Why so many prostheses on the catwalks? Exoskeleton jeans to help you walk? Last part of our interview with Olivier Levard, specialist in new technologies, on the future of fashion tech.

By Ludmilla Intravaia

Le Boudoir Numérique: Last February in New York, the paralympic champion Femita Ayanbeku was wearing a prosthetic leg at Chromat fashion show (more info here). A season before, it was the bionic artist Viktoria Modesta who sported a luminous dress on the catwalk of the American brand (more info here). Savage X Fenty by Rihanna (more info here), Lulu and Gigi Couture (more info here) and, already, in 1998, Alexander McQueen put prosthetics in the limelight. Is the fashion of tomorrow the one that will help us to become this augmented human, half man-half machine, as seen in Paul Verhoeven's film RoboCop in 1987?

Olivier Levard, journalist specialized in new technologies: My conviction is that the future lies with RoboCop. We realize, through cinema, that this vision combining biology and technology rather inspires us horror. But I think that fear is destined to go away in the future. We will go from a very slow Darwinian evolution to a much faster technological evolution, where we will not hesitate to replace parts of the human body with robotics and mechatronics. Body parts of soldiers wounded in combat are already being replaced with futuristic prostheses, by "rewiring" their nervous system. The next step, and we get there, is to give the patient his touch again, for example, to allow him to feel the strength of his prosthetic hand, so as not to break the things he touches. For the moment, we are in the repair of the human body but the transition which will take ten years, thirty years, three centuries, no one knows, is that we will have the choice to improve our body. Perhaps the rich will benefit from these technological advances, to the detriment of the more disadvantaged sections of the population… They will have the best arms or the best legs. This is a theme covered in the film Elysium, for example.

Model Viktoria Modesta at Chromat Spring-Summer 2020 show, September 7, 2019, New York (© Chromat)

In this 2013 movie (see trailer below), Neill Blomkamp’s criticism of social disparity is illustrated, for instance, with a Versace med pod, a healthcare machine bearing the Italian brand's Medusa logo, at the exclusive use of privileged citizens of the space station Elysium. And a man, Max, played by Matt Damon, opposes this unequal system, by merging with a technological armor multiplying his physical capabilities ...

All movies, Japanese animes, video games with mechas, in which individuals are inserted, such as Pacific Rim (directed by Guillermo del Toro, in 2013, AN), embody an exaggerated version of what is called an exoskeleton, a robotic device around the human body. Many companies around the world make exoskeletons. This ranges from the basic model, in metal, most often, in a leg or torso version, chosen according to the action to be performed. They allow, for example, to jump higher and to tire less when running. The leg version is already used in Japan by elderly people who have difficulty moving. They are used in industry, in a superior version, for workers who have to move very heavy loads. I tried pneumatic versions in Japan that gave me the ability to be stronger. There are also more advanced options, true power steering of the human body that pick up electrical signals, on the surface of the skin, to improve movements. They are used to rehabilitate victims of brain accidents.

So, these second technological skins are no longer pure science fiction?

No. In Canada, I met a woman, Johanne, who, after spending 17 years in a wheelchair, walks again, thanks to an exoskeleton, a robotic structure outside her legs. I went for a walk with her. I wouldn't say she could run but she can at least walk for hours. And when she goes to bed at night, she says, "I take my legs off," like she would with pants. It shows how much this exoskeleton that covers her body, this garment in short, has become a part of herself. If fashion is the dressing of the body, isn't the fashion of the future the one that changes our bodies and our relationship to our physical envelopes?

It still remains a technical device, rather bulky, no?

Someday, this technology will be so miniaturized that if I'm disabled, I'll put on jeans and those jeans will make me walk again. We can completely imagine it. On the other hand, the exoskeleton model I told you about is not yet miniaturized and it costs 30,000 euros. Which amounts to saying that this ability to walk again is paid a heavy price. This poses crucial ethical questions, in the sense that if exoskeletons that allow people to walk again exist, social security must reimburse them, just like wheelchairs.

Olivier Levard, April 7, 2014, in Paris (portrait: © Lionel Samain for Le Boudoir Numérique 2020)

Could these jeans you mention also be used as a diagnostic tool?

Clothing collecting medical data has developed a lot recently in the health sector. I test it regularly. Take the example of the holter (heart activities monitoring device, to be worn for an extended period of time, AN). Before, it was hell to do this kind of heart check-up. The device was full of cables, you couldn't shower with it. Now we put it in a T-shirt. I also believe in textiles that heal us, in clothes that improve body posture, like the undershirts from the brand Percko. We are a little bit fed up with all these cheap wearables, these connected watches that measure the number of steps and we realize that what is intended to last is quality products, rather expensive, like the Apple Watch or devices that are both useful and discreet in our life, such as those that analyze our sleep. Flexibles, wrapped in a fabric that you put under the mattress, they are always on, you forget them. Diagnostic and healthcare clothing is an integral part of the future of fashion tech. Expect to wear, permanently, clothes and fashion accessories analyzing your health. In fact, we are already doing it.

Isn't data collection an open door to the surveillance and manipulation of individuals, especially if it is hiding in the folds of our favorite dress? Isn't that one of the dangers of fashion tech?

By becoming more technological, are we becoming less human? That is the question. The danger is real, since today the Big Brother of 1984 (novel by George Orwell, published in 1949, AN) is already here. Sharing with friends, on Facebook, the number of steps you make, why not. But not all data is meant to be shared. Alzheimer's patients can be followed, using a connected bracelet, to reassure families, but how far are we allowed to monitor people? This can be a problem, especially with health tools that have sharing features. The important thing is to remain in control of your own data. States must work to protect personal data. Thus, if lots of tools exist to help Big Brother, laws also exist. It's up to us to use them.

* Read the other parts of the Boudoir Numérique interview with Olivier Levard:

- 1/3 - "Fashion can no longer look down on geeks and tech"

- 2/3 - “When will we see a virtual octopus presenting handbags?”

* Continue reading with the following Boudoir Numérique papers :

- NYFW 20-21 : Daisy-May Demetre walks Lulu et Gigi Couture show with prostheses

- NYFW 20-21 : inclusive fashion tech at Chromat show

- The bionic artist Viktoria Modesta on Chromat runway

- Fashion models with prostheses at NYFW 2019

* Olivier Levard is the author of the book "Nous sommes tous des robots, comment Google, Apple et les autres vont changer votre corps et votre vie" ("We are all robots, how Google, Apple and others will change your body and your life"), Michalon, 2014, 284 pages.