Fashion designer Iris van Herpen has unveiled a bioluminescent dress that features 125 million living algae. The garment involved Herpen collaborating with designer Chris Bellamy as well as biophysicists Nico Schramma and Mazi Jalaal from the University of Amsterdam.
Bioluminescence is the production of light by a living organism, caused by a chemical reaction such as the molecule luciferin reacting with oxygen to release light.
The bioluminescent dress is composed of a gel material that incorporates millions of single celled bioluminescent algae of the species Pyrocystis lunula, named after their moon-like shape.
In the wild, the bioluminescent algae emit light as a defence mechanism. The flash serves as a warning signal that attracts secondary predators, which hunt the main predator of the cells.
In 2019, Jalaal, Schramma and colleagues began to study how the cells respond to mechanical stresses. By combining microscopy and mechanical tests, they were able to measure the light-emission of the cells and how it depended on deformation, which led to a mathematical model that described the light-production mechanism (Phys. Rev. Lett. 125 028102).
The researchers then worked with Chenghai Li and Shengqiang Cai at the University of California San Diego and bioluminescence researcher Michael Latz from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego.
They incorporated the cells in a gel matrix to create a flexible yet resistant substance that emits light upon deformation and movement while at the same time keeping the cells alive.
Bellamy and van Herpen developed and refined the bioluminescent material and incorporated it into a spectacular “living” garment, which on Monday was part of van Herpen’s new fashion collection – Sympoiesis – that was unveiled at Paris Haute Couture Week.
