The Runway That's Literally Glowing
If you thought the biggest fashion statement this year would be another "quiet luxury" moment, think again. The runways of Paris have been transformed into sci-fi wonderlands where clothes don't just drape, they pulse, glow, and in one mind-blowing case, they're actually alive.
Let me paint you a picture of what's been happening on the catwalks lately. We've been living in the most exciting era of fashion and technology since someone decided to put a computer in our pockets and call it a phone.
But before we dive into today's digital dreams, let's take a moment to appreciate that fashion has always been the rebel of the creative world. This industry has never been content to just dress bodies; it's been obsessed with pushing boundaries, questioning norms, and asking "what if?" in the most spectacular ways possible.
Think about it: fashion gave us the first wearable art when Elsa Schiaparelli collaborated with Salvador Dalí in the 1930s, creating surreal pieces like the infamous lobster dress. It dared to put zippers on the outside when they were meant to be hidden. Fashion made us question gender norms with Yves Saint Laurent's Le Smoking tuxedo for women, and it literally defied gravity with Rei Kawakubo's architectural Comme des Garçons creations.
The relationship between fashion and technology isn't new either; it's just gotten more sophisticated. Remember Pierre Cardin's space-age designs of the 1960s? Those weren't just aesthetic choices; they were fashion's way of processing the technological optimism of the era. The man was literally designing clothes for a future where we'd all be living on the moon (we're still waiting on that, by the way).
Fashion was experimenting with actual technology way before Silicon Valley made it cool. Back in 1967, while the world was grooving to "All You Need Is Love," designer Diana Dew was literally lighting up New York's hottest nightspots with her "electroluminescent dresses" garments with built-in plastic lamps that could pulse and glow, powered by portable battery packs. She'd stroll into venues wearing what basically amounted to a wearable light show, complete with siren noises. Talk about making an entrance!
The '60s and '70s saw fashion designers treating their craft like a laboratory. There were paper dresses meant to be worn once and thrown away, Paco Rabanne's chainmail creations from metal discs, and space-age designs that channelled our Mars colonisation dreams. It was fashion's way of saying, "If we're going to colonise other planets, we're going to look fabulous doing it."
The Screen Queens: Anrealage's Digital Dreams
Picture this: You're sitting in a cathedral in Paris (because where else would you witness a fashion miracle?), and suddenly models are walking toward you wearing what looks like... well, broken TV screens. But wait, those screens aren't broken, they're alive. The pixels are dancing, colors are morphing, and you realize you're watching fashion's equivalent of a digital fireworks show.
This is exactly what happened at Anrealage's Fall/Winter 2025 show, where Japanese designer Kunihiko Morinaga basically turned the runway into a tech lover's fever dream. His "SCREEN" collection featured dresses embedded with thousands of tiny LED balls, imagine Times Square billboard technology somehow woven into wearable art.
Each dress came equipped with its own battery pack and sensor system, allowing the backstage crew to control the light patterns remotely. The result? Models strutted down the runway wearing kaleidoscopic tartans that shifted and morphed with each step, creating new patterns in real-time. It was like watching a video game come to life, except the avatars were stunning models in haute couture.
The technology itself is proprietary to Anrealage, developed in collaboration with Japanese tech studio MPLUSPLUS.
Morinaga's inspiration wasn't some futuristic AI concept. He drew from something delightfully retro: those sandwich board signs that street advertisers used to wear. "Before the design was always fixed, but now we can move the design," he explained through a translator. Sometimes the most revolutionary ideas come from the most beautifully simple observations.
The Living Dress: Fashion Becomes Biology
But if you think LED dresses are impressive, wait until you hear about what Dutch designer Iris van Herpen just unveiled at Paris Haute Couture Week. Are you ready for this? She created a dress that's literally, actually, scientifically alive.
Van Herpen's "Sympoiesis" collection opened with a show-stopping moment that redefined what we think clothes can be. Her opening look was a dress made from 125 million living bioluminescent algae (Pyrocystis lunula, for you science enthusiasts out there). These tiny organisms were cultivated in seawater baths with nutrient gel over several months, then carefully embedded into a protective membrane that formed the dress.
The magic happens when the dress moves, the algae respond to motion by emitting a soft, ethereal glow. It's like wearing a piece of the ocean's own light show. Van Herpen herself described it as "cultivated rather than constructed," which honestly might be the most poetic description of a garment I've ever heard.
Working with biodesigner Chris Bellamy, van Herpen created what she calls a "first-of-its-kind living look." The dress requires care like a living organism because, well, it is one. This isn't just fashion; it's a symbiotic relationship between wearer and garment that challenges everything we thought we knew about clothing.
Fashion's Tech Renaissance
What's absolutely thrilling about these developments is how they represent a fundamental shift in how we think about clothing. Fashion has always been about expression, but now we're moving into an era where our clothes can literally express themselves.
The implications are staggering. Imagine a world where your outfit could:
Change colours based on your mood (hello, mood ring dress!)
Display customisable patterns that refresh throughout the day
Respond to environmental factors like temperature or sound
Even helps monitor your health through integrated sensors
Van Herpen's biologically-inspired approach also speaks to something deeper, our relationship with sustainability and the natural world. As she put it, "This collection is a collaboration with nature itself."
What This Means for Fashion's Future
We're standing at the threshold of a new era in fashion, one where the line between clothing and technology, between artificial and natural, becomes beautifully blurred.
The fashion industry has often been criticised for its environmental impact, but innovations like these point toward possibilities we've barely begun to explore. Could we see clothing that purifies the air as we wear it? Garments that harness solar energy? Outfits that automatically adapt to weather conditions?
Both Anrealage and van Herpen are showing us that the future of fashion involves fundamentally reimagining what clothes can be and do. And honestly, that future looks absolutely brilliant.
I can't help but feel we're witnessing fashion history in the making. These designers aren't just creating clothes; they're creating experiences, starting conversations, and pushing the boundaries of what's possible.
The next time someone tells you fashion is frivolous, show them a dress that glows with living algae or morphs its patterns in real time. Fashion has always been about transformation; it's just getting literal about it.
The future is here, it's wearable, and it's absolutely glowing.
Want to see these innovations in action? Check out the video coverage from Anrealage's SCREEN collection and Iris van Herpen's Sympoiesis show to witness the magic for yourself.
What do you think about fashion's tech revolution? Are you ready for clothing that responds to your every move? Share your thoughts.