Technological Fashion

I overheard a discussion today between one of my colleagues and our IT professor debating which industry was more interesting: fashion or technology? That led me to further ponder,

What exactly is fashion and what is in fashion?

This also made me begin thinking about whether or not technology could actually be fashionable. With its leading designs and cutting edge technology, Apple certainly believes it can pave the way in fashionable technology.

In recent years, technology has certainly adapted to become a fashion item, using sleek and modern hardware with increasingly easy-to-navigate interfaces – creating the social emergence of geek chic in everyday society. Technology has been incorporated into popular music, in order to create new sounds and musical dialogue previously deemed impossible. Electronic music is now commonplace, its intricate sounds and beats defying conventional music theories, becoming another fashionable interpretation of music.

So, it appears that technology can be considered in fashion. But on the flip side, can fashion, not just the design process itself, incorporate technology? Leading British contemporary fashion designer Hussein Chalayan, world renowned for his innovative designs, takes a progressive attitude towards applying new technology and social shaping technological norms into his designs.

For over fifteen years, Chalayan has experimented with design and technology, using a creative approach in linking cultural identity, displacement, and migration with fashion. The Design Museum in London, England is currently showcasing over a decade of his work, with exhibits including “Airborne”, a garment masterpiece that integrates the shimmering effects of Swarovski crystals with over 15,000 LED lights and “Before Minus Now”, which is a dress that is constructed of materials used in aircraft and can change shape with the touch of a remote control.

I guess FIT was progressive in naming its institution to describe where fashion and technology really do meet.

Phone Tech

I’m not a huge fan of mainstream radio play, but through the networking capabilities of Facebook, one of my friends posted a link to a song called "Kiss Me thru the Phone", and commented that her phone didn’t have such advanced capabilities…yet.

Only a decade ago cellular phones looked like bricks, used analog technology, and had limited data storage and processing power. Today, cel phones such as the 3G IPhone are crossing the threshold from 2G EDGE networks to 3G technology, allowing access to wireless phone, video, and broadband data streaming over a wide area, without connecting via Wi-Fi.[1]

Welcome to the cellular phone revolution. The advent of the Voice Over Internet Protocol ("VOIP")-enabled telephone was a disruptive technology that has overshadowed the traditional public switched telephone network, enabling unlimited long-distance calling over IP networks, such as the Internet, for a minimal fee.

In December, David Pogue commented on new cellular phone technologies and the ability for 3G cellular phones to incorporate a VOIP application on their phone to bypass expensive data and telephony roaming charges. Skype’s application has become the number-one download from Germany’s iPhone app store, and traditional cellular network companies such as AT&T and Deutsche Telekom are threatening to cut customers’ Internet access if they are using Skype’s free service.

How will consumers react to this resistance? Can cellular networks afford to resist the adoption of new technologies by threatening to sever consumers’ cellular phone plans?

Again, we examine the concepts of technological determinism versus social shaping. Jan Chipchase advises technology innovators to “embrace everyone on the planet” if they want to create the next big idea and that society will allow technology to innovate in ways innovators cannot anticipate. Therefore in creating the next “big idea”, innovators must be informed with societal trends and movements and infuse that knowledge into not only what they design, but how they design it.

It appears that society is becoming increasingly influential in how technology is applied in day-to-day activities. Companies need to be aware of consumer behavior and societal influences and work with, not against them, in incorporating new technology into our lives.

[1] http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/wireless.html