Apple has been hiring former fashion executives, but why?

Yesterday's hiring of former Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts by Apple is just latest example of what is becoming a trend for new Apple hires: A lot of them have a background in fashion. As The Mac Observer points out, Ahrendts' appointment to senior VP of Retail and Online Stores was preceded by a pair of former Nike designers and an executive from French fashion house Yves Saint Laurent. In short, Apple is looking downright fabulous.

But why would former fashion industry insiders be useful to Apple? It's simple: wearable tech. We've been hearing rumblings of an iWatch for some time -- though at the moment the competition seems to be doing more harm to the would-be smartwatch market than good -- and if Apple plans to release one in the future, it's going to have to be mighty sexy.

Of course, there are other areas you could wear a gadget besides your wrist -- Google Glass being a fine example of this -- though if the new fashion-forward hiring trend is indeed intended to help influence new Apple products as they take shape, it's likely that we're nowhere near actually seeing them in the flesh... or on the flesh.

[Image credit: Miss Karen]

[via The Mac Observer]