Meta’s far-sighted fashion moment

This article on Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses is part of our Vogue Business membership package. To enjoy unlimited access to our weekly Technology Edit, which contains Member-only reporting and analysis and our NFT Tracker, sign up for membership here. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has undergone a makeover: he’s grown out his hair, gotten a tan and wears a gold chain. When he’s not posting shirtless workout pics, he’s replaced his standard grey T-shirt with streetwear. He’s also now wearing Ray-Bans. It’s no coincidence; his company is undergoing a fashion makeover, too. Meta’s smart glasses, made in partnership with Ray-Ban, debuted its second generation last year and have since emerged as the first in the fledgling smart glasses product category to show potential to go mainstream, minting Meta into an aspiring fashion company. Perhaps improbably, Meta’s glasses have garnered interest among those who might normally not be open to wearing a computer on their face. The Ray-Ban Meta glasses, first introduced as ‘Ray-Ban Stories’ in September 2021, can capture hands-free videos and photos, and can live stream via Instagram and Whatsapp; open-ear audio allows for calls and music while hearing the ambient outside world. Meta has not disclosed sales figures, but shipments have more than doubled from the first to the second quarter of this year, according to estimates from data insights firm IDC, which reports that Meta has shipped at least 700,000 pairs. This is exciting for those pursuing a long-held vision for a device that breaks through in a way that hasn’t happened since 2015’s Apple Watch. Their success depends as much on how they look as on how they behave: proponents say they pass as a version of the classic sunglasses style popularised by James Dean and Audrey Hepburn, with the only visible technology being a flashing indicator light when the glasses are capturing imagery. This comes down to partner company EssilorLuxottica, owner of Ray-Ban, which makes eyewear for brands including Burberry, Prada and Chanel. “For a little while, we were struggling to keep up with demand,” Zuckerberg said during the company’s recent Connect conference, where his oversized black tee audaciously proclaimed: “Aut Zuck, aut nihil” (a twist on the Latin for ‘All Caesar, or all nothing’). The company doesn’t share specific sales for the smart glasses. “This whole category took off a lot faster than expected,” he later added. But Zuckerberg is a tech geek at heart. During the presentation in late September, he bucked tradition by unveiling an in-progress prototype for a future generation of the glasses (pictured at top). Called Orion, the augmented reality glasses boast lenses made with custom silicon and the ability to be controlled through a “wrist-based neural interface”, via an armband. The device was introduced via a locked briefcase handcuffed to someone’s arm, and as those in the audience clapped and cheered, a video montage showed reactions from early testers. “People are giddy and don’t want to take them off,” the CEO said. While it’s a big moment for tech, for the average fashion consumer, this tech-heavy emphasis might be too much, too soon. Coupled with the prototype’s clunkier appearance, this risks complicating the message for those who simply want a stylish and convenient alternative to smartphones and headphones. The glasses still have a long way to go until mainstream adoption, and for many, the mere suggestion that fashion eyewear can take pictures, is already a leap of the imagination. This puts Meta’s next moves under pressure. It’s walking a tightrope between fashion accessory, medical device and bleeding-edge computing, hoping to carve out new behaviours while blending into everyday life. But make it fashion Because glasses are already a hybrid between medical device and fashion item, adding another layer of functionality isn’t so far-fetched, says EssilorLuxottica chief wearables officer Rocco Basilico, who still admits that the success of the second generation has been a pleasant surprise. “There are more than a billion people wearing glasses, and we did a good job in the ’90s in making glasses a fashionable item. Now, we are trying to do the same with technology,” he says. “I don’t think that we could have launched a new category in the wearables world without achieving a balance between fashion and tech.” This autumn, Meta introduced new styles and colourways; Basilico says they approached it as they would any other collection. The glasses’ software has also recently been updated with Meta’s generative artificial intelligence tool, Meta AI, which can answer questions about what wearers are looking at (available in only some regions). It will soon be able to scan QR codes or call phone numbers that people are looking at. The glasses do not currently offer any visual augmented or mixed reality effects, meaning that the actual lenses are the same as traditional sunglasses, transition lenses or prescription eyeglasses. For the everyday consumer, that ‘simplicity’ is a feature, not a bug. This came as a bit of a surprise to Zuckerberg. “I would have said that we had to wait until we had full holographic [augmented reality] glasses before they became mainstream,” he said during the event, adding that most of the time, people wearing them aren’t using ‘smart’ functionality. Even Basilico, for