‘Silicon Valley Fashion Week?!’ highlights tech innovation in apparel
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In California, Los Angeles Fashion Week is usually the most known fashion event of the season. However, it seems that Silicon Valley has been edging its way recently into entering the fashion industry.
Silicon Valley Fashion Week!? ran this year over the span of a three-day period from October 20-22. The variety show included variations of both fashion and tech including song and dance numbers as well. Organized by Chris Lindland, founder of ecommerce retailer Betabrand, the show includes a quirkiness that most fashion shows typically lack. Infusing both fashion and technology, the show is able to highlight a contrast and mix of both industries. “The show is meant to be a crazy mash-up of the Maker movement and Burning Man and the fashion/tech world,” Lindland told SF Gate.
Silicon Valley Fashion Week merges fashion and technology
As the Bay Area has been known for its emphasis on the tech industry, a technology-inspired fashion show is not exactly out of the blue for the area. Instead of having models, the show featured drones that carried clothing items on the catwalk. Doubling as an entertaining experience as well as featuring innovative apparel, the show highlights a fun, whimsical side in contrast to most serious, down-to-business fashion shows. “It’s a fashion show that takes itself seriously and doesn’t take itself seriously at the same time,” Lindland told the publiction.
In contrast to other fashion shows, the merchandise on the runway are styles that are already available to the public or are readily about to be available. In an unorthodox fashion, the show included a 3M dress with reflective panels that allows its wearer to transition from day work clothes into going out apparel. Retailed at 178 dollars, the Betrabrand dress has already sold a couple hundred, according to CNN. The show also featured a Smarthold Hoodie that has a hole in one of the sleeves for smartwatches, so that wearers don’t have to deal with the nuisance of rolling up their sleeves to see the time.
At the show, there were various other innovative apparel ideas including emerging products as well as new, fresh pieces. Other apparel pieces included the quilted travel jacket, slackies, audio necklaces, and programmable t-shirts. For the tech-savvy Bay Area, it seems that this is a perfectly fitting fashion show for locals. Although different from Los Angeles or New York Fashion Week, Silicon Valley has started its own fashion week trend in its own way--true the city’s tech core at heart.
Photos: Silicon Valley Fashion Week / Betabrand