Incredible LED Light Dresses At The Victoria And Albert
Posted by Richard Clarke on 11th Oct 2011
What do Tomb Raider, a Dyson Vacuum Cleaner, Concorde and two incredible LED Light Dresses all have in common?
They’re all part of an forthcoming exhibition at the (V&A) Victoria and Albert Museum in London, that’s what!
With the UK due to host its third London Olympic Games in 2012, the V&A has chosen to mark the occasion with an exhibition entitled British Design 1948-2012: Innovation in the Modern Age.
Britain Celebrates
It will be a unique celebration of the transformation of design in Britain between the post-war ‘Austerity Games’ of 1948 and the London games taking place in 2012.
A total of 350 objects are to be featured, and they’re incredibly diverse in their scope and the aim is to reinforce Britain’s status as a global leader in design.
Martin Roth, Director of the V&A, said: “As people around the world will be focusing on the UK in the summer of 2012 this is an ideal moment to showcase British innovation, taste and creativity. We are also delighted to be hosting a series of British themed displays across all the collections in the Museum to accompany the major spring exhibition.”
With exhibits both rare and fanciful, there’s a 1959 Morris Mini Minor and a newly-commissioned model of Zaha Hadid’s London Aquatics Centre from 2011. There’s also Kit Williams’ golden hare jewel from his 1979 Masquerade and Brian Duffy’s original 1973 photograph for the cover of David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane album, all coming together to tell the story of British fashion, furniture, fine art, graphic design, photography, ceramics, architecture and industrial products over the past 60 years.
Breathtaking By Design
One of the most breathtaking and spectacular of the exhibits are two LED (Light-Emitting Diode) “Video” Dresses that have been created by Hussein Chalayan, a fashion designer and Moritz Waldemeyer, an engineer. During the exhibition, they’ll be reliving the adoration and the limelight they enjoyed when first showcased at the Milan Design Week in late 2007.
The dresses utilise 15,000 individually controllable LED lights embedded beneath their fabric, enabling them to achieve full video capability. This effectively transforms the wearer into a walking display of colour and light, with one showing a looped representation of sharks in the ocean while the other has a time-lapse image of the furling and unfurling of a rose’s petals.
Check out this video clip of the amazing LED-enhanced dresses in action:
Along with the wonderful message about 60 years of British innovation, Chalayan and Waldemeyer’s fantastic achievement also underlines the versatility of LED lighting, a versatility that allows creators and visionaries to truly think outside the box.
