Geek-Powered Glam: 10 Oscar-worthy Techtastic Dresses

oscars

It’s almost Oscar time! And you know what that means: Plenty of glam, diamonds and paparazzi poses. Now, we could set our sights on stuff like barely there dresses and ginormous diamonds, but we do things a little differently around here.

Let Joan Rivers and her crew dissect the low-cut dresses with thigh-cut slits in their roundtable of fashion snark. In honor of Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony, we’ve got this ode to geek-powered gowns to chew over. (Sort of gives a whole new meaning to “wearable tech,” no?)

Could we see any like these LED or projection styles grace the Dolby Theatre on Sunday?

1. Rihanna’s LED Dress Rihanna made a splash in 2010 with this showstopper. The black-and-red combo gives her an evil, yet sexy comic book villain vibe, like some sort of lit-up empress of destruction. We dig it.

2. Carrie Underwood’s Projection-Mapped Dress It takes an extremely secure star to let her dress upstage her at the Grammy Awards. Being a multi-platinum, multi-award-winning singer with six Grammies helps. But good on you, Carrie, for proving that being country doesn’t equal being an old-fashioned hick.

3. Katy Perry’s Color-Morphing Dress Every time we see Katy, she’s rocking a different look, so why shouldn’t her dress? Gals love to sparkle, and these 3,000 color-changing LEDs would be enough to make any monster-carat jewel jealous.

4. Nicole Scherziger’s Twitter Dress Former Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger rocks in dark chiffon and Swarovski crystals, no doubt, but it’s not the form that makes this outfit striking — it’s the function. Those LEDs light up and form phrases direct-messaged to her Twitter account.

But tech couture’s not just for celebrities…

5. Luminex Illuminated Gown If Tinkerbell got married, you know she’d decked out in this magically lit gown. All that’s missing are the fairy wings.

6. Aurora Borealis Dress Not feeling the shape of this frock, but we can’t deny the irresistible charm of “pixelated” LEDs.

7. Glowing Tube Dress Sure, it could use a little tailoring, but the enchanted glow of the lights give a surrealistic beachy, under-the-sea effect that kind of like.

8. Tron Dress Forget purses, the perfect (and required) accessory for this one is a Light Cycle (sold separately).

9. LED Rose-studded Dress Prom season’s coming up in a few months, and light-up corsages could be the next “in” thing.

10. The NEMO LED Dress Find NEMO? How could anyone miss it in this get-up? The Netherland-based science centre’s exhibition on smart technology spotlighted this special, eponymous project. Featuring an architectural motif, the dress has 2,000 LEDs powered by an advanced battery pack and controlled by a small compact computer. Best part? It has a sensor that changes the color of the dress, depending on what color a passerby is wearing. Smart and trippy at the same time.

Ladies, would you wear a tech-powered dress to the Oscars? Fellas, would you be proud or aghast to walk your gal down the red carpet in one of these? Tell us if you think this is hot or not.