It's a timeless and versatile fashion staple, appropriate for every occasion—the LBD, or 'little black dress'. But you've never seen an LBD quite like this one.

A collaboration between a fashion major and scientists at Cornell University has resulted in a unique garment that sports the "darkest fabric" ever made. The shade of the material is known as "ultrablack," a color that reflects less that 0.5 percent of the light the hits it. This is the first ultrablack material that is not only wearable, but stays dark when viewed from various angles.

To develop the light-absorbing fabric, researchers took inspiration from the extraordinarily black feathers of a tropical bird-of-paradise— Ptiloris magnificus , the 'magnificent riflebird'—which lives in the rainforests of Papua New Guinea and A

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