Katy Perry Brightening Fashion World ~ Ajurette Magablog

Celebrity attends the Costume Institute Gala Benefit to celebrate the opening of the "American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity" exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 3, 2010 in New York City. Gala is the event of the year, often described as the Oscars of Fashion, bringing together celebrities and fashion in a spectacular display.

Katy Perry (born October 25, 1984) is an American singer most famous for her racy hit single, "I Kissed A Girl." Perry, a pastor's daughter from Santa Barbara, California, has drawn a lot of controversy for her occasionally taboo lyrics. Before hitting it big, Perry sang backup for Miley Cyrus. (Zimbio)

There's nothing unusual from Katy's long white chiffon gown when she attended Costume Institute Gala if we see her in the picture below,

Katy Perry at the MET Costume Institute Gala NYC, 3 May 2010

Aside from meticulous detailing on the gown she's wearing, it still looks like an ordinary beautiful gown,

Katy and her companion that night.

What makes it special is that it's glowing!... and even her partner's bow tie glows!

Pop star Katy Perry admitted that her choice to wear a white strapless Cute Circuit dress adorned with flashing light sticks was for herself.

See how this gown can change to many color,

"I respect and appreciate Anna Wintour, but I'm doing this for me," she told StyleList.
"That's what people should do, especially when they're representing true women in American fashion." She pointed out that her dress had a little panic button on a wire in her cleavage, and if "Anna comes over and says 'shut that f-ing thing off'. I'll do it."

Which a source says that gown was off by dinnertime. (Who knew maybe Anna had words with Perry earlier)

A company out of London called CuteCircuit produced the couture gown for Katy. That garment had over 3,000 LEDs mixed in with all that flowing silk chiffon and creating a rainbow of colors around Katy as she entered the ball.
Katy Perry brightened up the red carpet at the Costume Institute gala in an LED (Light Emitting Diode) CuteCircuit gown she helped design. CuteCircuit’s Ryan Genz tells us that Katy and creative director Francesca Rosella chose the fabrics, the cut, and even the design of the multi-colored lights, which Perry demonstrated using an on/off switch nestled in her cleavage. “Fashion can be a little stuffy, so I wanted to lighten up,” the singer said of her ensemble.

If you’re lit up by the idea of wearable technology, you’re in luck! Later this month the company will launch a pret-a-porter line, including a mini dress that displays a variety of colors and graphics cued by the wearer’s movements. (Instyle)

Introducing the designer who made it, is the CuteCircuit founders themselves and they are:

Francesca Rosella and Ryan Genz
Francesca is Chief Creative Director, originally an architect that worked as fashion designer for Valentino and Esprit, at CuteCircuit Francesca leads her team in the development of interactive garments, sensors and smart fabric systems.
Ryan is CEO, originally an Anthropologist, and the tech and interaction design guru behind the creation of CuteCircuit's award-winning wearable technology products.

Francesca Rosella and Ryan Genz (Photo by Rankin Photography from picnicnetwork.org)

CuteCircuit is a fashion industry based in London that designs wearable technology. CuteCircuit products are innovative intelligent clothing that integrate new functionalities into fashion trough the use of smart textiles and micro electronics. (As seen below)

Twirkle T-Shirt is a t-shirt that adds sparkle to your style day and night. During the day the colorful crystals sparkle in the sunlight and at night an array of tiny white or full color LEDs twinkle and glow following the movement of the wearer’s body. The Twirkle t-shirt is washable and works with two small watch batteries.

Twirkle T-shirt - CuteCircuit

The Kinetic Dress is sewn of an elastic textile embedded with sensors that follows closely the body of the wearer. The sensors are able to capture the wearer’s movements and interaction with others and display this data through the electroluminescent embroidery that covers the external skirt section of the dress.

Kinetic Dress is a Victorian-inspired evening gown reactive to the wearer’s activities and mood.

The Galaxy Dress provides a spectacular and mesmerizing effect being embroidered with 24000 full color LEDs. The circuits are extra-thin, flexible, and hand embroidered on a layer of silk in a way that gives it stretch, so the LED fabric can move like normal fabric with lightness and fluidity. To diffuse the light there are 4 layers of silk chiffon that moves really beautifully as well. The extra-thin electronics allows the design to follow the body shape closely like with normal fabric.

The areas without LEDs are decorated with more than 4000 hand-applied Swarovski crystals that make a gradient from clear crystal to bright pink, so the dress looks good also when it is switched off.

The Galaxy Dress is the center piece of the exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

The museum is celebrating its 75 years and has commissioned the Galaxy dress for their permanent collection.

Special custom CuteCircuit design worn by Safura.
The couture dress has been designed specifically for her Eurovision song contest grand finale performance and interprets the emotion of her hit song Drip Drop.

Safura at European Music World, May 29 2010 (pic.cutecircuit.com-news)

The other big name designer that combines clothes with technology is non other than Hussein Chalayan

Hussein Chalayan
closing runway F 2010 RTW (style.com - Photo: Marcio Madeira/FirstView.com)

"The reason why I got into design was to try and create a new language of clothes–one that dealt with politics, society, and above all, technology," the designer revealed. "There's always been applause [for this] but limited access to the collections because of technical concerns. This partnership will allow us to turn our research into a reality." (At the conference press for Puma partnership on Feb 2008)

At Hussein Chalayan A/W 2007 Airborne Collection (Fall 2007 RTW), where the show opened with a whirling storm roaring upward out of a central void in the podium. Then, on walked a girl in a dress that—through the magic of LED technology—lit up and played its own movie, a colorful pixelated grid on a dress.

Hussein Chalayan Autumn Winter Airborne Collection (Fall 2007 RTW)

This dress has two different designs in black and light brown,

Hussein Chalayan first dress on runway Fall 2007 RTW (details photo: Don Ashby and Oliver Claisse/Style.com)

Hussein Chalayan Fall 2007 RTW.

Completed with glowing techno helmets,

Hussein Chalayan model runway wearing shine helmet on Fall 2007 RTW

He made more amazing design for his Spring/Summer 2008 Readings Collection that involving laser technology.

The Making of Spring/Summer 2008 Collection

Hussein Chalayan S/S08 Readings Collection.

(Pic.Getty Images Europe-Dan Kitwood/Zimbio)

Laser light be part of his mini black dress,

Hussein Chalayan S/S 2008 readings collection.

on his bolero,

Hussein Chalayan SS-08 Readings Collection.

also for the hat,

Hussein Chalayan S/S 2008 Readings Collection.

Then there are more lights from Hussein Chalayan on his runway show for Autumn/Winter 2008 Grains and Steels Collection (Fall 2008 RTW),

Hussein Chalayan F 2008 RTW (backstage pic.Greg Kessler-Style.com)

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