The ‘Personal Space Dress’, A DIY Frock That Keeps Strangers At Arm’s Length

Artist Kathleen McDermott has created the Personal Space Dress, a DIY frock whose skirt opens up to act as a physical barrier to unwanted violations of personal space. The dress is part of Kathleen’s Urban Armor project, a campaign that seeks to “help women to exercise control over their personal/public space” through the use of wearable electronics.

Urban Armor is an artwork consisting of a series of playful electronic wearables for women which investigate the ways women experience public space. These devices are, for the most part, not actually viable solutions for societal problems. (Imagine if you could choose to have any super power, would you choose something practical?) However, they do provoke conversations, not only about social issues, but about the future of technology in our everyday lives.

Step-by-step instructions to make the Personal Space Dress are available on the Urban Armor site.

Personal Space Dress Open

Personal Space Dress Closed

images via Urban Armor

via Tech Assimilate

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.