Tech Savvy

The future looks good—and sustainable—as technology arms fashion with the tools for innovation. Divya gursahani surveys this fascinating new world.

In May last year, American actor Claire Danes made a show-stopping entrance at the Manus X Machina: Fashion In An Age Of Technology-themed Met Gala in a voluminous sky-blue Zac Posen gown, crafted from fibre optics that made it light up in the dark. For the same event, Marchesa designers Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig, in conjunction with computer manufacturer IBM, created a dress for model Karolína Kurková that was embedded with LED lights, which would change colour in real time as public conversations around the Met Gala unfolded online. Emotions were turned into information, which triggered the lights on the basis of an automated colour palette. Rose signified joy, coral meant passion, aqua was excitement, and lavender denoted curiosity. Fashion’s possibilities, when bolstered by technology, were literally highlighted for everyone to see.