Every year at New York Fashion Week (NYFW), it’s increasingly evident how technology is digitizing the fashion world with innovations spanning electrified dresses to virtual reality (VR) runway experiences. Beneath the fashion-tech trend is growing number of interconnections between leaders in the fashion and gaming industries. “The gaming fashion subculture has totally evolved over the years,” said Amanda Erickson, who started the Closet to Console blog in 2011. “When games first started merchandising, it was just a slew of black one-size-fits-all gaming t-shirts.” At the time, she didn’t know how many people shared her interest in combining fashion and games. A few years and several thousands of followers later, Erickson now lives in a world where brands like Louis Vuitton team up with Final Fantasy developer Square Enix. Teddy Diefenbach, the creator of Hyper Light Drifter, believes the shift toward bring game design to high fashion is opening new opportunities. “Collaboration between these two fields of expertise can only lead to new ideas, not to mention great products that would benefit both fashion and gaming,” he wrote in an op-ed on gaming site Polygon.”

This past May, celebrities strutted down the red carpet at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art during one of the biggest nights in fashion. It was clear that science fiction was meeting reality at the Met Gala when Kim Kardashian arrived in a daring,chrome-emblazoned Balmain gown, looking like a ruler of a futuristic galaxy. The “Manus x Machina: Fashion in the Age of Technology” theme took many shapes, but former One Direction singer Zayn Malik caught the attention of gamers in particular. Sporting an impeccable black Versace suit complete with bionic arms that he designed, Malik confirmed that the classic Mortal Kombat character Jax sparked the design.

He explained to Dazed that by adorning the look of a virtual character, he also hoped to evoke yet another one of his major fashion influences. “A lot of starting references for me are technology and Prince,” Malik said, referring the fashionable music icon. “He was sort of bold and fearless in the way he decided to evening dresses online. He created another world with the clothes he wore, and it gave him an otherworldly feel.” Meanwhile, sweethearts Orlando Bloom and Katy Perry made a splash when they turned a gaming design into a real-life fashion accessory. Attached to the belt of Perry’s gown — which some suggested bore uncanny resemblance to the Nintendo character Bayonetta — was a Tamagotchi (1996), the Japanese pet simulator phenomenon from the ’90s.

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