5G meets high fashion: Why luxury designers are rethinking their creative process – with skins augmented for the digital space

One evening at the beginning of February, British television and radio presenter Maya Jama graced the 73rd British Academy Film Awards red carpet in what looked like a floor-length, powder blue gown. To the naked eye, the Richard Malone-designed look draped across her body with a nod to Grecian style and flair.

Minutes later, as Jama appeared on the big screen, onlookers realised that it was, in fact, the world’s first 5G-powered augmented reality dress, which came alive and transformed into a teal-coloured, digital creation that morphed and moved as she interacted with it.

Could Malone’s creation be a glimpse of what the future of high fashion will look like?

As our challenges of conscious consumption continues, luxury designers are having to rethink every aspect of their creative process – from concept and creation to production and output. Pairing this with the growing influence of digital, fashion houses and designers alike are thinking beyond physical to create new levels of interest using digital methods. This has become especially true since the coronavirus outbreak which has locked most customers down at home.

“I was excited by the potential of marrying two completely different worlds,” says the London-based designer. “I hoped to highlight a possible shift in red carpet dressing and a way of making technology useful in terms of image.”

Karinna Nobbs, futurist and founder of Hot Second, a circular economy concept store and platform that trades physical garments for digital experiences, agrees.

“Luxury brands will create products and marketing which flirts with both these groups [physical and digital],” she says. “The future will be about convergence and merging of the two worlds. We will see this polarisation of old-school traditional luxury, which is more analogue and physical, and new generation luxe, which is hyper digital.”