Brazil mourns the los of Dos Chicas more than any. The unique chemistry between Isabella Juanerez, supermodel and designer of the Chameleon Goddess line, and Chad Kafkoulas, erotic vid star and co-founder of the Adam & Eve line, led to hours of priceless banter and even outright fisticuffs, but, whether staged, as some claims, or, quite real, as filming irregularities (and the occasional hospital visit!) attested, it

certainly kept us watching!

Here is a snippet from their last show…

Isabella: Who has time (or the money!) to keep a box full of jewelry and accessories for every color and cut in her wardrobe these days? Sure, when a woman had nothing better to do with her days than spend 2 hours getting herself made presentable to go out to be seen, that was one thing. But today, we have jobs, kids and lives of our own, we can’t be bothered with some archaic hours-long ritual in the morning just to impress people. Which is where Memetic Jewelry promises to revolutionize our lives.

Chad: Or at least your pockets. I hear Chameleon Goddess has gone into this new trend rather heavily…

Isabella (glares):

I so do not recall who it was who wanted to do a TFR Fashion (or Style, or Haut Couture, I don't recall the proposed name), but at work I was thinking over a few loose ideas.

The woman of the 14th century didn't have a lot to do with her time other than look good and dress to impress. But by the 22nd, equal rights have changed all that and juggling family, career and personal time, the woman of tomorrow is not going to have 2 hours to get ready, make herself up, choose an outfit and accessorize it in the morning.

She's happy to have her coffee pre-made by the housecomp so that she can just get up, hose off and be out the door in time to not be TOO late...

And yet she is still expected to look sharp, and the standards will most likely remain stricter than for a man who really has a choice of a gray suit or something daring like a blue or brown suit. :)

So, I think that it may have started out as a fashion trend for teens, but adapted to a more mature style (as the teens got jobs and real money to spend...). What on earth am I talking about? Memetic jewelry. Why have to find room and time for accessories of every conceivable color and size to match or offset every color or style in your wardrobe, when you can buy two bracelets and know that they will adjust to whatever shade you program them to, from an understated metallic shade with your work clothes, to red enamel at the concert, to matte black at the club.

With teens it would have originally started with some cheap 'memory plastics' (we have them today, an item with a 'molecular memory,' like the metal Nitinol, 'remembers' its base shape, and no matter how you deform it, under the right stimuli it will snap back to its original form instantly, more advanced versions, mostly plastics, are capable of snapping back and forth between two shapes), mainly used by fanboys and girls to replace the need to buy jewelry of every conceivable color, as the original plastics where only color-changing, and usually only having two or more preset colors.

Later refinements would use actual memory plastics and metals to change shape (in a limited application, like changing surface textures back and forth between stylized curlicues or hatchmarks or pebbled or calligraphy or smooth. Nitinol snaps back with *10,000 PSI,* it would not do to create a ring that turned into a pendant as it could easily sever a finger if its trigger stimuli, like an electric shock, flash of light, temperature change or certain frequency of sound or vibration is

encountered accidentally...).

Eventually, a plastic or synthetic will be found with a memetic function. (They have some memory synthetics in Japan, even some that ‘remember’ more than one state. They are still regarded as a curiosity IRL.)

Chameleonic substances could also be generated, so that if placed against, say, ones jacket for the evening, and left under the appropriate trigger stimuli, the item of jewelry, or even synthetic fabric), will change colors to match the shade it is placed against. (Limited subterfuge use may well exist as such a synthetic could be used to snag a reverse image of a document when no one is looking and you are known not to have any sort of camera or recording device. Who would think to check a ladys *scarf* for the ability to pick up the image of something it lays on like silly putty on a comic strip...) Cheapass Russian knockoffs might actually 'bleed' colors and lose old colors for new ones in the area without the presence of their activating stimuli, causing a fangirls bracelets to all be skin-brown by nights end, even if she had them electric-blue when she left home... But, you get what you pay for, and these sorts of effects would also have their fans, almost like a sort of 'mood' item that changes colors to match the

most predominant colors around the wearer.

