It has been often described on Chromophilia how colours reflect emotions and the choices in hues can mirror our state of mind or attitudes. If fashion is a language, colour is one of its main means of expression.
Apparently, in the future technology will lead to a point where not just colour, but the whole garment will be able to act as a medium to display the wearer’s emotions and feelings.
“Philips has developed a series of dynamic garments as part of the ongoing SKIN exploration research into the area known as ‘emotional sensing’. The aim is to demonstrate how electronics can be incorporated into fabrics and garments in order to express the emotions and personality of the wearer.
The marvelously intricate wearable prototypes include ‘Bubelle’, a dress surrounded by a delicate ‘bubble’ illuminated by patterns that changed dependent on skin contact- and ‘Frison’, a body suit that reacts to being blown on by igniting a private constellation of tiny LEDs.
These garments were developed as part of the SKIN research project, which challenges the notion that our lives are automatically better because they are more digital. It looks at more ‘analog’ phenomena like emotional sensing and explores technologies that are ’sensitive’ rather than ‘intelligent’. SKIN belongs to the ongoing, far-future research program carried out at Philips Design. The aim of this program is to identify emerging trends and likely societal shifts and then carry out ‘probes’ that explore whether there is potential for Philips in some of the more promising areas.
‘We chose fashion as an idiom to express the kind of research we were doing,’ says Lucy McRae, Body Architect at Philips Design. ‘We did this because apparel and textiles can be augmented by a lot of new functionality. A garment can be a highly complex interactive electronic or biochemical device. We are experimenting with devices that are more responsive to subtle triggers like sensuality, affection and sensation’.
The garments were therefore designed to respond to an individual’s body and create a visual representation of emotions rather than just being ‘on’ or ‘off’. For instance the ‘Bubelle’ - the ‘blushing dress’ - behaves differently depending on who is wearing it, and therefore exhibits completely nonlinear behavior.”

[image via Philips Design]