On this week’s episode of the Electric Runway podcast, we had the opportunity to interview award-winning fashion designer and creative technologist Joanna Hir. In addition to styling for the likes of Duran Duran and bionic pop artist Viktoria Modesta, Hir recently completed a residency as a creative technologist in Berlin with the House of Elektrocouture. Her latest collection uses wearable light to explore neuroscience and the theme of enlightenment.
We’ve talked about the idea of “extimacy” on the podcast before when we interviewed Kristin Neidlinger of Sensoree. Essentially, extimacy is the idea of externalized intimacy, or wearing your feelings. We discussed the ways in which wearable technology can help us better connect with and express our emotions. Following this line of thinking, Hir has created a series of five garments that fuse traditional craftsmanship with embedded technology to explore concepts of the body as an interface, including an EEG hat that lights up with brain activity.
As promised in the episode, we’ve sharing the below video, Prototype, for which Joanna Hir in collaboration with Viktoria Modesta were recognized with an award for costume design. Listen to hear more about this designer’s conceptual couture work, and find out why she has been covered by the likes of Elle, Wired Magazine, and the New York Times.
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