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There’s an adage in storytelling to “show, don’t tell”. That’s especially true in fashion, where aesthetics are everything. So instead of smart contracts and crypto wallets, New York Fashion Week has moved on to tech that is — literally — easier to see.
Consider the final look from designer Christian Cowan: the silver shift dress referenced louche 1960s glamour and the transportative nature of astrology; it also used liquid crystal “petals” and Adobe software to change the pattern on the bodice as the model walked through the historic ballroom of private social club The Harmonie Club. By bridging the gap between the familiar and the futuristic, Cowan showed how tech can be additive, rather than distracting.
“I wanted it to be something that didn’t look like a tech thing,” Cowan said after the Sunday night show, where Syky creative director Nicola Formichetti and musical artist Sam Smith were among the attendees. “I kind of cringe when fashion meets tech, and I can see where the optic cables and fibres are below the transparent fabric. I like it when it’s a seamless, gorgeous thing that you don’t know how it works.”
When Adobe announced the technology, dubbed Project Primrose, in October, many on social media wondered how or if this latest iteration of smart textiles could blend in with fashion — or if it would fall by the wayside, as previous pilots have done. The dress’s material (PDLC smart glass that can transition between transparent and frosted) can be programmed to change pattern, colour and style all while being worn, through generative AI that’s controlled by a button or in response to movement.
Cowan’s team reached out to Adobe after seeing the demo make waves on TikTok. “I was obsessed,” he says. “As a creative, you want to use all the tools at your disposal. And new technology is so exciting to use. Like, why would I not?”
At Collina Strada, large-scale video installations of morphing animals hovered over the runway, complementing Hillary Taymour’s theme of strength, while de-emphasising the fact that the content was created using generative artificial intelligence. “I’m a very visual person,” Taymour says. That’s why she loves using text-to-image generation tool Stable Diffusion, which she used on the videos, she says. (Last season, her entire collection was made by “remixing” and blending previous works, using AI.)
At Dauphinette, models wore accessories including shoes and bags loaded with beads and sparkles, plus press-on nails with embedded NFC chips. The NFC chips, made by Web3 startup Kiki World and applied at Dauphinette by manicurist Holly Falcone, can be programmed to generate a link to the wearer’s Instagram account when scanned with a smartphone: a practical perk when networking at the shows. (The nails can also link to one’s ETH address.)
Is “tap-to-follow” the new “tap-to-pay”? Maybe, says Dauphinette designer and founder Olivia Cheng. “This is a type of technology that hasn’t really been used. It feels like such an interesting collaboration between ephemeral and sartorial, and the beautification of things, and the idea of being connected through technology, which is really interesting. I love using unconventional applications of materials in my designs.” Cheng added some of the nails to a handbag, creating an uncanny resemblance to the beetle wings she used to embellish pieces within the collection.
Tech that speaks the language of social media was far more interesting to fashion week patrons than, say, a crypto wallet full of PFPs. It’s also a lot easier to explain than digital fashion that can’t be worn out in public.
Even Digital Fashion Week, which regularly hosts a series of events showcasing new technology to coincide with NYFW, was grounded in the physical. Digital fashion brands Stephy Fung, Suza Vos x Harriet Davey and Mutani showcased their works via hologram. A model danced in a bodysuit on stage and a large screen portrayed an avatar wearing the digital fashion designs, moving and flowing to reflect the dancer’s movements. The live motion capture hologram tech was enabled by Future Front Row; co-founder Isabelle Udo says that tangibility was the impetus behind the tech.
“We wanted to create an event where people could go to and physically see something,” says Udo, who is based in Amsterdam, alongside many digital fashion startups. “When it comes to digital fashion, it can sound really abstract. Everyone is talking about it, but then we don’t really see it in the conversation. So that was basically what we were trying to do.” After the hologram show, phygital fashion designers — meaning their works span both digital and physical — presented works.
How smart glasses showed up at NYFW
Mixed reality, AI and wearable tech were already reaching the mainstream prior to fashion week, thanks to new devices from tech’s biggest players. Meta’s new generation of smart glasses (made in collaboration with Ray-Ban) now enable people to capture high-quality images, videos and Instagram live streams hands-free — a few guests at the NYFW shows had already copped a pair. When Vogue Business was testing their capabilities, fellow showgoers reacted with the kind of curiosity and interest that is not often associated with new tech gadgets.
Just days before fashion week, Apple’s mixed-reality headset, the Apple Vision Pro, became available. German luxury retailer Mytheresa booked a suite in the storied Hotel Chelsea — once home to artists ranging from Andy Warhol to Madonna — to demonstrate the Vision Pro’s technology, becoming the first luxury fashion retailer to create an experience on the new device. It invited people to shop curated collections in virtual recreations of Capri or Paris, amid the sound of seagulls (while at the beach) or under the sparkling lights of the Eiffel Tower. The Vision Pro enables wearers to tweak how much, or how little, of the natural world is still in view.
Mytheresa is known for its elaborate parties hosting important clients, and this new iteration is a chance to scale that experience globally. CEO Michael Kliger is hoping the new experience might attract new customers, noting a high crossover between Apple fans and luxury shoppers. Already, brand executives have reached out to him in hopes of a potential collaboration.
While the Vision Pro isn’t yet available globally, Kliger is especially curious to see if there is interest from customers in the Middle East, who tend to be early tech adopters. Going forward, he sees an opportunity for customers to see themselves virtually fitted in clothing as they shop using the device. Of course, he added, after a demo with Vogue Business, “the big test will be if people actually buy.”
Lingerie brand Adore Me (now owned by Victoria’s Secret) found a front-row use for the Vision Pro. It recorded its off-schedule show with the device, to create content that can be viewed by others wearing the Vision Pro. Part of the impetus, according to Adore Me CEO Morgan Hermand, was to bring NYFW to others around the world via immersive video. “While the Apple Vision Pro is still a specialist, niche product, we believe it represents the first real push into the world of truly immersive experiences,” he said in a release.
It’s still early days, and considerable roadblocks remain to fashion’s appetite for mixed reality and AI. While the Vision Pro is impressive, the headset is large and not very social, and doesn’t yet have a clear function at events like fashion week. Additionally, creating experiences and products that utilise wearable tech or generative AI is still quite complicated.
There’s also the cultural stigma around AI, with many creatives finding it potentially antithetical to human craft. Having become exasperated with Web3, the buzz around AI might feel like another bloated hype cycle to reflexively reject. But while fashion may have soured on the term “metaverse”, it’s worth noting that all of this technology falls under that umbrella; the difference now is that the digital content is (mostly) coming to the fashion week universe, rather than asking people to transport entirely to another realm.
Artist Claire Silver, whose collection of 500 digital fashion dresses sold for a total of about $1.2 million in 12 seconds, begs to differ. AI doesn’t compete with creativity or human memories, she says. “It’s so ironic, because my text-to-image prompts are my favourite memories — it’s all of the things that make me. It’s the artist’s fingerprint. It’s just that this tool, this collaborator, is so efficient. It’s a friend that never gets tired of learning about you. And from that it can make art with you that feels like your soul, but surprises you at the same time with new ideas.”
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