Geek chic on the runway

A wearable Mobius strip. A musical shawl, and a wedding dress that turns into a camping tent. Not quite what would show up on a Dolce & Gabbana runway, but it was haute couture for programmers and artists attending the fashion show at Boston's SIGGRAPH conference.

Hundreds of `Siggraphistas' packed the Roxy for a showing of the latest and strangest in technology-driven clothing design Monday night. Girls in halter dresses and long-haired men with tucked-in polos gaped through the pulsating lights at models strutting down the catwalk wearing designs such as Bluetooth-enabled jackets lit with LEDs and GPS-enabled platform shoes. Amid the thumping music, designers showed off a mix of pieces driven by practicality and other designs made for art's sake.

Levi's already has a pair of jeans with an iPod pocket to market this fall, and backpacks have incorporated different holders for cellphones and other gadgets. But as technology itself becomes more fashionable -- think of the sleek lines of any Apple product -- many at the conference said that style-makers are inching closer to embracing the possibilities of technology in their designs. Just as the most garish hue on display at a Paris show can color next winter's H&M shirt, some togs on display at the Roxy could one day cross over to department stores' racks.

``The fashion industry is just experimenting with technology right now, but it's starting to happen. Cellphones are now considered accessories," said Diana Eng, who was booted off Bravo's reality TV show ``Project Runway" last year.

With the iPod now a fashion essential, some designers toyed with audio. Stefan Agamanolis and Elena Corchero , who were both researchers at MIT's Media Lab Europe designed the WhiSpiral , a shawl that has nine tracks of audio to record and playback sound when the wearer caresses the fabric. For darker moments, there's the ScreamBody , which looks like a backpack worn the wrong way and is also designed by another MIT student, Kelly Dobson . It's a portable soundproof chamber that can record screams and play them back later.

``Some people release their anger, some people carry it around for days," joked Ze Frank , the event's host.

Designers didn't stop at recording audio. One dress was actually woven from recycled audiocassette tape. Dubbed Sonic Fabric, the shiny material makes noise if the wearer rubs a tape head against it.

Eng designed knits based on mathematical principles. One was a pattern that ordered stitches according to the Fibonacci sequence in which each number is the sum of the two before it. The sequence is famous for producing a spiral that naturally occurs in seashells. She said the ruffles on her knits and scarves mimicked the curve.

Other pieces were created for self defense or safety. The No-Contact Jacket , designed by MIT student Adam Whiton and Yolita Nugent , sends 80,000 volts of electricity under its surface when activated to prevent attacks. Another of their designs, called the Intimate Partner Violence Clothing System or IPV, is a hoodie that can record evidence of physical abuse against its pressure-sensitive fabric and send it to a remote server. Police can use the data to prove domestic violence cases. In the arena of sports, the World Cup DH Ski Suit is made of state-of-the-art fabric that stiffens on impact to protect skiers from when they hit race gates at 60 miles per hour.

Then there were designs that were purely for fun. For brides that want to get to the honeymoon right away, Wild Wedding is a dress that transforms into a camping tent complete with a fishing pole hidden under the skirt. And for the woman who wants to wear a different dress every day, there's the body-length Mobius Loop frock made from a continuous strip of felt whose surface changes as it winds along with the body's movements.

Noriko Yamaguchi of Kyoto created Keitai Girl or ``mobile phone girl," a futuristic representation of what humans will become if technology is implanted into their bodies. Dressed head to toe in a skin of cellphone keypads, the Keitai girls danced in sync to techno in white stiletto boots like space bunnies. Red and blue lights pulsed inside their white full-body suits.

Designers said that the fashion industry has been slow to incorporate technology onto the runways aside from high-tech fabrics.

``You won't see it in everyday fashion for awhile. It's still very kitsch and it's still very risky," said Alison Lewis , who teaches fashion technology at Parsons School of Design in New York. ``I mean, lights for light's sake? That's fine, but it's not going to sell." Lewis aimed for the practical consumer by designing a handbag with a light that lets the owner see what is inside in the dark and the Boom Box Beach Bag , with removable speakers that can hook up to an iPod.

But there are barriers on the technology side, too, Eng said. Though devices are becoming more fashion-friendly, laptops still weigh five pounds, and some consumers still lug around several devices to handle photos, e-mail, phone calls and music.

``Technology isn't quite ready. The devices are still too bulky," Eng said. But she said that the fashion industry was moving in that direction, noting that luxury labels have started partnering with cellphone companies to sell designer phones. ``But if it's going to come from anywhere, it will start with cellphones."

Kim-Mai Cutler can be reached at kcutler@globe.com.