I will start my series on “Technology in Fashion” articles with a post on a purely utilitarian topic – anti-insect clothing.

Now you may be curious – how does avoiding insect bites tie into the exciting and glamorous world of fashion?  And why as a fashion student should you care?

It is here that I would like to note that fashion is both about utility and art, and that trends that impact one area may in turn impact another.  That is to say that the ability to make insect proof clothing may eventually in turn impact other areas of fashion.

So first about anti-insect clothing. What is it?  What does it do?

Anti-insect clothing is currently made by Insect Shield (http://insectshield.com/) and is designed for outdoors-y types who hate wearing lots of insect repellent, but do need to avoid being devoured.  Essentially, an insect repellent is made so that it can bind directly to cotton fiber.  The cotton is then treated with this chemical (a derivative of chrysanthemum), which makes it smell horrible to insects, but not noticeably smell to the human wearing the clothing.  Insects then avoid both the cloth and the person in the cloth.  And the person can be protected from insects in all areas of their body that are covered by the treated cloth. (I’ve tried it, and it seems to work.  No bug bites, anyway, on the areas covered by the shirt.)  The insect repellent remains bound to the cloth despite frequent washings (supposedly as many as 50), and serves to keep bugs away without bothering the wearer unduly.

So, great.  If you hate bugs, you can wear a bug proof shirt.  How is this at all relevant to fashion?  Not just clothing and clothing technology (where this is obviously a major improvement, at least to outdoorsy types), but to the fashion we think of in fashion magazines?

For instance, studies have shown that only very small concentrations of a scent actually improve people’s reactions to it.  Essentially, if someone can tell that you are wearing perfume, they act the same as they would have had you not been wearing anything. But that if you are wearing such a small concentration that it is not consciously noticed, it does make them react more favorably to you than wearing nothing. So imagine a “lucky interview shirt” that is embedded with just the right quantity of fragrance. When you wear it, people automatically like you. Now that would be something worth paying a bit extra for…

Or imagine similar technology used to embed sheets and nightgowns with skin lotions.  As you sleep, your skin is automatically moisturized and made to look more refreshed and lovely.

Either way, I can see potentially groundbreaking work done in embedding chemicals into fabrics that will make fabric into a new form of art - not just lovely to look at, but even more functional, good smelling, and potentially mood altering.

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