Leah Buechley’s Bike Signal Project is a wearable jacket that acts as a signaling system for bikers to indicate their path of travel to other drivers/bikers. Made in the MIT Media Lab in 2008, it contains a LilyPad, which controls the lights in the back. If the user is about to turn left, s/he can press the left button and the left signal on the back will light up. If the user wants to turn right, s/he can press the right button.

This jacket serves as an inspiration for my thesis as I am looking into the possibilities of raising awareness for danger and how can we become more aware of our environments through fashion and wearable. I am researching into the possibilities of expanding human capabilities with animal self-defense mechanisms, and I believe that the mechanics of this wearable is the first step to understanding how and why such systems should be necessary for garments.