Last year, Nick and I had the brilliant idea of putting on a technological fashion show. Never mind that we had no idea how to put on such a production, much less sew. However, the drive to put on the show carried us through, since we knew so many talented designers and engineers creating amazing fashion objects that, for the most part, were conducted as passionate side projects and posted on a website somewhere.

We felt that clothing, by definition, can only be fully understood when it is worn on the body. you see the dimensions of movement, life, society, and culture all come together when you incorporate the human element. So one of the primary purposes of Seamless was to showcase the works of students and young independent designers within a very public and fun (and glamourous, at times) event. Another purpose was to display technological clothing that were more than just "information at your fingertips" or brute augmentation of the human body by slapping on sensors and screens.

Fashion is a complicated thing. seamless aims to explore that complexity within the framework of clothing technology.

In 2005, our show was super grassroots, kept afloat by funds by the council of the arts @ MIT and the MIT Media Lab. However, design, production, and publicity were mostly done by the generosity of fellow students. It was held at the MIT Media Lab, with 17 designers, an astroturf runway, and a fab armada of pierced tattooed models. We were so surprised to see the place busting with over 200 people.

It was extremely rewarding, and superfun!

Afterwards, we got into discussion with the museum of science, who was really psyched into doing a second go-around. it was different, in that we were dealing with a huge institution with their own set of people and rules, and we had a different set of resources and limitations. as you can see from the pictures, with the museum we got a great space, an elevated runway, and much more professional production and coordination. Plus, we really opened it out to the broader Boston community. The 2006 show was similar to last year in that the crew of designers, models, and behind-the-scenes were fabulous to work with, really down-to-earth, great people with amazing ideas. we sold out the space a week before the event, and had overflow as well. Perhaps an estimate of 450 attendees?

Who knows what next year will bring!