Think a Fitbit fitness device is the cutting edge of wearable technology? Try a self-defending or cocktail-making dress on for size.

“These new technologies on the body — they can really listen to us,” said Anouk Wipprecht (pictured), a Dutch FashionTech designer who fused her interests in fashion and robotics into a sui generis career creating high-tech couture.

She has worked with Intel Corp. as full-time contract employee at its New Devices Group. Her robotic Spider Dress with reactive tentacles is powered by Intel Edison technology. Wipprecht’s vision of FashionTech is an article not just worn on the body, but “reacting and interacting like an animal, more intuitive, much more expressive, or maybe rebellious,” she said.

Wipprecht spoke with John Furrier (@furrier), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the Samsung Developer Conference in San Francisco.

Ready to wear and ready to share in open source

Wipprecht has been integrating technologies like microprocessors and sensors into her designs since the early 2000’s. Over the years, her work has evolved into a concept around “seeing fashion as an interface,” she said.

Another of her designs, the Smoke Dress — a 3D-printed piece co-created with architect Niccolo Casas for Wipprecht’s Electrified Volkswagen collection — responds to the wearer’s emotions and environment. It puts up a smoke veil when others get uncomfortably close to the wearer.

“I think moods and emotions are a really interesting topic, which also can be much more explored regarding interaction design and user experience design,” she said.

Wipprecht has created dresses for the staff of Cirque du Soleil’s Restaurant Heart in Ibiza, Spain, as well as its Las Vegas nightclub. The robotic garments can mix and serve cocktails to patrons.

Wipprecht believes that cross-disciplinary work among architects, engineers, designers and others is fertile ground for all sorts of innovation. Most of her designs are open-sourced, and she encourages others to make their innovations available for other creatives to build on.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Samsung Developer Conference.

Photo: SiliconANGLE