At first glance, these clothes looks like your average suit, hat, scarf, and hoodie. Once a camera flash hits them, though, their secret weapon is revealed. The garments ruin flash photographs by blowing out the pictures with excessive reflective light. DJ Chris Holmes designed the apparel as “anti-paparazzi clothing,” and he calls the line Flashback.
So, how does this technology work? Pieces in the Flashback collection look like typical gray-colored clothing in normal circumstances, but the fabric is actually coated with “gazillions of glass nanospheres.” They’re energized by camera flashes and bounce light back, causing photos to look underexposed. Holmes first got the idea for this line while on tour with Sir Paul McCartney. He noticed that pictures from his performances were getting ruined because of this reflection. While frustrating, Holmes realized that this could be something helpful, and Flashback was born.
The initial concept generated a lot of buzz, and so Holmes launched a crowdfunding campaign through the online clothing company BetaBrand. They’ll produce his pieces en masse, and you can now pre-order the Photobomber Hoodie, Silver-Screen Scarf, Illuminati Suit Jacket, Illuminati Suit Pants, and Halo Hat to ship in September.
