LAS VEGAS — This has to beat staring at another drone or smart refrigerator.
In a large, white tent in the high-profile Central Plaza at CES, models strutted on a runway to everything from M.I.A. to Nirvana as fashion and music and geeks collided in Las Vegas on Thursday.
Gibson Brands, the Nashville-based makers of musical instruments, audio equipment and consumer electronics, was founded in 1894 and still commands a presence at an event loaded with gadgets meant to make life easier and more entertaining for consumers.
Visitors to the Gibson interactive exhibit could listen to music, put their hands on the latest instruments and take in a fashion show in which models wore headphones and carried guitars.
A video on the Gibson CES website said that the attractive folks were brought in from Los Angeles to show off “the new style of sound.”
But one familiar guitar riff (in tweet below) had us feeling a little uneasy as Northwesterners familiar with fashion and music’s interesting history. Perhaps you’ll recall the distant 1990s, when Seattle and the sound that made the city famous were co-opted by people using grunge to sell very expensive flannel shirts.
#CES2017: Getting a look at the #NewStyleofSound fashion show at the #GibsonBrandsExperience! #GibsonCES2017 pic.twitter.com/ZVeSAUbugT
— Sean McAllister (@SeanFOX5) January 5, 2017
We can cut plenty of slack for Gibson being drawn to “Smells Like Teen Spirit” as part of its event. At least it wasn’t Vogue magazine again. But that one male model in the red-checked flannel looked nothing like Kurt Cobain and he definitely wasn’t playing that guitar.
But who are we kidding? Is this really the strangest thing you could witness at an event with 160,000 geeks in attendance?
Check out a 360 live stream of all performances and entertainment @ #CES here. #GibsonCES2017 https://t.co/ZvVl6jASuO
— Gibson (@gibsonguitar) January 5, 2017
#GibsonCES2017 music to the rhythm of 50th year at #LasVegas @CES pic.twitter.com/97kkNVkWZg
— bhaskardk (@bhaskardk) January 5, 2017
Nice to see #analog tech at #GibsonCES2017 #CES2017 pic.twitter.com/ucnsbJ8u26
— Francisco Rivera (@friveradigital) January 5, 2017
Guitars on guitars on guitars ? Come and play at #GibsonCES2017 #CES #CES2017 pic.twitter.com/qnsjJrnw88
— Alyssa Deitsch (@alyssadeitsch) January 4, 2017