Every now and then we hear of a smart textiles development that really stands out from the crowd, and the Butterfly Dress from Turkish design duo Ezra and Tuba Ҫetin certainly does just that.
Created in 2016, the dress is made from a luxury Jacquard interwoven with metallic Lurex fibres – adorned with about 40 butterflies. The dress is embedded with a proximity sensor that allows the butterflies to react to external stimuli; it is able to react to the presence of an approaching person. At first, the butterflies flap slowly, then more fervently whenever a person approaches. Finally, the butterflies can release en masse in a dramatic launch triggered either by the approaching person or via a mobile device communicating with the dress over a wireless network.
“It was a very innocent and romantic idea and very bold at the same time…it had a great deal of potential for interacting functionalities with all the embedded sensors, as well as a great artistic and visual vibe to it,” Ezra and Tuba tell WTiN.
Part of the duo’s ‘Tech Couture’ collection, the dress was powered by the Edison chip from technology giant Intel, who understood their vision. “We shared the common belief that technology in the future would be embedded in everything in our everyday life, starting with our clothes, so we started to work together on some concepts of wearable technology and we came out with the Butterfly Dress, among others.”
Since its inception, the Butterfly Dress has been showcased at various industry events across the world, including Paris Fashion Week in France, The Wearable Technology Show in London, Mumbai Fashion Tech in India, Seoul/Busan Fashion Week in South Korea, and Monte Carlo Fashion Week in Monaco.
Fashion roots
Raised within the fashion industry, the sisters say that textile design came naturally to them. Tuba studied fashion and industrial design and textile engineering and was later joined by Ezra, who had ventured into arts and psychology – another area of interest.
“Our parents, as designers, taught us when we were children that if we were always the first to implement new ideas, we would always be ahead of others. Innovation, risk-taking, hard work and perseverance were our father’s mottos,” the siblings say.
They continue: “We see diversity as a richness with beauty and potential for growth – complementing each other rather than being antagonists. For instance, we are sisters and we are so different, but at the same time we complement each other, like the saying ‘extreme opposites attract’, and our strengths combine.”
Speaking of the inspiration behind its designs, the pair say: “We are always looking into new technologies, and we are constantly researching new scientific discoveries or theories. From a young age, sci-fi movies always provided a great source of inspiration as they helped us to transpose ourselves into a possible future where fashion would have adapted to new environments and new functional requirements, progressing forward in a more daring way following the established rules of evolution.”
The duo believe that, in order to crack the wearable technology market, it is important for designers to learn how to use new technologies to their advantage.
Describing their design process, they say: “We approach design application differently than most of the tech companies because we start with the design first and by highlighting the functionalities needed, we then look for the technology to build around our design in order to obtain the required functionalities without altering the design, which ends up being much more user-friendly – creating brand awareness and customer loyalty.”
They add: “We don’t have a very big financial means at the moment, and R&D is rather costly, but we have a vision and with the growing help of technological partners who share the same views as us, we can join forces to begin to make our dreams come true.”
Future concepts
The sisters now have three new projects that they’re focusing on, including a ‘world first’ artificial intelligence (AI) store and AI intelligent clutch bag which harnesses 3D printing and LCD technologies. The body of the bag is 3D printed to reflect the designers’ vision, while a 7-inch LCD screen displays various patterns and colours. The pattern matching is controlled via an Android app and the connectivity is maintained by Bluetooth 4.0 and wi-fi. The smart clutch also hosts an electric charge of 5,000 mAh and various outlets for charging devices. The third project is the Vegan Fabric which starts to biodegrade after three months when it is buried in soil, returning to edible plant form.
Such developments emphasise the sisters’ forward-thinking approach to fashion.
They say: “Today, engineers and scientists keep making such incredible discoveries; they have been capable of inventing new devices incorporating new technological features that were deemed impossible only a few years ago – this gives us great hope for the future as it seems there is a lot of hidden potential and great capabilities for even more amazing things to come.”
To learn more about Ezra and Tuba’s work, visit www.ezratuba.com
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