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Magic trick--change clothes?

We were at the circus last night and saw a magic trick where the lady would toss glitter in the are run through it and her clothes would change. How does she do that?


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

This is a stunt called a "quickchange." You may have also seen it on the show "America's Got Talent." There is a very useful wikipedia article about this genre of magic trick, but I'll try to explain two main methods of quickchange.

In the days before modern technology (a.k.a., decades and centuries ago), quickchange artists would use a series of hooks, buttons, and pull strings to quickly release clothing and reveal a new outfit underneath. This would work if you were using opaque fabric to cover you.

For the glitter trick, they most likely used a technology where the clothes are made with either lcd sensors or small triggers that work like human muscles. For the lcd, a person offstage could simply signal the outfit to change color and design. With the muscle-like triggers, clothes can either be released or--more commonly--draw up or down to give the illusion of a different piece of clothing.