Apple iWatch Draws Tech Company into Cozy Relationship With Fashion, Hiring Former Yves St Laurent CEO
Is Apple technology prepping itself for a fashion makeover? Following rumors that Apple is planning to release an iWatch later this year, the company has hired former Yves St Laurent fashion guru Paul Deneve.
Louis Vuitton, Kate Spade, and Marc Jacobs are just a handful of fashion designers that have tapped in to the technology market, developing cases and coverings for some of their customer's favorite gadgets. But on Tuesday, Apple escorted its relationship with the fashion world to a far more intimate spot hiring former Yves St Laurent CEO Paul Deneve.
This type of relationship could have both worlds slightly concerned. From the tech standpoint, will high-end fashion interfere with functionality? From the fashion standpoint, does technology interfere with the art of designs that are beautiful but at times, useless? As Oscar Wilde once said, "All art is quite useless." Not any more, if Apple can have its way.
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If wearable technology is to be the next high-tech battle ground, drawing opponents like Apple, Samsung, and Google- then the fashion world may have to drop their stilettos and suit up. But while that statement may poke fun at one side, it's the fashionistas who complain that technology companies just aren't getting it.
"I'm desperate for some fashion sensibility to enter tech. Over the last 20 years, I've looked at a lot of ugly stuff," Margit Wennmachers, a partner at Andreessen Horowitz, said in an interview with the Business of Fashion. "For the next wave of true merging of fashion and tech, we need more companies that have a culture that celebrates both, the technical and the design talent.
Is hiring a marked fashion guru enough to prepare Apple to be the next "Fashion Star?" Only time will tell. Deneve has been hired to work on special projects for Apple CEO Tim Cook. Deneve previously worked with Apple in the 1990's.
