With the arrival of everything from mobile biomarker monitors to smart watches, we are well into the era of technological haute couture—or not. “Whether or not these devices are actually fashionable remains up for debate—but if history is any indication, we can expect to keep seeing wearables integrated into the style of the day,” writes Erica Schwiegershausen in New York Magazine.
She adds this observation: “With all of the recent fashion-industry hoopla around the Apple Watch, Google Glass, and other dubiously cool smartbracelets and fitness trackers, it can be easy to overlook the fact that the concept of wearable technology isn’t actually all that new.”
As evidence, she presents a slideshow of wearable tech extending back to an early 20th century acoustic headset, a 1934 “portable” stereo, and the 1977 calculator watch. You can view the slideshow here.
