London fashion week: why technology is in fashion

The next generation of high tech fashionistas realise that for fashion tech to thrive, it has to be about the fashion first.  At London fashion week the multibillion dollar worlds of tech and fashion are colliding like never before.

For many, the launch of Apple’s new watch, announced this week with impeccable timing to coincide with the global fashion weeks, will mark an important turning point for fashion tech, a new sector with huge potential for growth.

While Apple’s entry into the market is almost guaranteed to boost the industry’s profile, in reality the fashion industry has been driving fashion tech for years. Fashion tech is much more than just tech inside a timepiece, and nowhere is this more apparent than in London.

In 2010, London Fashion Week was the first in the world to grant access to the masses by live streaming the runways. What had previously been exclusive and elite became accessible to everyone, all because of technology.

Now, everyone has their smartphone camera primed, ready to make their contribution to the zeitgeist. Social media is part of the very fabric of London Fashion Week. Paris may be the undisputed capital of high fashion, but when it comes to high tech fashion, London leads.

The next generation of high tech fashionistas are already emerging. They are incorporating tech into stylish products, realising that for fashion tech to thrive, it has to be about the fashion first.

Two rising stars from this growing trend are Kate Unsworth and Roberta Lucca.

Unsworth is a former model and mathematician bringing her two worlds together to create Kovert Designs, her own digital agency. Kovert’s first product line is a beautiful riposte to the consistently disappointing world of wearable tech.

The early prototypes are gorgeous. Unsworth began her career in the fashion industry, so the aesthetics of her modular jewellery collection are couture-sharp. They promise to enhance rather than complicate your life; pieces can be personalised to alert the wearer only when important contacts or urgent keywords are recognised, so you control your social channels instead of being a slave to them. The tech is fashionable as well as unobtrusive, much as the new Apple Watch promises to be.

This year’s London Fashion Week is set to be the most technologically advanced yet with Burberry tipped to be one of the first fashion brands to trial a new pay by tweet feature at their show.