The Henry Ford Acquires First Cognitive Dress by IBM and Marchesa

The Henry Ford announced today the acquisition of IBM and Marchesa's cognitive dress, the world's first-of-its-kind created using IBM Watson technology. Watson and Marchesa worked together to weave cognitive inspiration into every step of the design process, creating a dress that was both inspired and enabled by Watson technology. Model Karolina Kurkova wore the dress during its debut at the 2016 Met Gala.

While Marchesa designed the silhouette and handcrafted the dress, the design team used a mix of Watson APIs and IBM Research tools to analyze the Marchesa brand and provide suggestions on the material and color palette during the design process. Using Watson Tone Analyzer, the dress can tap into sentiment from social media posts that include a specific hashtag, extracting context around the tone of the message. During the Met Gala, the LED lights embroidered into the flowers on the dress changed colors in real-time based on public social media conversations related to the cognitive dress.

"IBM and Marchesa's cognitive dress is an excellent representation of innovation at work today, from the collaboration behind the dress to the technology involved to make it possible," said Patricia Mooradian, president of The Henry Ford. "We are delighted to bring this into our collection and give our guests the opportunity to be inspired by the innovators changing our world today."

Watson is a cognitive computing system that understands the world in a way similar to humans, through senses, learning, and experience. Available as a portfolio of services on an open developer platform, Watson can quickly analyze massive amounts of structured and unstructured data to reveal insights and patterns previously undiscovered.

The IBM and Marchesa dress collaboration is just one example of how cognitive computing is unlocking discovery and human creativity. These same technologies used in the creation of the dress are also being used in other industries beyond fashion, including health care, engineering, finance, retail, and education. Watson is being applied to human creativity in all forms to gain insights from data to inform decisions, solve problems, and to inspire creativity.

"From fashion designers, to architects, to musicians and more, professionals are tapping into cognitive systems like Watson to discover new avenues for creativity and inspiration," said Ann Rubin, vice president, Branded Content and Global Creative at IBM. "The cognitive dress is an example of the many ways people are using Watson to augment human thinking and fuel creativity. The Henry Ford is an institution that celebrates American innovation, and we are thrilled the cognitive dress has a permanent home at this historic landmark to inspire future innovators."

The cognitive dress will be on display inside Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation starting April 13.

About The Henry Ford
The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan is an internationally-recognized history destination that explores the American experience of innovation, resourcefulness and ingenuity that helped shape America. A national historic landmark with an unparalleled Archive of American Innovation, The Henry Ford is a force for sparking curiosity and inspiring tomorrow's innovators. Nearly 1.8 million visitors annually experience its five attractions: Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, Greenfield Village, Ford Rouge Factory Tour, Benson Ford Research Center and The Henry Ford Giant Screen Experience. A continually expanding array of content available online provides anytime, anywhere access. The Henry Ford is also home to Henry Ford Academy, a public charter high school which educates over 500 students a year on the institution's campus. In 2014, The Henry Ford premiered its first-ever national television series, The Henry Ford's Innovation Nation, showcasing present-day change-makers and The Henry Ford's artifacts and unique visitor experiences. Hosted by news correspondent and humorist, Mo Rocca, this Emmy-winning weekly half-hour show airs Saturday mornings on CBS. For more information please visit our website thehenryford.org.