VFILES, a New York Web portal, is a clearinghouse for digital fashion, a social network for all aspects of the burgeoning tech fashion industry. They’re the source for Lady Gaga’s flying dress, Volantis, and Azealia Banks’s “mermaid bra,” both by Studio XO. They’re now collaborating on bringing the clothes to the public.
The Volantis flying dress has gotten a lot of media play without ever being used in an actual performance. “Dress” might be stretching it a bit; it’s a platform with what looks like a molded plastic white dress and the Lady herself is wearing a motorcycle helmet. However, it does fly.
Now the XO and VFILES are collaborating on tech fashion for audience wear rather than performance wear with the upcoming VFILES_XO collection.
Although they are being tightlipped with any details about the collection, VFILES founder Julie Anne Quay thinks it’s time for fashion and wearable technology to become better acquainted.
“I think as the VFILES community is young and very tech aware it’s important that we acknowledge that wearable tech will have an effect on how we dress and how we live in the very near future. It’s also important to address wearable tech from a fashion standpoint as opposed to a biometric one, which is what so much of the wearable tech emphasis is on right now.”
Maybe it is time for some tech fashion for the rest of us. How many of us, after all, really want a bra that lights up to music or a plastic flying dress? Well, OK, maybe some of us. But not for work.