I was visiting the Museum of Science and Industry over the holiday and I came across something, I have never seen before. A gown that could change color and pattern by truly the flip of a light switch. It was called The Galaxy Dress, provided by Ryan Genz and Francesca Rosella, Interactive Fashion Designers for the Fast Forward…Inventing the Future exhibit. The dress is the world’s largest, wearable LED display. It’s fabric has over 24,000 LED lights embroidered into it.

Here’s some info about this dress from the designers’ website:

The GalaxyDress uses the smallest full-color LEDs which are flat like paper and measure only 2 by 2 mm. 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 GalaxyDress is designed to work with a number of iPOD batteries so that the wearer can walk around (should last about 30 minutes). The GalaxyDress does not overheat and consumes very little electricity thanks to the LED technology used. The GalaxyDress is lightweight, the heaviest part is not the technology but the 40 layer pleated silk organza crinoline that makes the skirt wide. 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.

Here’s a video:

Genz and Rosella are designers with CuteCircuit, which is an adorable boutique that has an array of wearable awesome-ness. I am serious! They have a hoodie that can give you a hug when a friend send’s one to you via your mobile phone. They have a dress (like a sweater dress) that IS a mobile phone. You insert your SIM card into the dress. It’s all awesome and really boggles my mind.