How Equinix and Maximilian Raynor combined the worlds of data centres and fashion

Designed by Maximilian Raynor in partnership with Equinix, the one-of-a-kind dress represents the essence of wearable technology. Unveiled in January 2025 in London, it is made entirely from materials sourced from one of Equinix’s London data centres. 

It pays homage to the unseen yet essential digital infrastructure that powers modern life. The garment reveals the tangible form of the Internet – something that is rarely seen, yet is used by people everyday to remain connected. 

What it means to be connected

Technology has become so entrenched into everyday life, it is not often considered what physical elements are required to power AI, cloud computing and global connectivity. 

For one thing, data centres are entering the public consciousness more than ever before. Yet, plenty of people don’t recognise that these innovative technologies are attached to something tangible in order for them to work.

For one thing, using chatbots like ChatGPT for between 10 to 50 queries consumes roughly two litres of water, according to experts from the University of California.

As a result, the dress acts as a reminder. It represents the backbone of our connected world and challenges the all-too-common perception that the Internet is something entirely virtual. In fact, these everyday systems that we have become so used to utilise a range of physical structures and processes in order to keep us connected.

Maximilian Raynor has previously styled for the likes of Lady Gaga and Chappell Roan. The dress took 640 hours to create and consists of Cat 5 and fibre optic cables, metal washers and nuts and bolts. Weighing 25 kilograms, Equinix says the garment features enough networking cable to run the length of 72 Olympic swimming pools. 

These items are all used at an Equinix data centre, with the designer eager to highlight a focus on repurposing and how we consider unconventional materials. 

“It creates an interesting contrast of the internet and data which we perceive as so futuristic and then these almost historical techniques such as basket weaving and crochet that feel from a different time,” Maximilian Raynor shares. “The project spans history in that sense as something both historic and futuristic.”

 

Representing a new data-driven world

This transformational dress also represents how significant data centres are in the age of AI. These facilities are not only hubs of information, but critical structures that support communications, connectivity and digital transformation.

It speaks to a larger conversation about bridging the visible and the invisible in a world now governed by technology. 

Speaking at the time, Equinix’s President of EMEA Bruce Owen shared: “By bridging the gap between physical and virtual, we wanted to create something tangible that works as a unique talking point to highlight the many thousands of connections that are created to support economies and societies every day. 

“The design pays homage to the physicality of the vital infrastructure that makes up the internet. Rather than some sort of weird magic or unexplainable force that just happens to work, it’s a physical, intricate network of cables, traversing land and sea and creating physical connections housed in data centres worldwide.”