Wednesday, October 9, 2002

Technos glad rags not for the geeky

By GREGORY ROBERTS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Pretty sleek, that number, in charcoal gray windbreaker fabric, hooded, with zipper pockets and modeled by a pipestem-thin blond woman in the Husky Union Building auditorium yesterday.

It's a jacket -- and it's an MP3 player.

		Scott Eklund / P-I
	A model shows off a wrist PC keyboard at the Wearable Technology Fashion Show, part of the 2002 International Symposium on Wearable Computers at the UW.

Those silvery rectangles that add dashed-line accents to the look actually are conductive textile strips, threaded by ultrathin wires that link a central microchip module to headphones incorporated in the drawstrings of the hood, a battery and multimedia card tucked into a hip pocket, a command keypad on the sleeve and even a voice-activated control near the shoulder, all ready to play jazz, rock or classical tunes during a jog in the fog.

The Infineon Technologies jacket was one highlight of a fashion show at the University of Washington staged for the 2002 International Symposium on Wearable Computers, running through tomorrow.

Also on display were a jacket "targeted at the athletic technophile" with a built-in physiological monitor; a hands-free e-belt with a projecting computer screen that seemed perfect for a waiter taking orders; a combination of wrist-mounted PC and micro-optical eyewear that looked like a strapped-on cell phone and a pair of mutated sunglasses.

There was even an "input device" fashioned from ribbonlike black bands spiraling around the fingers of one hand and functioning as a keyboard substitute with a faintly Goth look.

"They're well-designed in terms of the form," Adriana Parceno said after the parade of garments and gadgets in the fashion show.

Parceno, attending the conference from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., added, "They're ergonomic, and aesthetically, they're very beautiful."

Wearable computers aren't just about dazzling the fashionistas on the printed-circuit circuit. One conference booth displayed a setup comprising a tiny monitor screen imbedded in a pair of eyeglasses and a one-handed pistol-grip keyboard, both wired to a computer carried in a hip pouch.

Potential applications include scientific measuring, classroom teaching, medical monitoring, guidance for the blind and even firefighting, exhibitors said.

But the fashion show added pizzazz and drew hundreds to the auditorium, among them Nuria Ruiz, a computer programmer who works for the UW.

Ruiz was impressed with the MP3 jacket and the serpentine gauntlet/keyboard. But a black-leather bustier clinging to one slinky model made her favorite fashion statement.

"It was not part of the show" of technological marvels, she said, "but it was really cool."

P-I reporter Gregory Roberts can be reached at 206-448-8022 or gregoryroberts@seattlepi.com.

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