Because I was lame and did no work in my first year of college I was allowed to redeem myself and earn Ucas points by writing an essay. This essay was based on how technology has influenced fashion and I thought it would be interesting to put it on here and possibly get some feedback/ other peoples or bloggers opinions on the subject. So here is my essay hope you dont get to bored of me rambling on :)
Fashion has always used technology to experiment with materials and create new ones. Now more than ever technology plays a bigger part within the world of fashion communication, with style, trend forecasting, and shopping sites. Major fashion magazines are starting up websites almost like online magazines, as well as fashion magazines that can only be found and read online such as "I love fake magazine".
Visual showcasing/Media
Alexander McQueen is the perfect example of someone who has explored other types of media within technology. He may have used technology to create digital print for his garments in his Summer/Spring 2010 collection, but his collaboration with Nick Knights SHOWstudio.com on the same collection is groundbreaking. Using six video cameras and two gargantuan mobile robotic cameras that were installed in the catwalk stalking the models up and down, streaming the footage on the screen behind. Other designers like Burberry are taking a leaf out of McQueens book, using technology to stream their catwalk shows live online. Another designer to venture into using technology is Gareth Pugh, who for his Autumn/Winter 2009 collection presented his collection in video form rather than a catwalk. This got me to think about the future of catwalk shows, will more designers decide to take more of a non traditional route like Gareth Pugh and think of more obscure ways to show their collections and runway becomes a thing of the past? Will more designers jump on the bandwagon of live streaming? If so where will this lead? And what kind of conflicts will it cause if fashion is accessible for everyone rather than fashions elite? There is already controversy on the topic of bloggers Vs. editors/journalists as certain designers and editors are taking sides on the debate on who is more influential and important, being that bloggers are ordinary people with the rare few that have been thrown into the spotlight and don't really have any experience working within the world of fashion.
Online Information
We now have retail websites that enable us to shop online sat at home at the click of a button, magazines that you can find and read online without the need of taking up extra space with paper, sometimes without even the need of paying. You have unkown fashion buffs keeping blogs constantly churning out information which has created a whole new phenomenon and movement and also controversy with the bloggers that have been discovered (Such as Tavi, Bryan Boy, Susie Bubble and Lauren Sherman from Fashionista.) with the argument of "are they fashion editors?" Trend forecasting sites where you pay a subscription and you get to see predicted up and coming trends which proves that you don't even have to be a designer or editor to access this type of information, but also that there isn't the necessity of having to go into a trend forecasting agency. Now we have all this information in front of us just a Google search away.
Digital Print
Fashion is now breaking new boundaries and is faster paced than ever before, technology is being used by designers to create more intricate, more interesting and more futuristic/frenetic prints. Digital printing has been playing a big role at the moment seen at Alexander McQueens Plato's Atlantis Summer/Spring 2010 show, Mary Katrantzou who is a fairly new designer who has only had three seasons on runway uses digital print on her designs inspired by jewelery and vintage perfume bottles, and the ambassadors for print Basso & Brooke have been flying the flag for digital printing and pushing it to new dimensions for the past five years of their career. As well as technology being used for decoration purposes designers are now starting to use it in other ways to push boundaries.
Alexander McQueen S/S 2010 Mary Katrantzou S/S 2010
I feel that in a way fashion has become slightly impersonal, a tad too lazy and a bit too eager to please. I feel as if fashion has almost given in, in a sense due to the pressure that we have created because we feel the need to have information given to us quickly and when we want it. We've become too demanding and in the process of that too dependent on technology, mainly the internet. What is wrong with going into town to buy your clothes? What is wrong with walking into a shop to go buy your editorial magazines? What is wrong for waiting to hear news or see it in the media? Nothing when you think about it, it's just that we as people have become to impatient and cant wait. Nowadays you dont have to wait for your monthly editorials to keep up to date you have bloggers and magazines starting their own sites as well as social networking sites like Twitter where you can follow people as they post about their day to day lives, so you dont have to wait for your monthly vogue to hear news thats going to be a month or so old. Also the fact that fashion shows are now being streamed live means anyone can watch them it also means you dont have to belong to fashions elite among the likes of Carine Roitfeld and Anna Wintour, this in my opinion is taking away the enigmatic charm that fashion holds and the fantasy of it as people no longer have to imagine what it would be like to sit front row at a prestigious show like D&G being a major player in fashion, all you have to do is get onto You Tube. We are in the process of losing what makes fashion so great, all the mystery that surrounds the industry. I'm not saying that fashion is for a specific group of people as I think it's something that brings people together and gets them engaged with others, but I think some aspects of the industry are not for sharing with everyone. Saying that I am not completely bias and disagree with using technology to further knowledge and to push boundaries and to create something extraordinary, as I use technology everyday to better myself, to find sources and information, to find something new and to keep up to date. My work is heavily influenced by the things I look at and read and the majority of that is down to and comes from technology v.i.a the internet. Yes we've become lazy and demanding but at the same time it's a beautiful thing. For example people who use the internet and blog about fashion are voicing their opinions, getting their point across to other people around the world whether that be one person or half a million followers that flood their blog to read their daily post. Technology has brought people together, as well as it being a way for people who love fashion who might not necessarily be at the epicentre of it to keep up to date. We are always creating something new with technology within fashion whether it be a fabric, an online magazine or a new way to show a collection. But I've been questioning myself about technology in the sense of what direction it will take in fashion next, but also when will we know when it's too much?
So what are your thoughts on the influence technology has over fashion??
