Phillips Design Probe: SKIN

Phillips’ design probe program SKIN takes a far-future look at the kinds of clothes we may be wearing in 2020–let’s just say they will display more than just cleavage. The SKIN program challenges the present societal notion that our lives are better merely because we live in a digital world. SKIN’s futuristic garments incorporate ‘analog’ phenomena such as emotional sensors to give them ‘sensitive’ and ’emotional’ attributes, rather than ‘intelligent’ features. Have you ever tried to throw a vibe across a bar to a member of the opposite sex and for some reason think that they didn’t pick up on it? The SKIN garments would act as proxies for those emotional feelings you have difficulty communicating. Using biometric sensing technology, the Bubelle-Blush Dress would sense your emotions on its inner layer, projecting them out onto the outer layer, and the Frisson body suit would display the wearer’s appropriate level of excitement on its many LEDs. In short, the SKIN garments would act as proxies for those emotional feelings you have difficulty communicating. Obviously, these emo-clothes are far from boutique shelves, but the idea is intriguing and thought-provoking nonetheless.