Geek Chic Means Clothes That Compute

Remember when a technologically advanced fashion accessory meant a Casio calculator wristwatch? Well, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Charmed Technology of Los Angeles plans to produce wireless wearables that bring special-effects gadgets from films like “The Matrix” to life.

How about a Palm Pilot that can be worn as a bracelet? Or a belt-mounted computer slung low around the waist that functions as a Web browser and a cellular phone and plays an Internet radio broadcast?

These products and more, currently in prototype stage, debuted this week in L.A. at Spring Internet World 2000 during a runway fashion show, “Brave New Unwired World.”

Models strutted down the catwalk in silvery clothing wearing the company’s signature Charmed Badges. These miniature “Star Trek”-like gizmos, expected to be on the market later this year, use infrared technology to send and collect data such as the contact information found on a traditional business card. Information on the badges, which can be pinned to clothing or worn around the neck, can be downloaded later for storage.

(Charmed Badges will be given to the Democratic National Committee to pass out at the party’s national convention in August.)

“We believe people should be able to accessorize with technology,” said Jarrell Pair of Charmed Technology. “When we were all using desktop computers, it didn’t matter, but now that computing devices are coming closer to the body, personal taste comes into play.”

Futuristic bracelets, necklaces and earrings equipped with infrared transceivers can store, transmit and receive voice messages and appointment reminders and even glow when e-mail has been received by the wearer’s computer.

Charmed hopes to bring into vogue a product that has become almost a staple of futuristic trade fairs--a tiny computer screen that resembles a sunglasses lens. The lens is so small that it does not disrupt the line of sight and wearers can go about their daily business while also keeping an eye on sports scores or stock prices.

“This [fashion show] signifies the beginning of the post-PC era,” said Charmed co-founder Katrina Barillova. “Wearable technology is the new enabler for both high fashion and corporate enterprises.”

The company wants to incorporate wearable technology into the work environment too. In development are finger and wrist scanners that can be used to copy documents and images into a larger computer with a wave of a hand.

But what ends up on the market, Barillova said, may look very different from what was on the runway--much like the rest of the fashion world. “A fashion show is entertainment. Armani and Versace have flamboyant pieces in their shows to inspire people. What’s in the stores will probably be toned down.”

And, she hopes, be affordable. “Our goal is to have the cheapest technology in the world and to eventually give it away for free,” she said. For example, the Charmed Badge might cost as little as $10, she said.

Charmed Technology, founded in May 1999, has sole rights to license products developed by MIT’s Media Lab, according to Charmed co-founder Alex Lightman, 38, an MIT graduate.

Lightman, a Hollywood native, said he was born “on the kitchen table near Paramount Studios . . . so I am destined to bring ‘Star Trek’ to life.”

L.A.’s Internet World was only one stop on Charmed Technology’s world tour. The company plans to take the fashion show to trade events around the globe.

“The response has been amazing,” Barillova said. “People want to buy the stuff today.”