LAST WORD
The fashionable jobs
Before Apple, the computer was so not fashionable - a bulky electronic invention that you need to carry in what was marketed as ''laptop cases''.
Before Steve Jobs, the worlds of digital technology and style were miles apart. Music insiders can say the iPod and iTunes have changed the face of the music industry, completely. The same can partly be applied to fashion - Jobs changed the way people related to their electronic devices, which in turn impacted on the fashion world.
As Gary Liberson wrote in Huffpost Tech, ''We talk a great deal about the innovations Steve Jobs has brought to society, yet we often don't step back and see his greatest innovation: aesthetics.'' The electronics extraordinaire refused to compromise design for function - and above all, managed to channel such vision into the market, creating a public demand for electronic devices that look great and accentuate the owner's style.
This, coincidentally, is the core value of all fashion brands. Jobs pioneered the ''IT'' bag culture of the digital world - something that the owners were proud to carry and use in any urban coffee shop. What's most important is that, unlike the ''IT'' bag, which is a luxurious excess, you won't feel guilty using a Macbook to define your style since it's a functional equipment.
It is this change in perception of electronic gadgets that heralded some key changes in fashion trends. From the era when you would hide your bulky laptop to the age when all Apple users are proud to flash their devices, a bag that responds to such behavioural change came to the mind of fashion designers, hence the revival of the ''tote'' bag.
Free from zip closure or padlock, the shopping totes answer the need to reveal the contents of the bag - your iPod, Macbook or even iPad. Even the current trend of oversized men clutches is partly due to the rise of the iPad that allows you to travel light with everything you need for a day's work contained inside that gorgeous tablet.
With such attention to design and aesthetics in Apple products being calculatedly channelled to the world as Apple's statement, Jobs managed to offer Apple users a mutual, perceived character as ''those who care about design and aesthetics as much as function''.
The act of swiping the iPad screen for serious professional purposes (rather playing games or checking Facebook) is similar to old-school reporters who take notes in a Moleskine reporter's notebook - it screams ''style''.
Surely those who care about design and aesthetics this much demand similarly stylish accessories to complement their gadgets, and fashion brands spotted the opportunity in the market right away. Cases for iPods, Macbooks and iPads have become mandatory entries in accessories' lines for all fashion brands offering leather goods.
This, however, embraces not only the fashion-conscious Apple users but also general users of Apple who are given a chance to flash fashion brand logos without the need to go for expensive fashion main lines. You can flash a Fendi iPhone case costing only a few thousand baht instead of going for a 5-digit handbag.
Fashion consumer products aside, the presence of Steve Jobs as computer geek-turned-digital visionary has brought back the long-despised nerd/geek trend in fashion. Whether it's premeditated or not, his dress sense transpires function, which is the keyword for all Apple products.
Jobs was so not fashion, yet the charisma of the man behind all the oh-so fashionable gadgets make the black turtleneck-jeans-and-trainers combo, like all his inventions, so very fashionable.
And yes, the familiar sight of the bespectacled man in black turtleneck and denim carrying the world's newest technological gizmo that would in no time become the global object of desire at the launch of Apple devices will be sorely missed.
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