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Let’s begin with a bit of linguistic trivia: How many of you know that Japanese has an expression for the area of exposed skin between the top of knee-high socks and the hemline of a skirt? No, this is not a joke, people–the actual term is 絶対領域 (zettai ryouiki), which literally means “absolute territory,” but I’m sure some of you already knew that.

If you didn’t, now is as good a time as ever to add that phrase to your mental lexicon, with LED light-emitting skirts about to enter the world of fashion and all! 

Hikaru skirt (hikaru means “shining”) is the brainchild of one Kiyoyuki Amano, whose simple idea to create a skirt with LEDs attached blossomed into a full-blown marketable venture. When he first tried placing LEDs inside of a skirt, he noticed that the light created a pleasant illumination effect on the wearer’s thighs, leading to its current design. According to him, the hikaru skirt, with its incorporation of technological elements, is meant to fall halfway between everyday fashion and fashion for special occasions.

On January 16, Amano launched a Tumblr page dedicated to his unique piece of clothing. There’s currently no price or instructions about how to order the skirt yet, but we’ll be sure to let you know if we learn more information.

By the way, we’ve been saving the coolest detail for last–the fact that there are miniature gyro sensors (which sense rotational motion) inside the skirt. In other words, every time you move, the pattern of lights and colors in the skirt also changes! Hmm, we’re a bit taken aback that neither Lady Gaga nor Kyary Pamyu Pamyu has expressed any interest yet…

Now feast your eyes on some of the photos taken from the hikaru skirt’s official Tumblr site:

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Now quick, somebody Photoshop a picture of Mr. Sato wearing one!

Source: ITmedia Inc.
Images: Tumblr (Hikaruskirt)