Thanks to pioneering fashion designers like Diana Dew, LEDs started infiltrating the clothing market as early as the 1960s. Even though the trend took a while to take off, thanks to celebrities like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and Fergie—who consistently suit up in blinking clothing—wearable technology is now finally becoming a recognizable household name.But besides Daito Manabe and Motoi Ishibashi’s delightful LED smiles, we haven’t really seen LEDs venture into the cosmetic realm—that is until now. Inspired by the way women wear eye makeup, design student Lulin Ding decided to translate the color and sparkle of traditional eyeshadow to the digital medium. The wire system places an LED in the corner of the eye, powered by a LilyPad Arduino that’s hidden behind the ear. Ding even programmed the LEDs to flicker, allowing different patterns to light paint one’s eyelids.Though we can’t imagine the apparatus would be practical enough (yet) for daily use, it might be a solution to the lack of innovative costumes and clothing that some think our generation are lacking.James St. James, one of the perpetuators of the original Club Kid scene in the late 80s and early 90s, said in a recent article on VICE Style that, “I sort of think that new looks aren’t evolving as quickly as they used to and people are clinging to retro styles because technology is progressing so fast, and people are spending so much time trying to keep up with it that music and fashion are taking a back seat.”Let Ding’s project be an example and inspiration to all fashion-tech innovators and trendsetters who sometimes get stuck in style ruts of the past.All images courtesy of Lulin Ding.[via Laughing Squid]
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