The electronic couture designer Anouk Wipprecht unveiled, on Monday, the Pangolin Scales dress, which transcribes the activity of the human brain in movements and light effects.

By Ludmilla Intravaia

“Electronic couture expresses who we are, what we feel and how we interact with the outside world.” As Anouk Wipprecht explained to Le Boudoir Numérique in 2015 (read her interview here), the Dutch designer is fascinated by the way connected clothes can express, in a non-verbal way, the emotions experienced by the people who wear them. It is in all likelihood with this conception in mind, that the fashion tech designer unveiled, on August 31, a new dress, the Pangolin Scales, whose sensors shape is inspired by the morphology of the insectivorous mammal, more exactly of its protective keratin scales.

In Anouk Wipprecht's project, implementing a method of cerebral exploration called electroencephalography (EEG), the electrical activity of the brain, measured by electrodes placed on the scalp of the wearer of the dress, is transcribed into movement and light effects, through the outfit. Check out Anouk Wipprecht's Pangolin Scales dress in the video below.

Anouk Wipprecht explains his Pangolin Scales BCI + Dress project, in the video below. The term BCI or Brain Computer Interface refers to a direct communication interface between the brain and an external device, computer, electronic system etc., and in the case that interests us here, the Pangolin Scales dress . This dress, produced in collaboration with the Institute for Integrated Circuits at Johannes Kepler University (JKU) in Linz and the company specializing in BCI G.tec medical engineering, will be exhibited during the Ars Electronica Festival, from 9 to 13 September, 2020, in Austria.