'Personal Space' Dress Expands When People Get Too Close

May 22, 2014 04:52 PM EDT | Jordan Ecarma

If you're someone who likes having a comfortable personal bubble, this futuristic dress may be the outfit for you.

Called the "personal space dress," the ensemble has built-in sensors that detect when another person infringes your space to trigger the expansion of plastic scaffolding in the skirt, USA TODAY reported.

The unusual outfit is part of a collection called Urban Armor that was developed by Kathleen McDermott.

Her artwork project can be found online with instructions to assemble each piece. The website calls the collection "a series of playful electronic wearables for women which investigate the ways women experience public space."

The three-piece line of wearables also includes a hat and veil set called "Miss My Face," which protects the wearer from CCTV footage, and the "AutoFilter," a robotic scarf that covers the wearer's face in response to nearby pollution.

A Hong Kong resident who was born in New York, McDermott noted that the personal space dress won't necessarily keep the wearer from being harassed or crowded in public.

"I don't think that wearing a robotic dress is really the solution to problems of overcrowding or sexual harassment," McDermott told USA TODAY, but she added that, "it has allowed for some interesting conversations to take place."

Inspired by wearable technology and city life, the collection of deterrent wearables will be followed by pieces that further positive interactions with people, McDermott said.

"They challenge the way commercial wearable technology is currently developing," the website said of the collection's pieces. "In place of mass-produced, data-focused devices, the Urban Armor pieces are custom, customizable and intervene in the physical world."

People are invited to make their own versions of the wearables and share their own projects with Urban Armor.

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