Peak gorpcore fashion is in full effect. The wellness conversation has ushered in the age of highly stylized and versatile recreational apparel — technical outerwear and footwear appealing to city dwellers and adventurers alike. Tapping into the nuance of gorpcore — its inseparable ties to streetwear and the rise of genre exploration in fashion — the Lenovo Tab Wear Collection introduces performance-based outerwear that seamlessly integrates Lenovo tablets, redefining how individuals interpret wellness and exploration.
When checking off the As, Bs and Cs of wellness, the notion of self-care feels less about nurturing your inner peace and more about managing strict schedules, habitual planning and demanding regimens under the guise of self-improvement. The Lenovo Tab Wear Collection, designed to incorporate a Lenovo tablet, reimagines how individuals approach “me-time” — in all its various applications, from self-care rituals to woodsy excursions — and conveniently blends the realms of personal and professional productivity. Lenovo has made headway in the PC space for the advancement of server, storage, mobile and software solutions and services. With the Tab Wear Collection, Lenovo investigates how intertwined technology and fashion can function and how these developments foster a more inclusive, trustworthy and smarter future for everyone, everywhere.
Highlighted in the range are a noise- and light-canceling anorak, a waterproof poncho with an inflatable hammock function and a techno-armor tactical jacket — experimental silhouettes that challenge the bounds of technical outerwear. Avant-garde label Kit Wan Studios, led by futuristic-couture artist Kit Wan, Reykjavík- and London-based streetwear brand RANRA, fronted by co-founders Arnar Már Jónsson and Luke Stevens, and Amsterdam-based outdoor brand Maium fashioned the three-piece collection, artfully displaying their design ethos to poetic effect. Picturing outerwear of the future, the innovative and consciously designed prototype jackets incorporate sustainable materials that produce a low carbon footprint, in addition to hyper-versatile harnesses and detachable clip-on systems that maximize accessibility to your devices.
Luke Stevens, Creative Director of RANRA, appears in the lookbook to showcase the distinct streetwear influences and aesthetic fluidity of the RANRA anorak, where function, form and style live in unison. “It was a good opportunity to work with Lenovo. It was kind of the perfect brief that we’ve been wanting to work on for a while — the ability to think really broadly about the integration of me-time in fashion and technology,” commented Stevens and Jónsson. “Like how do you use design to improve people’s lives? It’s not about integrating elements of electronics into your clothing, but it’s thinking about things like how the piece performs. Lenovo and RANRA are both brands that focus a lot on innovation, so it was a great match.”
The lookbook imagery provides insight into RANRA’s studio and Steven’s creative process, spanning his concept ideation to the resulting anorak prototype, which features an oversized utility pocket at the front panel, a noise- and light-canceling isolation hood and an integrated tablet harness that accommodates stationary and handsfree use of your tablet.
Though novel from a conceptual standpoint, this isn’t Lenovo’s first foray into fashion. In 2022, a collaboration with Lenovo, luxury fashion house Stella McCartney and London-based art school Central Saint Martins challenged 38 MA Design students to research the symbiosis between technology and fashion. Each student ideated ways to create sustainable material and textile solutions informed by production circularity. As a leading tech giant and the world’s largest PC company, Lenovo’s strides to marry its technological footprint with eco-conscious design envision how these two mediums will continue to interact and evolve.
In this same spirit, the Tab Wear Collection embraces the contemporary city-meets-nature trend dominating the runway. Labels like Kit Wan Studios, RANRA and Maium radically transcend how and where people choose to adventure — and the lifestyle silhouettes offering them multipurpose functionality, tablets on hand or otherwise.
See RANRA’s jacket in action in the galleries above, and visit Lenovo’s website to learn more. Pre-order Maium’s “Cocoon Coat” by visiting the brand’s website.
Designer
Emily Yun