Chalayan X Trouvé

In my research about wearable art I found a nice example of what was done around the second half of 1800 by a “designer” called Monsieur Trouvé.

He did a battery-powered ‘flash jewellery’, in the form of kinetic or illuminated hatpins, brooches and diadems, became a fashion fad in France and England during the late 1870s and 1880s. The journals La Nature and Scientific American documented the designs of Monsieur Trouvé in Paris, labeled Electric Jewels, to be worn in the costumes of dancers and stage performers. They were powered by 2-4 volt hidden batteries and operated by a switch carried in a pocket. Glass gemstones placed over tiny bulbs accented the sparkling electric magic so that, as Electric World commented, à dashing demi-mondaine can thus make a pennyworth of glass eclipse a duchess’s diamonds or rubies.


This is Monsieur Trouvé (1880)


This is Husein Chalayan (2006)

Recently I was astonish by the always-great Husein Chalayan. He did a dress using moving laser points. Much like Trouvé did 2 centuries before. However still impressing. You can see the dress clicking here. Yes… nothing is new…