When you think of fashion, what is the first thing that comes up to your mind? Luxury brands? A type of clothing? Fashion models? To me, it’s my understanding of how fashion is the gateway to self-expression. I always enjoy thinking about the future and what I imagine myself wearing changes everyday. I wonder what the future will hold and just how crazy designs will be. I compare fashion to technology because of its endless growth, infinite innovations, and unstoppable creativity.
I recently had the chance in my french class to present on Raf Simons and his contributions to French powerhouse Christian Dior. After doing my research, I was amazed to see at how he shaped the brand and his reputation in only a matter of years. If Raf Simons was able to change fashion trends that quickly, then what will Dior look like fifty years from now?
The industry is changing, and you can definitely notice the shift.
These are trends that designers in the 1950s would have never expected to see on the professional runway! It is because of our ability to create that allows the realm of fashion to continuously grow.
Fifty years from now, fashion may even be in a different medium, perhaps a virtual collection. We may use different material to create clothing. What if fashion isn’t even defined as clothing? I have so many expectations, but yet again I have so much curiosity for the field.
My biggest hope is that the industry expands to be more inclusive. There must be more diverse designers of race, gender, sexual orientation, age, and even socioeconomic status. Much like how I admire Coco Chanel for being able to pave the way for more female designers in a predominantly male industry, I want to be able to see more communities get involved in the industry.
The New York Times recently wrote an article about what they envision fashion to be like in twenty years from now. The biggest thing that stood out to me was how they related fashion to virtual reality. Bel Jacobs writes, “The hegemony of fashion influencers has shifted in recent years, from designers, creative directors and magazine editors to the people. The consumer wants creative input and hyper-personalised products, and technology is empowering them to do so.”
She explains that we may get our inspiration solely from video games or the virtual world, only creating designs for video game characters or holograms.
Smart fabric companies are developing materials that can gather data such as, in the case of the Nike Adapt BB basketball shoe, whether a wearer needs to alter their strike in order to avoid injury. “In the future, with the roll out of 5G, clothes will function as a new interface, impacting on the way we communicate with the connected world and with each other,” says Mano ten Napel, founder of digital magazine FashNerd.
Regardless of what fashion becomes in the future, I believe that we will see another shift in fashion within our lifetime. I want to leave you with this statement: remember that fashion is timeless because it’s meant to express yourself. You are who you are and you should never change that!
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