Live: scape bloom: Connecting smart fashion to the IoT ecology

Live: scape BLOOM is an Internet of Things connected dress. This paper outlines methods for constructing smart fashion for an IoT ecosystem within a framework of new materialism (Barrett and Bolt in Carnal knowledge: towards a ‘new materialism’ through the arts. I.B. Taurus, London, 2013 [1]). I argue the potential for tangible forms of digital entities, such as data, can be observed through material dynamism. Traditional fashion couture techniques converse with digital tools, employing makerism to create the robotic textile embellishment with intuitive real-time environmental data streaming. Data is experienced kinetically through textile surface embellishment to extend its dimensionality. By foregrounding aesthetics and material development in the design inquiry, valuable insights for tangible forms of digital entities are revealed. The technologies of an IoT ecology are used to reconfigure conceptual shifts for user-curated data programs in smart fashion.