MNN - Mother Nature Network

It's official: the quest to design concept clothing for the modern day, tech-savvy, cafe-hopping hipster may finally have reached its logical extreme. Take as exhibit A these new jeans designed by Nieuwe Heren, featuring a wireless keyboard sewn right onto your lap.

 

The jeans don't just allow you to lounge while you type. They also come with a wireless mouse that's cleverly attached to a specially designed pocket. There are even a set of speakers sewn at the sides so that your music can follow you wherever you sit. (How "hip" is that?)

 

Aptly titled Beauty and the Geek, the pants might forever redefine the concept of a laptop computer. That, or they're destined to become a ridiculous fashion faux pas. Designers Erik de Nijs and Tim Smit are bold enough to take the risk.

 

"The idea was that you could log in to your computer and control it without sitting in a closed environment behind your desk," de Nijs told WebProNews.

 

On the fashion-plus side, they appear to be made of some pretty slick denim, and the orange stitching is stylish as well as consistent with the concept (it's meant to have the look of a circuit board). On the down side, though, it's impossible to ignore the large, fully functional keyboard that's sure to promptly draw all eyes straight to the wearer's crotch.

 

There may also be a few awkward functional kinks that come with wearing a keyboard across your loins. For one, excessive typing could become strangely arousing. It's also not an area you want to accidentally electrify in the event of a coffee spill.

 

The good news about the keyboard, however, is that it's not as heavy and cumbersome as it may look. Those of you who like to bust a few moves while jamming to iTunes should have plenty of flexibility to do so.

 

"With the flexible keyboard, small speakers, and small mouse, they are only a little bit heavier than your regular jeans," explained de Nijs.

 

At the moment the jeans cannot be purchased at retail stores, but if and when they do go to market, the estimated price would be about $400.

 

In the end, though, the success of the design will likely depend more on the fashion police than its functionality. Is this design visionary and futuristic, or are the pants forever unwearable? Tech-savvy hipsters like to think of themselves as pretty cool cats, but are they cool enough to wear a keyboard over their crotch? That's the question.