A jacket that heats up when you receive a text message. A skirt that changes its pattern depending on the wearer's mood. These aren't items you'll find among the fall fashion must-haves — at least, not yet. As technology becomes more fashionable (think jewel-encrusted cell phones), fashion is becoming more techie.

The integration of technology into clothing is already a reality with Nike and Levis producing shoes and pants designed to accommodate an iPod. But some in the fashion industry are experimenting with technology further.

In the emerging field of wearable technology, fashion seems more like art than clothes. You may not be able to buy them now, but some of these projects could be seeds of trends in the future. After all, elements of haute couture often bleed down into your local mall. Who knows? Electroluminescence could be the new black.

See a few of these wearable technology projects by rolling over and clicking on the different body parts.

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Computer Hood & Public/Private

Designer: Joe Maglia

Web site: http://www.joemalia.com/recent/partone/page.html

Do you always feel like somebody's watching you? Well, the Computer Hood can protect you from public snooping and distraction while using your technology of choice. The wearer can stretch the hood over a computer, a cell phone, or even a PSP to be completely isolated in a private, soundproofed space.

If the hood wearer is at a computer, visitors can leave messages by talking into an area at the back of the hood marked ''SPEAK.'' The voice activates a mic that records and saves mp3 files onto the computer for the wearer to listen to at their leisure.

Instead of speak to the hand, it's speak to the back of the head, cuz the ear ain't listenin' — not now, anyway.

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whiSpiral

Designers: Elena Corchero, Stefan Agamanolis

Web site: http://web.media.mit.edu/~stefan/hc/projects/whispiral/

Better than recording your voice into a talking picture frame before giving it to your grandmother, the whiSpiral is a spiral-shaped shawl that is able to record messages in nine recording modules scattered throughout the shawl. When the wearer caresses it or wraps it tightly around her, the recorded messages are whispered back.

A yellow leaf disguises a microphone connector and marks a location that can still record a message. Think of it as a new way to make sure grandma knows you love her -- if it doesn't scare the hell out of her.

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Sonic Fabric dress

Designer: Alyce Santoro

Web site: http://www.sonicfabric.com

The Sonic Fabric dress gives new meaning to the term mix tape — it's made of strands of cassette tape woven together. A piece of Sonic Fabric contains a 4-layer collage of sounds that could include snippets from the Beatles Revolution No. 9, Bjork, readings by Jack Keroac, and sounds of a Peruvian jungle.

The dress can actually be played by running a tape head over the surface of the dress, but the four-layer collage makes the play-back sound more like noise than pop. A mod shift dress was made out of the material for Phish percussionist Jon Fishman and played live on stage during a Las Vegas concert in April 2004.

Finally, a piece of clothing you don't have to be embarrassed by when it makes funny sounds.



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Space dress

Designer: Teresa Almeida

Web site: http://www.banhomaria.net/spacedress.html

Ever get too close to a person with no concept of personal space? With the Space Dress you can reclaim it. Inspired by those awful ''packed like sardines'' situations in the New York subway, the dress inflates to a size determined by the wearer to ''cope with stress, moments of anxiety and claustrophobic situations — or, simply, for comfort.''

By hitting a switch on the dress, battery-operated fans blow air into the dress for inflation. But instead of looking like you've just put on a fake sumo wrestler suit, you look like you've put on a dress with a chic, exaggerated, bubble skirt.

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Flame 5

Designers: Nina Marquart and Richard Etter

Web site: http://www.richardetter.net/flame5.php

Forget the ''It's Getting Hot in Herrre'' ring tone. With the Flame 5 jacket you can get actual heat from your text messages. Using Bluetooth technology, the Flame 5 jacket heats up when your cell phone receives a message -- and it can heat up in different areas and for different lengths of time depending on who is sending the message or what it says.

The jacket heats up just above body temperature and so is meant to be a calming sensation that evokes emotional connectedness. With this jacket, you could truly say that the words warmed your heart.

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Skirteleon

Designers: CuteCircuit -- Francesca Rosella and Ryan Genz

Web site: http://www.cutecircuit.com

Fashion magazines often address the problem of creating the perfect day-to-evening, work-to-play outfit. Usually the solution involves changing a few accessories and putting on more daring makeup. The Skirteleon allows for the transformation of style without having to change anything except your mood.

The Skirteleon (skirt chameleon) uses a laminated textile that changes color and pattern with the wearer's mood or activities or over the course of predefined time. What the skirt reacts to can be preprogrammed and determined by the wearer. The skirt starts off a solid blue but can change to animal characters or geometric patterns. Instead of staring into your closet and asking ''what do I feel like today?'', your skirt can figure it out for you.

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Forecasting Umbrella

Designer: Ambient Devices

Web site: http://www.ambientdevices.com

No need to check with the weatherman before heading out the door with the Forecasting Umbrella. Through a data radio in its handle, the umbrella receives AccuWeather.com predictions and pulses a blue led light at the bottom of the handle depending on the probability of rain. If the chances are 100 percent, the light pulses 100 times per minute. If the chances are 60 percent, the light pulses once per second.

This is a piece of technology that you could potentially get your hands on very soon. The company that is responsible for the concept is developing it for the mass market.

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muk.luk.flux

Designer: Amanda Parkes

Web site: http://web.media.mit.edu/~amanda/muklukflux/

Playing with the idea of the appearance of speed and sleekness in the placement of stripes or swooshes on sports apparel, muk.luk.flux are a pair of boots that actually change shape depending on the speed of the wearer's movement. A system of mechanical actuators in the boots expand wing-like structures from the boots when a sensor in the boots measures a certain amount of speed in the wearer's motion.

The boots themselves look like a cross of something out of a retro space movie and a futurist sculpture. They may look a bit out there — but if moon boots could come back, these boots have a shot.