now, primarily uses them for phone calls (although he has started to use the AI to help identify plants). “These are features that are simple, but I think they are still magical,” Basilico says, speaking to Vogue Business. Vogue Business spoke to seven people who bought and regularly use the glasses, and all said that after being open to these smart glasses because of their aesthetic, they were most attracted to the idea of point-of-view, hands-free content. They ended up using them more because of the audio quality — the glasses let you listen to music or video that others can’t hear, without having to wear headphones. “They’re a way to get out from behind my phone and to exist in real life. I didn’t get them for the [audio], but it is one of my favourite things about them,” says Sophie Searcy, director of data science at Stitch Fix. She owns other wearables, such as the Garmin smartwatch, but when it comes to fashion-tech gadgets, she “100 per cent does not want to look like a person who is wearing those things”. Jana Bobosikova, co-founder of beauty startup Kiki, says the glasses are helpful for capturing content to showcase products to customers and vendors — she didn’t realise they play sound when she bought them, but now loves that aspect. Similarly, M7 Innovations founder Matt Maher got them to film product demos, but says the glasses are slowly starting to take over as a default device, thanks to the ability to listen to podcasts and phone calls. “They feel integrated, not like a separate device,” says Simone Berry, co-founder and CEO of People of Crypto Lab, a creative studio that develops gaming cultural projects. “Unlike using a phone, where the experience is mediated through a screen, these glasses feel like a natural extension.” Marketing invisible tech Influencers and content creators have been a part of Meta’s recent strategy to market the glasses, particularly to those who may not be early tech adopters. Last week, it hosted an event in New York for content creators to test the glasses and take home a free pair. It had a fashion display where attendees were encouraged to ask styling advice using Meta AI. Meta is also working with Instagram creators and high-profile figures to create content, such as stylist Alexander Julian, who has shared behind-the-scenes content with his followers, and Kia Marie, who has demonstrated using Meta AI to aid her in styling. It’s also tapped music artists Maluma, Erykah Badu and Coi Leray, plus athlete Coco Gauff, to share content from their points of view. Pushing user-generated content made with the glasses is a smart way to market, says Molly Burke, senior retail analyst at Software Advice. “In the same way that people got more and more excited about the iPhone any time it came out with a better camera, if Meta was able to convince content creators to make ‘point-of-view’ content, maybe the excitement would make them more popular. It’s less about how they look and more what you can do with them.” Content creator Rhyann Cope-Crosby, who has worn them to capture content during New York Fashion Week, says that both she and her husband purchased them to take photos. She doesn’t use the AI, however, because she doesn’t know how, and she’s very interested in the potential for augmented reality features. “People in my circle love them because I’m friends with a lot of influencers,” she says. “I think they’re a breakthrough and are the fashionable item of the future.” Basilico anticipates more fashion-centric appearances going forward — maybe even a runway appearance that would be reminiscent of Google Glasses’s 2013 appearance on the Diane von Furstenberg runway. The current habit of many fashion show attendees viewing the experience through their phone screens has stuck with him. “I see [the glasses] as something genuine, because you’re recording with your eyes… The first tagline for Ray-Ban Stories was ‘Live in the moment’, and the idea was introducing a device that, once you understand how to use it, will make you less connected [to your phone].” Meta is also testing the appetite for more visible tech. This autumn, it released a clear, limited-edition version of its frames that showcase the tech within. At $429, they are at least $200 more than their opaque counterparts. This risked putting the emphasis back on the technology — which was a core reason that Google Glasses ultimately failed to take off among consumers a decade ago. But in just five days, Meta's online supply sold out of the 7,500 available styles, according to Basilico. Some are now selling them on Ebay for about $1,000. Searcy and Maher point out that the clear-tech concept appeals to a specific subset of consumers who grew up with a fond memory of transparent Gameboys and phones, playing into the trending predilection for nostalgic tech. “I’m from that generation,” Basilico says (he got number “10” of the clear glasses edition). “We wanted in the beginning to hide the technology and make sure we fit it in the most iconic form factor. Now, we are more comfortable in showcasing the different components — but this version is not for everybody.” The path to Orion Since the glasses got a software update with Meta AI this spring, those interviewed by Vogue Business have mixed feelings, due in part to unfamiliarity around how to use it, fledgling capabilities and questions about data and privacy. The recent spate of stories about people using them to more easily identify people in