Smell, Sound, Touch: Is the Future of Fashion Multi-Sensory?

Imagine a jacket that serenades you with a melody as you stroll, or a shirt that exudes your favorite fragrance without a drop of perfume. Fashion, once confined to visual aesthetics, is now venturing into uncharted territory, asking, 'What does fashion feel, sound, and smell like?' Welcome to the era of multi-sensory fashion, where clothing appeals to all five senses and stories extend beyond what meets the eye.

The Growth of Experiential Fashion

Traditionally, fashion has been about looks, shapes, colors, and movement. However, in today's world, particularly among Gen Z, there's a growing appetite for experiences. They crave garments that stir emotions, captivate them, and narrate their unique stories. Designers and innovators are creating everyday clothes and collections that appeal to the senses of smell, sound, and touch. These pieces aren't just worn; they're also felt, heard, and remembered. For instance, a shirt that emits a calming scent, a jacket that plays your favorite music, or a dress that changes color based on your mood.

Fashion With a Scent: The Smell of Style

Clothes that smell good aren't a new idea, but it's changing.

• Hussein Chalayan and Comme des Garçons (2005): Chalayan made clothes that released perfume through the fabric as part of a groundbreaking collaboration. This added a sensory layer that was just as much about memory as it was about fashion.

• The Replica Collection from Maison Margiela: Margiela's famous fragrance line doesn't come with the clothes, but it evokes the scent of a jazz club, a walk on the beach, or a library. It often coincides with the release of fashion collections. It's a way to brand things that uses more than one sense.

Runways With Scents

Fashion houses like Dior, Gucci, and Chanel have incorporated scented air into their fashion shows to complement the mood of the collection. This demonstrates that scent can be a crucial component of the fashion narrative.

Aromyx and Loomia (USA): These new tech companies are experimenting with smart textiles that emit pleasant scents. They have microcapsules in the fibres that release subtle scents when you touch, move, or change the temperature.

Sound-Driven Fashion: When Clothes Talk (for Real)

 Think of a dress that plays music when you move or changes based on your heart rate.

• Lauren Bowker (The Unseen) is a material alchemist from the UK who creates clothes that change color when they detect sound or brainwaves. The clothes don't make music, but they do change colour when they listen to sounds.

• CuteCircuit (UK): CuteCircuit is recognized for its innovative wearable technology. They have made jackets and dresses that play music, light up, or respond to their surroundings. For people who are deaf, the SoundShirt sends vibrations of orchestral music across the body. This is an excellent combination of fashion and accessibility.

• Adidas and Yohji Yamamoto make Y-3.

In a few limited collaborations, sound-reactive elements have been sewn into clothes. These elements change the way light pulses across the clothes, making the wearer look like a walking speaker-visualizer.

• Touch & Feel: Tactile Innovation in Textiles Fashion is naturally tactile, but new ideas are making it even more so.

• Issey Miyake's A-POC Technology "A Piece of Cloth looks at clothes that are interactive and 3D-knit, and that the wearer can cut and shape. It stresses the physical link between the user and the clothing.

• Vollebak's Graphene Jacket is called "the jacket from the future." It conducts heat, protects against radiation, and has a texture that is entirely different from anything else. It's a real experiment in how fashion feels to wearers and its impact on the environment.

Wearable biometric devices, like Hexoskin and Loomia

These new fabrics can feel movement, breathing, heartbeat, and temperature. Some uses are in sportswear and health, but designers are adapting them for emotional design, which means clothes that convey your emotions or respond with calming vibrations when you're stressed.

Fashion for Autism Spectrum that smells and feels good

Companies like Sensewear and universities such as Parsons and the Royal College of Art are developing multi-sensory clothing to assist individuals who are sensitive to touch. This demonstrates that fashion can be both practical and aesthetically pleasing.

Runways, stores, and the 5-Sense Brand Experience

Multi-sensory fashion isn't just about the clothes; it's transforming the entire fashion experience.

• Gucci Garden in Florence and Louis Vuitton's traveling exhibits utilize sights, sounds, and smells to craft emotional stories about their brands.

• The flagship stores for Burberry in London and Seoul utilize music curation, textured interiors, and scent branding to create a shopping experience that feels like an art gallery.

• Brands are starting to think about how to use ASMR fashion videos, texture reveals, and sound-on moments on TikTok and Instagram Reels to show more than just style.

What This Means for the Future of Fashion Design

As fashion becomes more immersive, the next generation of designers will need to work with more than just fabric. They will also need to collaborate with sound designers, fragrance engineers, and technologists. This convergence of fields is not only transforming what a 'collection' can be, but also reshaping the fashion industry, shifting it from being seen to being felt. It opens up new opportunities for innovation and creativity, and challenges traditional notions of fashion design. We don't just teach fashion as a visual art at Raffles Jakarta. We also help our students learn about materials, meanings, and experiences that involve more than one sense. Our students are ready to build the future of fashion, not just to wear it, but to feel it, hear it, and remember it. They do this through innovation labs and real-world product testing. Should fashion extend beyond its appearance?

What are your thoughts on the future of multi-sensory fashion? We'd love to hear your ideas and insights, so please leave your thoughts in the comment section!

Arman POUREISA

Marketing Manager

Business Management Lecturer

Raffles Jakarta