Apple Watch Flirts With Fashion, Needs to Focus on Substance

There is nothing so unfashionable as trying too hard. And as the official release of the Apple Watch ticks closer, Apple is the ugly duckling trying to blend in among fashion's biting black swans.

Yesterday, Apple sent invitations for a "Spring forward" event, which will likely include more details about the Apple Watch launch. It comes right as the four great Fashion Weeks (New York, London, Milan, Paris) are at their midway point and spring issues are denting doorsteps.

The most daunting among them, in page count and content, is Vogue. The March issue includes a full 12 pages advertising the Apple Watch in its many permutations: sleek Skagen-like silver, sporty electric green, elegant cream and gold, and exotic cobalt lizard. The watch is set against a plain white background, a very stark contrast to the elaborately staged ads and editorial pages around it. The cost of the ad (not to mention the actual watch) is no doubt staggering. The digital edition of the same issue of Vogue has a more beautiful, and hopefully more affordable, Apple Watch ad (the cream-and-gold version spins as a single white rose blooms on its face).

... Or this? #applewatch advertisement of the #future @voguemagazine #vogue #tablet #march2015

A video posted by POPPYOR. (@poppyorjewelry) on Feb 24, 2015 at 7:11am PST

But the ads seem like a reminder of the last fashion season. During Paris Fashion Week last fall, Apple set up a special showing of the watch at the ne plus ultra of cool French boutique Colette, where designer Karl Lagerfeld and Vogue editor Anna Wintour took it in through their permanently affixed sunglasses. Around the same time, Apple persuaded tastemakers like editor of French Vogue Emmanuelle Alt and editor of Italian Vogue Franca Sozzani to leave the New York Fashion Week tents of Lincoln Center for a trip to Cupertino for the big Apple Watch reveal.

But it begs the question: why try so hard? Certainly wearables as a market are doing well, and an Apple-branded one will probably sell decently enough among those who have lost their Fitbits or are embarrassed by the unapologetic geekiness of the Pebble. Could it be that with little else to distinguish it feature-wise from smartphones and other smartwatches, the Apple Watch has started to rely on its looks?

Even in fashion, that doesn't work for too long. There's always the next prettier, shinier thing. Ask any model whose career and earnings have traversed an inverse slant as her age goes from 20 to 30. Magazine covers and ad pages aside, the Apple Watch must appeal to the tech world to truly take off. The iPod and iPhone became iconic not just for their sleek faces in a sea of clunky feature phones, but for the functionality that could not be found elsewhere. Substance not style is the rule for success.

We'll find out more on March 9 in San Francisco. Tune in for all the details, and until then, see PCMag's Hands On With the Apple Watch and the slideshow above.