Andy Laub

Within the last week new issues of both Wired and GQ both showed up, and both included the same Fashion Rocks supplement. An interesting read, but it got me thinking about how close the too are in terms of both content and feel.

Back in the 90’s, Wired was strictly a magazine for nerds. I don’t mean that negatively, but it’s true. I never felt smart enough to read it, but maybe that’s because I was in high school and didn’t know what was going on anyway.

Similarly, GQ always had an unapproachable air about it; I’d never be gentlemanly or fashionable enough to be a GQ reader! It’s so… hoity toity.

Now though, everything’s completely crossed. Nerds read GQ, fashionistas read Wired, and I read both. Furthermore, it’s become more and more apparent that one person can actually be both and this is acceptable in modern society. That makes me happy.

I think a lot of this stems from the fact that certain pieces of gadgetry have crossed the boundary from being purely functional to being fashionable as well; it’s cool to be in the crowd that owns them.

At the same time, we’re seeing certain pieces of fashion take a more technological approach. Shoes are the best example of this. Nike shoes are the best example of this, and they use the technology as a selling point. This is not to say that everything in both worlds will eventually overlap completely; suits will continue to be sold based purely on appearance and servers will continue to be sold based purely on their tech, but it’s nice to see that the overlap exists.

There are a few companies that thrive in this overlap. They’re the tech companies that it’s cool to buy from or the apparel companies that are secretly nerd havens. I suspect we’ll be seeing more and more as time goes on.