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Wearable technology - where fashion and technology converge



The 2016 Met Museum’s annual black-tie evening on May 2, called the Costume Institute Ball – or the Met Gala – was based on the theme Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology. It explored the relationship between clothes created by hand (manus) and clothes created by machine (machina). Wearable technology is where fashion and technology converge. Celebrities attending the Met Gala wore clothes with a technology-inspired theme, including metallics, sculptured appearances, and futuristic designs. For example, Emma Watson’s dress by Calvin Klein and Michelle Monaghan's dress by Rosie Assoulin were made from recycled plastic bottles (below). 



Claire Dane's dress by Zac Posen lit up in the dark, Beyonce wore a latex Givenchy gown, and Karlie Kloss carried a LED - light emitting diode - clutch bag.




Apple’s chief design officer, Jonathan Ive, joined American Vogue’s editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour, as co-chair of the event. Apple is known for the Apple Watch and other wearable technology, such as the Google Glasses. Fashion and technology have been collaborating for years. However, recently with the advent of 3D printing, computer modeling, and laser cutting techniques, fashion and technology are moving closer together.

SNS Research has just published their May 2016 report ‘The Wearable Technology Ecosystem: 2016-2030 – Opportunities, Challenges, Strategies, Industry Verticals & Forecasts,’ a 652 page document on wearable technology.

The report’s key findings include the estimation that wearable devices, particularly smartphones, will have a major resurgence – at a compound annual growth rate of 29% from 2016 to 2020. Wearable technology will have market opportunities across several sectors, such as healthcare, sports, retail and hospitality, fashion, military, and public safety. Key enabling technologies include low-cost sensors, wireless connectivity, active materials, and energy to converge to mainstream wearable technology.


http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160504005813/en/Wearable-Technology-Ecosystem-2016-2030---Opportunities-Challenges

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/02/fashion/gallery/met-gala-red-carpet-awards-2016/index.html?iid=ob_article_organicsidebar_expansion

MARTINA NICOLLS is the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).


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