The wearables market is growing nearly 9 per cent a year, but for a long time, style seemed to be its stumbling block. Ingenious products, certainly, but rarely wardrobe-friendly. Now, the opposite is true. Vogue recently wrote about the rise of 'jewellery-adjacent gadgets', while The Cut says the future of wearables is 'decorative first, functional second'. At CES earlier this year, the most talked-about launches were not the biggest or the most powerful, but the most beautiful. Ear-cuff earbuds could pass for fine jewellery, power-banks were disguised as pendants and smart rings mistaken for family heirlooms.
Wearable tech works best when you barely notice that it's tech at all. Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses prove this point; iconic frames on the outside, built-in assistant on the inside. The same principle now applies to smart rings, a category exploding in both tech capability and discretion. Oura has sold over 5.5million rings. The latest whizzy models promise AI-driven illness prediction but just as exciting are the accessories giving these wearables a full makeover. Designers Steff Eleoff and Logan Hollowell create smart ring covers, transforming the devices into distinctive jewellery you'd happily wear regardless of the tech inside.
From Hermès new jacquard knit Apple Watch strap and beaded USB-C charging bracelets to AirTag charms and handbags with built-in wireless charging, the message is unmistakeable. Wearable tech can be beautiful as well as useful. If it's going to beep, track or alert, it should look good doing so.
Shop the edit of the wearables that, for once, are genuinely wearable.
Main image: Steff Eleoff
