dress,” “Water
Splash dress,” and the “Possessed dress.”

Perhaps the collection’s crème de la crème is the Iris van Herpen miniskirt and matching
plunging V-neck cape, made of hundreds of individual black and white nubs that one guest
likened to “candy corn.”

Collections Care Specialist Allison Murphy is one of the few people allowed to touch the pieces.
Murphy has, in her words, the “fabulous job” of the day-to-day care of textiles and costumes in
the MFA’s collections.

“There’s so much new technology in the field of fashion,” she says. “All sorts of people working
together, scientists with fashion designers. It’s really inspiring where the design spirit takes
people.”

The exhibit is all about “using technology in a very wearable way,” says Murphy. “With
mashups of fashion and technology, there’s nothing you can’t create.”
#techstyle includes stalwarts of the fashion industry like Lauren and McQueen, along with
newcomers in the field of technology and art, like Somerville’s Nervous System, co-founded in
2007 by two MIT grads.

Nervous System’s 3D printed “Kinematics” dress looks like an amalgam of soft red petals, but
visitors allowed to feel a material sample quickly realize it’s more like your childhood K’NEX
set than fabric.

With such an array of futuristic pieces, Monica Borges, a “STEM student” studying statistics at
North Carolina State University, had mixed feelings about the exhibit.

“At first, it made me uncomfortable,” she says, given the fabrics are “not traditional” like cotton.
“It’s almost overwhelming.”

But Borges appreciates the use of new technology for an artistic endeavor. “It’s really cool to see
the application of 3D printing in fashion,” she says.

“Much cooler than ‘Project Runway’.”