Wired to Wear

'Mechanical' dresses are expected to become a part of everyday life in the near future. Tiffany Tan reports.

One day, fashionistas will be able to change their looks without having to actually change clothes. Or so Anina Trepte foresees at a time when lifestyles would have become much more hectic, sustainable and high-tech. The American model-turned-entrepreneur demonstrates her vision in a sleeveless dress that falls below the knees. One moment the blue-and-brown printed piece grazes her legs; the next, its skirt balloons around her.

"One dress for a woman will need to be multipurpose" because she won't be buying as many clothes and might not have time to change from one event to the next, Trepte says in an exclusive China Daily preview a week before the dress debuted in Beijing in August. "The question is how to create a dress that transforms radically."