(illustration by Yiying Lu via source)
"When you have things you put on your body that have tech in them, you need to design them the way you would design things that didn’t have technology in them," observes the entrepreneur, DJ, record producer, philanthropist & frontman for The Black Eyed Peas. Who is also an Intel director of creative innovation, a design cap he recently donned to launch his new line of gender-neutral ill.i Optics by will.i.am.
Part retro-futuristic and part actual futuristic, the collection - which will be available at ill.i.am - features utility-inspired goggles, cat-eyes with a mix of matte metal and acetate, classic round tortoise frames, throwback-nerd chic and sci-fi'ish straight brows with squared-off lenses. Blending "yesterday’s sensibility with today’s aesthetic," he explained to WWD that ill.i is intended to fill the gap between the modern stuff he likes (like Linda Farrow & Dita) and the best of yesteryear (Porsche, Carrera, Persol, Gazelle).
(photo by Stefanie Keenan for WWD)
The glasses, however, are just a sneak peek of cooler stuff to come. Which he is wearing, Wonder Woman style, one on each wrist answering to the name i.am.plus. "It's a phone," he teases, noting that only when the time is right will more be revealed.
Pointing to both his glasses and wrist-phone, he observes that form should precede function. “When you have things you put on your body that have tech in them, you need to design them the way you would design things that didn’t have technology in them. That’s why we’re starting with the aesthetics, like the glasses." The aesthetic map he and his team follow leads to places like Gucci and Louis Vuitton. "The tech should be invisible," he adds. "That’s why we’re starting with the aesthetics, like the glasses."
However, the foundation on which the fashion part sits is solidly high-tech. Because the two, for will.i.am, are basically indistinguishable. "Let’s just fast-forward five years from now — you couldn’t distinguish between tech and fashion, they are all the same thing," he says. "For me there is no diff between fashion and technology."
Embracing tech and aesthetics equally is a signature of the forward-leaning Futurenetic fashion tribe that I follow. For more of my posts & podcasts about this tribe, CLICK HERE. To learn more about all the tribes I track, START HERE.
- Lesley Scott
Podcast music: Kevin MacLeod, Incompetech.com
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(photo by Stefanie Keenan for WWD)
