Is Apple a tech company? Is it a fashion company? A tech company that increasingly acts like a fashion company? A fashion-y tech company? The answer is more uncertain than it might seem these days.
Under Tim Cook’s leadership, Apple is clearly “fashion-adjacent,” according to Max Berlinger, style journalist and New York Times contributor. Steve Jobs, with the help of Jony Ive, insisted on an elegant simplicity in the design of his computers – the 2000s iMac G4 and Power Macintosh G4 Cube are art objects – but you didn’t exactly wear them.
As Cook’s Apple continues to dominate wearables, attaching itself to our wrists (Watch) and ears (AirPods), it only makes sense that it would go after our eyes next – becoming a further extension of our bodies, ourselves, and crucially, our sense of style. How these devices look, and the status they convey, is more central than ever. “I consider Apple the most accessible luxury brand in the world,” Berlinger says, “beyond Chanel or Hermès, because a lot of people own one of their products, at least in the Western world. ”
So when I first saw the Vision Pro, Apple’s new much-hyped entry in the virtual reality market, I wasn’t so much thinking about the usual tech-y VR fascinations – three-dimensional shoot-’em-ups to play, mountains to digitally climb, or meditation retreats to attend from the comfort of home; video chats and photo and movie-watching experiences that finally approach what futuristic movies taught us to expect from 2024 (the promotional materials are very Minority Report). I was thinking about something more fundamental: How will these goggles fit into my wardrobe?
Because let’s be real: We’re not just wearing this tech for its function. We’re wearing it, on some level, to be seen wearing it.
And Apple Vision, regardless of the price tag ($3,499), will no doubt be our next accessory du jour. Its sleek styling is space-age meets loud luxury. The light yet tank-like construction is out of an industrial designer’s dream: aluminum alloy and curved laminated glass in shades of white, gray, and black, with an impressively slim profile, weighing about a half-pound less than Meta’s virtually ancient but far more affordable Quest 2 ($249). Its profile is in clear conversation with contemporary tastes: the Phoebe Philo goggle sunglasses come to mind. And the Solo Knit Band (the accessory Apple is pushing for the product’s February 2 launch) features a ribbed texture evoking the futuristic, wavy luxury sneakers of recent years – a dash of Balenciaga and, dare I say, Adidas YEEZY; earthly, primal or “anthropomorphic, like an animal spine or a fossil of a leaf,” as Berlinger puts it. And then there’s the influence of high-end, orb-like speaker systems. All of which, combined, makes the Vision Pro seem destined for Instagram fame.
***
Not unlike the Vision Pro, the Apple Watch didn’t look like a sure bet when it launched in 2015. It was a bit out-there, too duplicative of the iPhone, and too expensive. The base model was priced at a reasonable-enough $349 (roughly $450 in today’s dollars), but what many don’t remember is that the (now-defunct) Apple Watch Edition models went as high as $17,000.
When that didn’t work, Apple shifted strategy. The Apple Watch became ubiquitous, in part, when the company cleverly opened itself to fashion brands. Every designer from Michael Kors to Ted Baker started producing Watch bands. The $349 Hermès Single Tour 41mm Bridon band, in particular, earned feverish adoration among the fashion elite, drawing lines and selling out, whether in the brand’s signature orange or (even better) the gorgeous navy, gris, and orange braided colorway.
Then celebrities cemented Apple accessories’ prestige: everyone from Pharrell to Jennifer Aniston sporting the telltale Apple Watch, flawlessly incorporated into their looks; Lil Buck’s gravity-defying dancing in the first AirPods TV ad in 2017; the earbuds’ seamless streetwear appeal; the eventual anti-AirPods micro-trend of It Girls (Bella Hadid, Lily-Rose Depp, Dua Lipa) flaunting their throwback wired pairs as… authenticity? Fast-forward, hefty AirPods Max cans are the latest must-have accessory, bridging the Timothée Chalamet-Sarah Jessica Parker generational divide. It’s all a little exhausting to recount, but sure enough, Apple has seduced nearly every kind of cool kid out there.
Will the Vision Pro slide so easily into that same A-list zone? Will Pharrell really be seen out wearing $3,000-plus VR goggles as a… flex? Maybe, maybe not.
The headset’s main challenge as an accessory is that, well, wearing one on the sidewalk would be ridiculous. “I think until there are uses that feel more public-facing, it won’t really be an everyday accessory,” Berlinger adds. “Utility is key when it comes to fashion—you can’t wear something that isn’t functional just because it looks cool. However, I trust that the minds at Apple are thinking of the many ways in which this product can integrate.”
The early buzz around the Vision Pro indicates that if any pair of goggles can integrate, it’ll be Apple’s.
A colleague who has tested the Vision Pro twice describes its advantage over the Meta Quest as “night and day.” He was actually freaked out by the hologram-like phasing in of people’s faces as you talk to them. The 3D spatial video feature allows you to essentially relive other people’s memories as if they were your own.
“This is very Black Mirror in real life,” he says.
Apple’s deep connections to the entertainment industry offer maybe the most tantalizing possibilities. A collaboration with Disney+, the House of Mouse’s first step into the metaverse, opens up endless opportunities from Pixar, Avatar, and Star Wars to sports via ESPN — all beamed in ultra-high-resolution packing 23 million pixels across two displays, more than a 4K TV, directly into your brain. The Vision Pro can even transform your room’s lighting, or your perception of it, synced to a movie’s mood, not conjuring new worlds so much as bending the very reality around you.
Meanwhile, designers are considering their own way in. The real opportunity in the Vision Pro, Berlinger says, “is its potential for custom options. I think everyone will be making a version of [the headband] at some point, should the Vision Pro pick up steam.” Accessory brands are already starting: Brandwerk has a line of luxury Vision Pro bands ($159), crafted in Germany with Italian leather.
Once again, Hermès might not be far behind. If the Vision Pro’s tech can break through with a sophisticated, high-income group (hey, these are expensive goggles!) and signal a prized exclusivity, the brands will follow.
“People want to be branded (hence logo sunglasses) and brands want to be on people’s faces,” Berlinger says. “And the AirPods are so small they don't really have the chance to welcome third parties to the table, so this market could be huge.”
For now, Apple must prove the masses want, even need, a Vision Pro in their lives. If so, they’ll happily be branded.
