LUMINISO – CURATOR – JDADA2019

“Fashion is a nonverbal communication between people.”

—- LENA KASPARIAN —-

Designer Sujay Kumar’s collection “Luminiso” means light, bright and clear and has been inspired by the properties of bioluminescence.

Bioluminescence is found in marine and insects that emit light to communicate and at times to attract prey, repel or deter predators through emission of light from their body. Most marine light-emission is in blue and green light spectrum, however some emit red and infrared light and yellow light. Non-marine bioluminescence is less widely distributed, the two best-known cases being in fireflies and glow worms. It can also be deciphered as non-verbal communication.

Humans too have relied on bioluminescence elements wherein miners used fireflies as an early safety lamp. During the American Civil War, at Shiloh, the wounds of some of the injured soldiers began to glow and this helped to heal more quickly. The phenomenon became known as “Angel’s Glow”. The glow was probably produced by Photorhabdus luminescens, a soil-dwelling bacterium which releases antimicrobial compounds and so protected the soldiers from infection. The glowing property of bioluminescence can be obtained in clothing as well, through the availability of glow yarn and fibre optics. This is usually seen on clothes worn on red carpet events like the MET gala and festivals.

The designer has created a range of clothing using viscose rayon and has incorporated green, blue and red LED lights to represent the bioluminescence property in the garments. The highlight of the collection is the installation of a chip in the garment that enabled the change in colours of the lights which is digitally controlled through mobile.