Karl Lagerfeld Talks Tech at Condé Nast International Luxury Conference

FLORENCE — Karl Lagerfeld doesn’t keep anything on a computer, only in his head; Jonathan Ive doesn’t think the Apple Watch is competing with luxury timepieces, and Antoine Arnault believes fashion is late to the digital revolution. These were some of the highlights of the first day of the two-day Condé Nast International Luxury conference here, which began Wednesday and explored the impact of technology on hard luxury. Speaking about whether the company’s new watch is out to compete with high-end timepieces, Ive, Apple’s senior vice president of design, said he does “not think in those terms. We focus on developing products that are beautiful and useful. We did the iPhone because we couldn’t bear our phones and wanted better. With the watch the motivation is different — we love our watches, their mechanical systems. We didn’t do it to design a better watch. The wrist is a fabulous place for technology.” Ive and designer Marc Newson highlighted the “care and attention in the development” of products. “We put [the smartwatch ] together through machines. Like tools of craftsmen, the machine is a tool, we all need the help of tools,” said Newson. “This is a craft, philosophy exists in products for the mass.” “We

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