Galaxy Dress
The museum is celebrating its 75 years and has commissioned the GalaxyDress for their permanent collection. The GalaxyDress provides a spectacular and mesmerizing effect being embroidered with 24000 full color LEDs, it is the largest wearable display in the world.
The GalaxyDress uses the smallest full-color LEDs which are flat like paper and measure only 2 by 2 mm. The circuits are extra-thin, flexible, and hand embroidered on a layer of silk in a way that gives it stretch, so the LED fabric can move like normal fabric with lightness and fluidity.
The GalaxyDress is designed to work with a number of iPOD batteries so that the wearer can walk around (should last about 30 minutes). The GalaxyDress does not overheat and consumes very little electricity thanks to the LED technology used. The GalaxyDress is lightweight, the heaviest part is not the technology but the 40 layer pleated silk organza crinoline that makes the skirt wide. The areas without LEDs are decorated with more than 4000 hand-applied swarovski crystals that make a gradient from clear crystal to bright pink, so the dress looks good also when it is switched off.
- Photos courtesy of JB Spector, Museum of Science and Industry Chicago.