3D-printed corset turns see-through the more time you spend online
Corsets are typically used to squeeze torsos into shape, but designers Xuedi Chen and Pedro Oliveira had other ideas in mind. Instead of making another waist-pinching underwear, they've designed a 3D-printed corset that demonstrates how the internet has rendered us naked and vulnerable... by turning more and more transparent while the wearer stays online. The whole corset, aptly named x.pose and pictured above, represents a town, and each patch (connected to an Arduino board) stands for a neighborhood. Once the accompanying location software determines where the wearer's accessing the internet from, it communicates with the Arduino board using the phone's Bluetooth connection. The corresponding patch on the corset then pulsates and loses opacity the more data the user shares.
If you're still wondering what the point of this design is, the creators say:
x.pose is an exploration and commentary on the current internet culture of our generation and the relationship we share with our data. Individuals carrying smartphones and connecting with services such as Google or Facebook have agreed, often without conscious consideration, to policies that grant these service providers explicit rights to harvest and utilize personal data on a massive scale.
That still doesn't explain why it's always women's clothing that gets this kind of treatment, though. Remember that dress that turns see-through when the wearer's turned on? Or that bra that unhooks only when you're "in love?" Hey, designers fond of making crazy concepts: how about some high-tech suit or even tighty whities for a change?
