I don’t think I need to convince you about the videogame industry’s constant pursuit of more better processors with more better memory in the service of more better graphics which apparently translates to more better realism and somehow more better stories. But how does technology play into fashion? Fashion has a longer history than videogames, fabrics are nearly as old as humankind, and even sewing machines have been around since the end of the 18th century. Certainly RAM improvements aren’t affecting Chanel’s spring line in any meaningful way. All true—but technology is a concept we often take for granted when it settles into a quiet cultural ubiquity, when it recedes from our immediate view, like a pair of glasses, a pencil, or a hammer. Fabric, too, is a technology. Cashmere sweaters certainly do not fall off of goats, no matter whatMinecraft might lead you to believe, not to mention the extreme processing necessary to transform wood pulp into the purified cellulose fiber we know as rayon.

Nathan Altice, “Prêt-à-Jouer and Videogame Couture“