public can’t help. Searcy mainly uses Meta AI as a bit of a party trick, while Maher finds it to be not as useful as Amazon’s AI assistant Alexa. Bobosikova says she would use the AI more if the glasses were interoperable with other generative AI models, such as those made by Anthropic or OpenAI. Berry uses it for language translations and visual descriptions of landmarks, and would love it if it could help her identify fashion, for example: “Hey Meta, who made that dress?” Though she is conscious of data privacy. “I prefer not to provide additional information that could be monetised without my consent, so I turn it off unless I know I’m going to use it,” she says. Zuckerberg has said that he thinks glasses are “the perfect form factor for AI”, and that the generative AI boom landed at an opportune time for the glasses. Basilico says that people are slowly starting to use it. “AI right now is a big word and means everything and nothing,” Basilico says, adding that for some people, the instinct with AI is to picture robots. He’s patient. “It’s going to be gradual. You can’t force people to use the glasses for advanced features if they aren’t ready.” For now, he says, the approach is to provide as many features as possible so that people have the choice. And then there’s Orion. Like a merger between the current Ray-Ban Meta glasses and a mixed reality headset, it portrays digital content upon the wearer’s field of vision. It has projectors that refract light and put holograms at different depths and sizes onto the world in front of the wearer’s view, enabling people to ‘select’ specific items they are looking at just by looking at them. “Voice is great but sometimes you’re in public,” Zuckerberg said. “I think you need a device that allows you to send a signal from your brain to a device.” Even so, this early version decidedly does not blend in. “While the focus right now is on how bulky they might look or how expensive they are to manufacture, I’m sure they are working with their fashion partners to make the frames more stylish,” says Cathy Hackl, founder of spatial computing and AI solutions firm Spatial Dynamics, who previously worked at augmented reality headset maker Magic Leap, among others. “When Zuck unveiled Orion in public, I don’t think people realised what they were seeing. In order for human eyes to see holograms, there needs to be a lightfield. Meta is starting to bend light with Orion.” But Hackl, unlike most consumers, has spent years working across mixed reality devices and the metaverse. Mainstream consumers, including fashion people, have not. The Orion prototypes risk alienating an already-unsure consumer who is still wrapping their minds around the concept of ‘spy glasses’. There’s a temptation to encourage tech-averse fashion executives to hide their eyes — for now at least. “My main concern is how these technologies might further disconnect people and contribute to a dystopian future,” Berry says. “While AR/VR opens up exciting possibilities for immersive experiences, it also brings significant challenges around data privacy and user consent.” Plus, adding digital content into one’s vision might seem counter to the unique value that early adopters enjoy. “The whole reason I like the glasses is to get out from behind my phone, and that sounds like putting my phone in front of my face permanently,” Searcy says. Maher advises luxury fashion clients, when evaluating new technologies, to consider whether they are fashionable, functional and feasible. The same metrics apply to the glasses, he says. “‘Fashionable’ for Ray-Ban Metas is no-brainer — like I will never wear my Apple Vision Pro in public because it’s like a Cybertruck on your face,” he says. “Functional means are there use-cases that can offset what you do? That’s a clear yes. And in terms of feasibility, they cost just $300 — that’s nothing. So this crosses off on all three Fs, which is super powerful.” It’s still early days. For Meta to succeed in fashion, it still needs to lean into the style side, not the tech strategy. To that end, Basilico hopes to extend the tech to other brands. “We are always open to collaborations with designers and artists. We are creating something that didn’t exist, and we need the help of fashion designers to create enthusiasm around the category.” Earlier this month, EssilorLuxottica announced the extension of its partnership with Meta Platforms into the next decade, building on a relationship that began in 2019. “It’s not like we are done and we have made it,” Basilico cautions. “It’s a very long journey.” He hopes that eventually, the tech will be ubiquitous enough to retire the term ‘smart glasses’. “At some point, it will be just glasses with superpowers.” He’s also confident in Zuckerberg’s strategy. “His vision is very clear and driven. It’s impressive that he went on stage and was explaining transition lenses at Connect — it made me smile, because [eyewear] is not really his core business. But it’s becoming his core business.” Correction: The transparent, limited-edition styles sold out online in five days, rather than sold out entirely, as a previous version stated. The price has also been updated. 8 October, 2024 Sign up to receive the Vogue Business newsletter for the latest luxury news and insights, plus exclusive membership discounts. Comments, questions or feedback? Email us at feedback@voguebusiness.com.

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