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Key Takeaways:
- Designer Christian Cowan showcased the first-ever completed interactive garment using Adobe’s Primrose technology during New York Fashion Week – challenging the idea that technology should be practical and understated.
- At the same time, Coach and Pantone have emphasised the importance of sustainability, and that fashion week is an ideal platform to promote it.
- This tension between technological spectacle and sustainability raises questions about the future of fashion, particularly when it comes to big events. Ultimately, both can coexist – offering a potential pathway to a more technologically-focused, sustainable industry that still has the element of spectacle that has long defined fashion.
This past week, all eyes have been on New York City, where the fall/winter 2024 fashion week concluded on Wednesday. And this season, instead of smart contracts and crypto wallets, fashion has moved on to technology that is tangible – and bold about it.
The move towards tangible tech in fashion is not new (we saw subtle tech wearables on the runway at Coperni) but the understated has now been replaced with the audacious and extravagant, with Christian Cowan presenting the first-ever completed wearable garment powered by Adobe’s Primrose technology at his show. The interactive dress uses tech we were introduced to as part of Adobe’s Project Primrose back in October 2023, and consists of 1,264 laser-cut and handworked polymer dispersed liquid crystal petals that shift and flip their appearance with movement.The material can be programmed to change pattern, colour, and style all while being worn, through generative AI that’s controlled by a button or in response to movement. The lower part of the dress has 14 pieces of shiny stars in silver. These celestial motifs are classic Cowan which, he told Vogue, also serve as an homage to his late father. “[As a kid] he would get me under the telescope, and we’d look at these little white twinkles in the night sky. You’d imagine these infinite possibilities and galaxies, and I think I’ve now found that joy in fashion. You can take a sewing machine, some fabric, and some thread – and there can be endless opportunities and outcomes.”
This whole thing is not far off from Schiaparelli’s most recent show in Paris, which showcased designer Daniel Roseberry and the Schiaperelli family’s fascination with space and the possibility of life existing beyond our planet through intricately embellished, vintage technology-laden pieces.
Clearly, there is a movement towards technology being more than just something practical. It is showing up in fashion as flamboyant, as playful, as entertaining. As a manifestation of dreams of designers and the houses they create for. But, at the same time, contrasting ideas are in motion – and in close proximity too.
Pantone, the global colour authority and provider of professional colour standards for the design industries, recently released its fall/winter 2024-2025 palette for New York Fashion Week. The palette comprises ten standout colours and five new core classics that we can expect to see as fashion designers introduce their new collections. Included are a spectrum of reddish tones, rich and cooling blues, a lush green, and a delicious purple. The palette is described by Pantone as “fun but also functional” and “essential but not un-exciting.” The colours are said to be “self-assured” and exude a “no muss, no fuss demeanour.” With the collection’s natural pigments, warm tones, and neutrals – the earthy feel intended to highlight a deepening connection to nature, mirroring consumers’ deepening concern for the environment. Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, said the colours provide longevity and seasonless style. “Functional and adaptable, they are reliable and robust, servicing our increasingly hybridised style of living, providing a strong chromatic foundation and at the same time delivering playful and energetic accents for moments of magic.”
She captures the tension currently playing out in the fashion industry when it comes to technology: one must choose between the functional and adaptable versus the playful, the energetic, and the magic.
Can the seemingly opposing ideas be executed at the same time?
Coach designer Stuart Vevers hints that this might not be possible, stating that fashion shows should be to highlight sustainability, given that “social media serves up fresh trends to everyone’s phone every day of the year.” This is part of a new direction for the brand, who recently tapped into the world of excess-materials-first design, with a separate sub-brand called Coachtopia. Coach’s main brand is also emphasising sustainability at design-level – a burden not to be placed on the shoulders of factories and suppliers – with Coach’s fall/winter 2024 show using upcycled leather and denim, and the cotton sourced supporting regenerative farming projects. To top it all off, Vevers says the thing that many fashion professionals, activists, policy makers, and consumers may have been waiting to hear from big brands: “I’m not interested in escapism, I’m interested in the future. I spend a lot of time looking forward.”
So who will win this battle between reality – being the very real threat of climate change and how the fashion industry needs to adapt – and escapism? Can we have a fashion industry that offers spectacle and entertainment, and is sustainable?
It’s…possible. As Vevers puts it: “Sustainability is not just about being responsible, it’s about creating something that is truly beautiful and lasting.” This is also the vision that Cowan had, declaring that he was instantly inspired by the potential of Adobe’s Primrose technology, particularly because of its potential for sustainability given its ability to create multiple iterations of a singular garment. So even though seemingly antithetical, maybe both can exist at the same time for a more technologically-focused sustainable future that still has the magic that has always been associated with fashion.
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