Earlier today at Dia: Chelsea, Opening Ceremony hosted the first public media event for MICA, the Intel-engineered luxury bracelet that, despite its precious jewelry guise, doubles as an untethered tech accessory.
You may remember catching headlines about MICA back in September. In the NYT story "Tech, Meet Fashion," reporter Nick Bilton was one of the first to describe MICA's luxe details, writing that "this genre of ugly [wearable tech] could be on the precipice of change." He goes on to say that, through partnerships between tech companies and fashion-focused ones like Opening Ceremony, the days of both beauty and brain—in wearable speak—could be nigh.
"I'll be the shallow one and say, it's really, really chic. The tech aspect is definitely a bonus," remarked Eva Chen, Lucky's Editor-In-Chief and moderator of today's panel discussion, admiring the MICA on her wrist. Joining her on stage were OC's founders Carol Lim and Humberto Leon, Ayse Ildeniz, Intel's VP of New Devices, and Tomoko Ogura, Senior Fashion Director of Barneys.
The talk, similar to the crowd, pogoed between form to function.
On MICA's form. "First and foremost, we wanted to create something to exist inside a jewelry case; something precious that would attract you by the way it looks, and then the forms and features," said Carol. With that, MICA, which took 11 months to create, was designed in two styles—white snakeskin, studded with tiger's eye and obsidian, and black snakeskin, with lapis and pearls. Flip the wrist and the user finds a discreet, curved sapphire screen ("In Silicon Valley, our engineers had a heart attack," said Ayse, of OC's unusual "curved" request). Both iterations are finished in 18k gold and a snap closure—remiscent of something Elizabeth Taylor might have fidgeted with in one of her movies.
On MICA's function. It has nothing to do with your smartphone. AT&T assigns a SIM card to each MICA and provides international 3G coverage so it operates as a free agent—no "pairing device now," no bluetooth needed. And no, it doesn't "talk" to you, it doesn't play music, it doesn't count calories or steps, it doesn't monitor your pulse. It does send you text messages (from your own, curated list of VIPs), calendar alerts synced to Gmail and Facebook, and email from up to two Gmail accounts. Between each charge, MICA lasts for about 48 hours. "Aside from aesthetics, we wanted function," said Humberto. "We wanted to know how something could be useful to the modern person—and it's exciting to see how it can fit, seamlessly, into multiple persons wardrobes."
"It's for the woman on the go," said Ayse. With that in mind, a team of Bay Area engineers created several high-performing, curated functions: navigation via GPS (courtesy of Yelp and TomTom, meaning with the tap of the screen, a wearer can find out how close they are, down to the exact minute, to a specific Thai restaurant or store). Text messages and canned replies to your BFF or amour du jour. It even goes as far as allowing you to set specific programming in the portal—so if you're a walker versus a cyclist, your alerts know (i.e. 20 minutes versus ten to get to that 6 PM yoga session).
After the panel, guests were invited to chat in various corners of the room, with OC gal pals all armed with MICAs: model-entrepreneur Lily Kwong, Madonna's fitness trainer Nicole Winhoffer, DJ Kitty Cash, the founder of MADE Jenne Lombardo, and digital artist, Jeanette Hayes. "We need more girl-specific tech; we need to be champio
You may remember catching headlines about MICA back in September. In the NYT story "Tech, Meet Fashion," reporter Nick Bilton was one of the first to describe MICA's luxe details, writing that "this genre of ugly [wearable tech] could be on the precipice of change." He goes on to say that, through partnerships between tech companies and fashion-focused ones like Opening Ceremony, the days of both beauty and brain—in wearable speak—could be nigh.
"I'll be the shallow one and say, it's really, really chic. The tech aspect is definitely a bonus," remarked Eva Chen, Lucky's Editor-In-Chief and moderator of today's panel discussion, admiring the MICA on her wrist. Joining her on stage were OC's founders Carol Lim and Humberto Leon, Ayse Ildeniz, Intel's VP of New Devices, and Tomoko Ogura, Senior Fashion Director of Barneys.
The talk, similar to the crowd, pogoed between form to function.
On MICA's form. "First and foremost, we wanted to create something to exist inside a jewelry case; something precious that would attract you by the way it looks, and then the forms and features," said Carol. With that, MICA, which took 11 months to create, was designed in two styles—white snakeskin, studded with tiger's eye and obsidian, and black snakeskin, with lapis and pearls. Flip the wrist and the user finds a discreet, curved sapphire screen ("In Silicon Valley, our engineers had a heart attack," said Ayse, of OC's unusual "curved" request). Both iterations are finished in 18k gold and a snap closure—remiscent of something Elizabeth Taylor might have fidgeted with in one of her movies.
On MICA's function. It has nothing to do with your smartphone. AT&T assigns a SIM card to each MICA and provides international 3G coverage so it operates as a free agent—no "pairing device now," no bluetooth needed. And no, it doesn't "talk" to you, it doesn't play music, it doesn't count calories or steps, it doesn't monitor your pulse. It does send you text messages (from your own, curated list of VIPs), calendar alerts synced to Gmail and Facebook, and email from up to two Gmail accounts. Between each charge, MICA lasts for about 48 hours. "Aside from aesthetics, we wanted function," said Humberto. "We wanted to know how something could be useful to the modern person—and it's exciting to see how it can fit, seamlessly, into multiple persons wardrobes."
"It's for the woman on the go," said Ayse. With that in mind, a team of Bay Area engineers created several high-performing, curated functions: navigation via GPS (courtesy of Yelp and TomTom, meaning with the tap of the screen, a wearer can find out how close they are, down to the exact minute, to a specific Thai restaurant or store). Text messages and canned replies to your BFF or amour du jour. It even goes as far as allowing you to set specific programming in the portal—so if you're a walker versus a cyclist, your alerts know (i.e. 20 minutes versus ten to get to that 6 PM yoga session).
After the panel, guests were invited to chat in various corners of the room, with OC gal pals all armed with MICAs: model-entrepreneur Lily Kwong, Madonna's fitness trainer Nicole Winhoffer, DJ Kitty Cash, the founder of MADE Jenne Lombardo, and digital artist, Jeanette Hayes. "We need more girl-specific tech; we need to be champio