Can the two worlds of fashion and technology really merge? It's mid London Fashion Week and between the coffee fuelled catwalks, relentless instagramming and the legendary parties, there is another topic on the agenda – the fashion laboratories of the future and the integration of the fashion and tech sectors.

Over the past few years, I have seen the introduction of wearable technology, 3D printers and holograms into the industry. We are seeing the move from niche to main stream; recently Net-A-Porter's popular zine - Porter has lead the way for click-through-to-buy fashion editorial and this year's Consumer Electronics Show was dominated by wearables.

The initial trend was lead by the black rubber bracelet look, aimed at the male market – cue the jawbone UP, FitBit or Atlas which are now common place and an integrated part of people’s fitness and wellness regimes. But can the quantified self movement shift over from sports market to highstreet fashion or couture design?

Taking a look over at catwalks, tech has dominated the headlines for Fashion Week, whether it be the introduction of Moda Operandi making it possible for users to order clothes within hours of them first being seen on the catwalk or Topshop collaborating with Google so that the online audience get a ‘models' eye view’ of everything, including stepping out onto the catwalk from backstage.

The integration of tech on the catwalk, wearable tech in the gym and major designers teaming up with tech companies... has been adopted by the mainstream but an interesting progression we are now seeing is technology companies having their gadgets sewn into clothes to form hi-tech garments.

My favourite piece from this year’s Fashion Week so far... has been the Fyodor Golan and Nokia skirt. The innovative skirt was designed by the Fashion Fringe winners and created by Kin, and uses static pictures captured by the phone, or live feeds on the 35 screens that adorn it – that allow it to change around the wearer and their day. Images on the screens change colour as the skirt moves, creating a shimmer effect simulating the realistic tactile character of actual fabric. This is achieved through a purpose built app that utilises global positioning to ensure the shimmer happens in line with the model's movement.

Another movement which is here to stay is... tech seamlessly integrating with our wardrobes. We see this in an effort made by Google Glass to make their Titanium Collection. There is one thing that's for sure; the gap between technology and fashion is closing fast and with advances being made in intelligent textiles - expect the integration to be quite literally seamless.

Izzy Lawrence

15 February 2014