Global Fashion/Tech Icon Reflects On Home

As fashion and technology continue to merge, one Traverse City native is at the epicenter of that convergence. Anina -- model turned fashion maven turned blogger turned tech entrepreneur – was recently back in her hometown and chatted with The Ticker.

“I always grew up with technology,” she says, who also says her brothers “went to code camp at Pathfinder” and she thought nothing of always being around computers, math and science. “I played corporation as a kid – I didn’t play house,” she says with a laugh.

While she maintained her interest in the scientific world, Anina found her way into the fashion industry, modeling across the world – but never lost her fascination with technology. "In 2005, when I introduced mobile blogging to the fashion industry, no one knew what I was talking about,” she told the Sydney Morning Herald back in 2011. She was even asked -- told, really -- by her modeling agency to stop blogging about technology.

That didn’t faze her. Instead, Anina found her way to China; in 2009 she was named "China’s top foreign model" and was able to combine her interests, creating lighted strips of LED lights to be sewn into fabrics for dresses, scarves, and purses. Since then she’s worked with Nokia, Samsung, IBM and Microsoft, and partnered with Intel to create “smart gloves.”

She’s come to be known as much for her events marrying fashion and technology as her own modeling. She’s put on several events in China and in the U.S. where models have displayed robotic dresses and lighted clothing and accessories.

For those who wonder who needs a lighted scarf or a dress that moves, she’s ready with several examples.

“The shop windows in New York at Christmas do very elaborate displays. Halloween costumes, or theatre and dance, where they can have one (costume) out of the box. Cosplay (short for costume play, where people dress up as characters from film or comics). Even on the runway, where someone can easily blow $30,000,” she says.

Anina also extolls the virtues of lighted accessories that can pull double duty, either as daily and fashion clothing or even combining fashion and safety features. “People have busy lifestyles. If clothing could … transform from work to ball-gown, there’s no fairy godmother needed.”

She also cites conditions in China, where rentable bicycles are plentiful, but not without certain dangers. Enter lighted clothing.

“The urban mobility scarf by Janelle Judy is a beautiful fashion item. Now you need additional visibility and it can strobe or flash. All the biking reflective gear is specifically geared toward when I want to ride a bike. I just want to get from A to B safely.” She says such clothing is also useful for those whose work schedules find them leaving or returning in the dark.

She cites another fashion/tech trend, noting, “LED ribbons are taking off. The beauty of it is it attracts women who were allergic to technology. Now it’s approachable.”

Casting even further afield, Anina believes such convergence could influence prosthetics. It could, for instance, enable someone who is missing a limb to 3D-print one that is both fashionable equipped with advanced technology.

Anina seems envision modeling as a means to an end. “TV, 16 Magazine, etc. – there’s a lot of visibility, and it doesn’t mean anything,” she says. But if she can use that visibility to make tech cool, that’s more important, she says. “Maybe more girls and women would want to get into technology.”

And though she loves fashion, Anina doesn’t fancy being a designer herself. “I want to create platforms to make it easier for them (designers) to create,” she says.

Since returning to her home state, Anina has met with government and manufacturing reps. “I had great meetings in Lansing with Pure Michigan,” she says. She says China is upgrading its manufacturing sector, and sees opportunities locally and regionally for similar investments closer to home. “Why could we not do the same thing here?” she asks. “I think Traverse City is a great place to start e-commerce."

She also notes she’s excited to hear news of an effort near her hometown to prompt more people to create. Discussing the national maker movement, including the fledgling group based in Fife Lake, she says, “The Fife Lake maker community got so excited. I see this over and over” in her travels.

PICTURED: LED Bag by LIBET/bag photo by Marc Woudenberg