Stealth Wear Goes on Sale at $490

The stealth wear project may be the solution to droning and facial technology government projects.  Or at least New York City based designer Adam Harvey thinks so.  It may sound like something straight from a science fiction book or like some sort of super-cool standard issue James Bond type of equipment, but these outfits seem to actually do the job.

The countersurveillance clothing was created by Adam Harvey, a designer with the School of Visual Arts. Harvey, who underlines that his clothing serves a growing need for products that can offer privacy, recently exhibited several of his stealth wear prototypes at an art show in London.

His designs make the wearer virtually invisible to technology. Among his garments are hoodies and cloaks that can reduce a person’s thermal footprint, protect one’s heart from X-rays and even cut out phone signals.

By using metallic, reflective fabric similar to the one used for firefighters’ protective equipment, Harvey created clothing that keeps the wearer hidden to any kind of surveillance attempts that use heat imaging cameras.

The designer also found a way to block someone from taking unwanted pictures, which would be a very efficient technique celebrities could employ against paparazzi. More specifically, Harvey created a purse equipped with extra bright LED lights. The purse can be activated when someone is taking an unwanted picture, turning it blurry.

Harvey further created a special hairstyling and makeup application guide that could prevent a camera from recognizing the person applying the guidelines. He named the technique CV Dazzle, from computer vision and dazzle, inspired by the type of camouflage used to prevent enemy radars from detecting the shape and size of a warship during the Second World War.

The stealth wear prototypes have not yet been tested extensively by security  experts and many of them are still in their early concept stages, with a long way to go before being ready for mass production. Harvey said that what’s more important than producing the designs is that the concept behind them could empower people to control their identity a little more.

The first versions of Harvey’s stealth wear concept clothing are now available to purchase on primitivelondon but come at a hefty price: $490 for the hoodie and a whopping $2,300 for the burqa.

What do you think of the stealth wear prototypes? How useful would they be to offer people the privacy they need in a world that is under growingly tighter surveillance?

[Image via Stealth Wear]