Illuminated Accessories for an Opera Performance

By Chelsea Klukas, Founder — Lumen Couture

We collaborated with designer Olga Sem for a performance at the MakeFashion 2018 gala.

We collaborated with designer Olga Sem to create an illuminated fashiontech costume for opera singer Michelle Minke.

Michelle Minke is a Calgary-based Soprano who utilizes Fashion Technology to enhance her performances. Trained at the Royal Academy of Music in London, England, Michelle performed in opera houses across the world before returning to her hometown of Calgary.

Photo: Phil Crozier.

The outfit was commissioned for or her performance at the 2018 MakeFashion runway show. The headdress and necklace are inspired by illuminated crystals. Lumen Couture has extended the runway concept to ready-to-wear illuminated quartz jewelry that is available for purchase.

Lumen Couture is available for custom garments for singers and performers.

Necklace modeled by designer Chelsea Klukas.

About the Author: Chelsea Klukas is an award-winning interdisciplinary technology artist and design leader. She has founded two companies exploring the intersection of fashion and technology (Lumen Couture and MakeFashion) and was recently granted her Doctorate of Fine Arts (h.c.) in 2019. Her Lumen Couture projector hat, a hat that includes real-time projection mapping and visual inputs to display video on a dress, has gained international attention as the first of its kind. She is an advocate for diversity and women in tech.

Lumen Couture is fashion that illuminates for unexpected elegance and drama. The designs are informed by the international fashiontech shows hosted by MakeFashion, an organization that introduces youth to STEM through hands-on fashion technology workshops.