Interesting article about the iPad and fashion. The latest WeAre magazine features Chris&Tibor and the collaboration collection with Walter Van Beirendonck.

“Since the iPad’s electrifying appearance, the fashion world has also been changing. The first thing designers thought about was how this new gadget can be carried in a stylish way. Some of the first responses to this question were the striking Gucci iPad case arranged with the GG logo and the Louis Vuitton iPad etui, whose initial stock supply has already sold out. Another creative iPad carrying style was displayed by Walter Van Beirendonck. With his 2011 spring/summer collection entitled Hope, he unveiled backpacks in alligator and robot shapes and iPad cases with the W logo in collaboration with Chris&Tibor. The trend of incorporating the iPad into the unveiling of new creations is also accelerating. The iPad cannot handle the web animation technology Flash, but on short notice Burberry Prorsum and Giorgio Armani managed, for the spring/summer 2011 Milan menswear show, to make real-time distribution through the iPad possible. At that same Milan Fashion Week, Dolce&Gabbana held an exhibition celebrating its 2011 menswear anniversary. At this venue 28 iPads were simply lined up, so that when visitors touched them, they were able to turn the pages of the new photo book ‘20 Years of Dolce & Gabbana for Men’ and read it at the exhibition. Tommy Hilfiger used this method in a similar way at the Bread & Butter trade show. Inside a giant sophisticated booth, there were no clothes; it served rather as a station housing eight iPads, where customers could view the entire collection and then place their orders. Now even for products that are not physically in a certain location, if you have an iPad, you can easily see pictures of them just by the touch of your fingertips. This has a high utility value even on the sales floor. Fred Perry’s Tokyo Harajuku location was quick to introduce the iPad to the store, using an application that enables viewing of the digital catalog, which is also useful for sales promotion activities. Going forward these kinds of trends with the iPad are sure to spread rapidly. Because the iPad has an intuitive operability and a large, easily visible screen, it has hidden potential to become popular among a wide variety of age groups. It looks like iPad applications might become indispensible to the future of fashion.”