This synthetic breakthrough would revolutionize the fabric industry as any item of cloth becomes not just 'reversible' with two different shades, but capable of being any of a dozen colors, depending on the situation, ambient lighting or wearers mood. Some could react to body temp, dampness (darkening to hide sweat marks?), ambient lighting, etc. Most would not change so off-handedly, but a special 'stimuli' (like any of those above for a memory item) would have to be applied for the item to change. In early years the item would have the preset range of colors, once the opti-mimetic synthetic is available, the item could

be 'trained' to adjust to any color (or even pattern!) it is lay against for a time.

I see a high tech fashion show by an eccentric designer (assuming any are not eccentric...), in which a dozen clothes horses strut up and down the runway in special frocks, drapes or wraps tailored by the designer. But instead of changing their clothes at the end of a walk, they walk back to an open area, where all can see them 'changing' and with artful tucks and changes to color and style and even the very *shape* of their clothing and accessories, the same girl comes out to walk the runway again, *in the exact same outfit* but looking completely different. This might repeat up to a half-dozen times per model, with only an occasional addition or subtraction of a hat, jacket, scarf or cape. The first time it would be done it would be extremely avant garde. Repetition remains death, even in 21st century fashion.

I picture these sorts of things being old hat by the 22nd century (literally). They would be commonplace parts of everyones wardrobe, with practically everyone having some accesories that change shape, color or texture at the drop of a hat, to 'accessorize' with anything he / she happens to be wearing or any situation he/she finds themselves in. By 2120, a memory pendant, charm, ring or brooch might have a set ability to 'receive' shapes at a kiosk in the mall (or even a charger at home, a small connect and download fee would allow you to imprint the item with one shape from a catalogue of many thousands of shapes and textures), the item remaining in that shape until re-imprinted (at which time, previous imprints are lost). Buying a pattern that you plan on using often (like a signature pattern you use daily, a dolphin, unicorn, birthsign, etc) and the charger unit will store the pattern indefinitely (although, unless you get the more expensive 'unlimited use' version, it will only recognize and imprint the paid-for pattern onto the particular registered bit of memetic jewelry. At first anyway. It will take only a few years for people to 'hack' these chargers and allow the youth to begin trading patterns like we swap illegal MP3s...). Junior sculptors could of course make their own, just as some aspiring wannabes make fonts. Some charge for their creations, others give them away. For a while after introduction, patterns and charms and pendants would be the hottest thing since Pokemon cards, and some people would carry dozens of clunky memetic charms, and change them all daily by swapping patterns with friends.

The most exclusive patterns would be the ones that react to stimuli and change in the presence of others, like the steely rosebud that unfurls and blossoms in the presence of strong light and folds back up in darkness or the 'hot lips' pendant that looks like a pair of luscious lips that are suddenly parted and licked by a concealed tongue in a rather startling display... Clenching and unclenching monkey fists and dancing kokopellis and thrashing dolphins are also popular motifs.

And this is only the hardtech...

[The preceding has been a paid advertisement of Chameleon Goddess, LTD. All rights reserved.]

Biotech and fashion.

Okay the idea of dresses of living human skin are too Tzimisce to be worked into Trinity, although a dress or jacket that *blushes* on command does sound outre enough for someone (like Tau Dellux, or that knockoff, Djhee Dauwi, to consider it)...

Obviously, the color-changing stuff mentioned in the hardtech fashion post would be available, and a biotech version might even be better at it (quicker, by mental control if formatted, etc) than a synthetic 'memetic optifabric.' It would be available in a pebbly lizard scale motif (looking much like a Beaded Lizard or Gila Monster pattern), snake scale (many species patterns available), alligator hide, leathery elephant / rhino hide, soft kid leather or chamois or even chitin or bone. And like chameleon or octopus skin, the color-changes would be startling and, if formatted, controllable at will!

The shape-changing stuff is more out there, since organisms only change over serious amounts of time, and, unless bone or chitin or whatnot, don't tend to take on sharp or hard edges (and those two, of course, are the least likely to be able to change shape in any amount of time less than months), making any sort of angles a rare sight. No competition there at least.

