Electric Runway Closes Gap Between Fashion and Technology

Toronto's Electric Runway is currently showcasing the perimeters of wearable tech as they have expanded the definition of fashion and its dramatic synthesis with technology. There is always a space within the realm of innovation of all types for those who wish to push conventional boundaries to new and unexpected dimensions. It is this platform from which new ideas are born and change is initiated.

 Electric Runway Smart Dress: Source: Blogto

In the words of curator, Amanda Cosco: "Wearables right now seem to be stuck in a gadget or wristable phase, and they need designers who think with a fashion-first mind in order to make their hardware more wearable and more aesthetically beautiful."

The Electric Runway and the Toronto Maker Festival

The technology runway pairs designers of apparel with companies specializing in hardware who together complete outfits in coordination with the Toronto Maker Festival Launch Party. A maker is defined as someone who uses their brain plus their hands plus their hearts to create innovative things, and the festival was born to grant Toronto's burgeoning "maker community" both an identity and a platform.

This special show has three distinct segments. Those products that are currenty available on today's market comprise the first. Stylekick, the inspirational shopping app for both men and women's fashions, is the curator of the second category which concerns the many influnces of modern fashion. Prototypes and concept performance pieces comprise the show's third section.

Electric Runway Outfit: Techvibes

Some special features of the Electric Runway

This fashion meets technology spectacle  is a dazzling celebration of the human imagination and the ingenuity and vision that propels modern technologies. The Electric Runway display consists of 'smart' garments, 3-D printed jewelry, brain-sensing headbands and everything and anything that can light up except for maybe Christmas trees. Wearable tech has expanded its boundaries to heretofore unexpected and incredible heights.

 Smart Earring: Source Ear-O-Smart

The runway features the world's first "smart" earring created by Canadian-based company, Ear-O-Smart. This fashioable piece of jewelry monitors heart rate, calories and levels of  activity. Costumes for cyborgs, which are worn as shoulder-straps, offer sound feedback to the wearer and a two-piece project by software and electronic artist, Izzie Colpitts-Campbell, is worn along the spine and renders feedback via vibrations traveling down the back. The amazing muscle-activated kinetic textile known as Monarch consists of forms attached to the shoulders that respond to muscle movement by contracting and expanding.

Cyborg Costume: Source: Twitter

Monarch Textile: Source: Tei-Conf

The future of the Electric Runway

The original fascination with electricity, which was once captivating and magical, has become commonplace due to technology's pervasive invasion into every aspect of our busy lives. The Electric Runway has regenerated  and repackaged electricity into modern applications that have created their own blend of enchanting magic that is certain to outdo itself in the years to come.

 Closing thougths on electricity:

Electricity is really just organized lightning. ~ George Carlin