Headpiece Maps Brain Activity

The fashion studio Unseen has created a gemstone-encrusted headdress that changes color in response to varying energy levels in the brain. The founder Lauren Bowker worked with gemstone company Swarovski to form the Vicenza headpiece. Over 4,000 specially grown stones cover the top of the headdress, formed from overlapping layers of leather that cover the wearer's forehead, temples, tops of ears and back of the neck. The Black Spinel stones are coated in Bowker's signature ink, which responds to different climatic conditions.

Acting as conduction insulators, the stones absorb energy loss from the head and change colour as the levels vary.

"Skin conductivity, heat, temperature, breathing patterns and emotional state all effect the aesthetic of the piece, just as our neural emotions effect our skin colour etc," said Bowker.

The colours and locations of energy loss across the head also change throughout the day.

"We have found the morning to produce much more orange coloured patterns at the front of the brain on the forehead, whereas in the evening the patterns tend to be much bluer and to the back right of the brain," Bowker said.

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