Where biotech would be seriously kicking butt is the idea of interactive clothing. Why have a frock that just sits there like a rug, when your Orgosoft mink coat can actually perk its fur and fluff itself at a change in temperature, like a dog raising its hackles. You WILL be noticed if your ruff 'ruffs' itself! And fur is only one option, less than a month after Elayne Cassel modeled the new Orgofur cape at her appearance in a Seattle fundraiser, Brazilian supermodel and 'Chameleon Goddess' spokeswoman, Isabella was seen with a tres passe fringe of peacock feathers around her neck. As paparazzi stared she smiled and the feathers rose like a living peacocks tail into an elegant headress before flattening themselves back down into a manageable mantle-like adornment. (Orgosoft Farms has alleged that the Brazilian-based Apoderado designs may have indulged in industial espionage to beat them to this punch... Given Apoderado's pro-Sudamerican bent, there may even be substance to these allegations, *they* would have used a native Sudamerican bird, such as a Quetzal, to provide the template for this sort of 'interactive' clothing.) Needless to say, these sorts of things will not be affordable to the hoi-polloi anytime soon, although Chameleon goddess claims that a simple insertion

of memetic wires into certain fabrics and synthetic hides would create much the same effect, without all the messy side-effects

of a *living* frock. No muss, no fuss. And the profit potential for crafting clothing that can be internally shifted about in cut or length by memetic wire inserts is lost on no one.

Accoutrements of scaly surfaces that ripple themselves, some tiny like coral snake scales, others manly and blocky, like armadillo scale bracers, are rare (due to the expense), being mostly limited to vidstars or similar wealthy elite. Still the large plates raising themselves to cool the inner flesh on a bright summer day is quite the attention-grabber and as long as the rich have yuan...

Biotech tattoos that exist under the skin and secrete from micro-glands within the skin would allow someone to have a prominent tattoo ‘flush’ out like a rush of blood under the skin (or an incredibly rapid bruise), and the same coloring could be flushed back as quickly, allowing tattoos to be done away with while inconvenient (or for disguise purposes), and then ‘flushed’ to the surface while one is in a more casual atmosphere. Various other skin pigmentation effects are also an option, such as permanent henna jobs that can be activated or concealed with brief training. Others could be activated by body heat increase or in certain lighting situations, creating such outré sights as bang-boy Riven Po, whose skin becomes illuminated by phosphorescent blue swirling calligraphy whenever he is in darkness, or sensvid-sensation Synesthesia, whose custom skin-job causes her entire skin to flush blood-red whenever her body temperature rises over 99.5 degrees, such as when she is ‘performing.’ Such biotech implant technology, even as innocuous as this, tends to be cutting edge, and only available in the Mumbai, the richer Anima cities of Southest Asia and coastal Africa, and in Sydney, Australia (as the Legions make use of similar biotechnology for their facial markings).

But this is small time niche stuff to a market that had long lain dormant that biotech has reintroduced to the fashion world. Flourescence. The ease of engineering bioluminenent traits into the biowear (bad pun, I know) of today has scored great market potential, especially in the strong Anima markets of the UAN, China, SE Asia and India. Not the tacky poisonous colors of yesteryear, but more subtle and interesting hues have come about, a mixture of phosphorescent organs under layers of mimetic skins, creating changeable colored light shows on ones clothing or jewelry. A definite sight to see, and some venues in Bangkok have taken to turning off the overheads and letting the clientele light up the place with their clothing and accoutrements! By arranging the developments of memetic cells, pigment sacs and nerve layouts, the bioengineers have created mimetics that change in patterns or even messages in bold calligraphic text, symbols, change shades in specific ratios, say from right to left or spiralling outwards from the center, or in heartbeat-like pulses, or even change to oppose colors presented to them, or change shade by shade at regular intervals. Unlike most other bio-wear, the combination of mimetics and phosphorescents is affordable to Joe Hologram (or Quan, more likely), although for the more fanciful notions above, such as synchronized or patterned 'wear it remains quite pricy and hard to acquire.