I've used a flashlight for blackouts, a miner's headlamp on camping trips, a Clamplight for ceiling repairs, and a flexible LED penlight for machine repair. Light sources like these require you hold them in your hand, or affix them to an object or your head. But imagine if your entire body was itself a source of illumination.

London-based filmmaker and fashion photographer Jacob Sutton had designer John Spatcher rig up an LED jumpsuit, which he then wrapped pro snowboarder William Hughes in. Sutton, Hughes and crew then spent three nights in the French Alps recording this video below:

"I was really drawn to the idea of a lone character made of light surfing through darkness," says Sutton of his costume choice. "I've always been excited by unusual ways of lighting things, so it seemed like an exciting idea to make the subject of the film the only light source." Sutton, who has created work for the likes of Hermès, Burberry and The New York Times, spent three nights on a skidoo with his trusty Red Epic camera at temperatures of -25C to snap Hughes carving effortlessly through the deep snow, even enlisting his own father to help maintain the temperamental suit throughout the demanding shoot.

"Filming in the suit was the most surreal thing I've done in 20 years of snowboarding," says Hughes of the charged salopettes. "Luckily there was plenty of vin rouge to keep me warm, and Jacob's enthusiasm kept everyone going through the cold nights."

While wearable LED lighting is not yet practical for the four applications I mentioned up top, I'm hoping it gets there in future. It would be awesome to see, say, a plumber show up wearing a T-shirt with an Iron-Man-like chest beam.