Music Following Dress
This black gown includes 384 white LEDs, installed in curved channels, and a monochromatic design to complement the musical selection and choreographed lighting sequences. Its construction features triangular white fabric accents which serve to diffuse the lighting effects. The lighting patterns can follow selected music or operate in contrast to it. To the wearer, the gown feels virtually identical to a standard one, as evidenced by 2 fashion show models who road-tested it on the runway.
As the techno music begins, we see groups of lights glowing here and there. The choreography transitions into a raindrop effect, where lights slide down different curved channels of the dress much as water would trickle down a windowpane. This effect intensifies as the music accelerates and lights begin chasing each other down the dress, matching the pulse of the techno beat.
Suddenly, the lights begin easing up the dress, seemingly of their own accord. The moments of darkness between each illumination seem important also, as they serve as a “breath” between patterns. Soon the lights resume again, edging up, then receding, climbing the dress like organic technology, then moving away—expanding, contracting, then releasing into snake-like strands which move across the dress like an elegant carousel. The carousel rotates more and more quickly, coming to a climax, and then the lights resume a vertical sliding motion. Lights merge, bounce off each other, and pull back towards each other, as if drawn by magnets. Single groups of lights begin moving horizontally again, like two mini carousels rotating in opposite directions. They spin more and more quickly, until meeting in the center, then moving away. Two balls of light race to interact, spin, and then dart away. The piece climaxes with the illumination of all lights, a fitting ending to the dramatic choreography.