Wearables: Tech/Fashion; Masculine/Feminine

Abstract

Abstract Wearable technology is supposedly the next big thing. Nevertheless, half of Americans who purchase wearable devices abandon them within six months. I make two observations. First, the technology industry has a woman problem: it is so overwhelmingly male as to suggest institutional misogyny. Second, it has a fashion problem: tech leaders present an image not merely of non-fashion, but anti-fashion. I suggest these two are closely linked to its failure to convince the general public that it wants to wear technology. Fashion is often disparaged as frivolous, largely because it is (correctly) identified as feminine. However, speculative theory argues that the function of fashion is not merely to express, but to help create personality. It is part of what makes us human. Relying on Hegelian philosophy, this article explores the parallel roles of law and fashion in creating subjectivity. It then turns to Lacan’s theory of sexuation to suggest one reason for wearable technology’s mixed showing to date. Because the Lacanian subject is always sexuated, wearable technology will not succeed as a consumer product until it is designed from the feminine position – not as technology that can be worn, but as fashion that contains technology.