Inspired by the optimism of the space discoveries, fashion designers tried to create in the ‘60s supermodern wardrobes to face new and exciting challenges.
Rocket-shaped capes, see-through plastic helmets and uniform-like garments filled the pages of fashion magazines and the imagination of many people at the time, and, even though they were destined to have a limited number of consumers, they left an indelible mark in the history of fashion.
As the decades passed, dystopic and apocalyptic visions took the place of the space utopia created by the visionary designers in the ‘60s: in recent seasons, runways were often crowded with amazon warriors, survivors of a post-nuclear disaster, or alien and mutant beings.
Yet the future of fashion is not only a question of image and of the more or less radical vision that fashion designers may conjure up on their runways, it is indeed also a question of substance.
Fashion Futures (Merrell) by Bradley Quinn looks at these aspects and at how new and advanced technological tools are revolutionising the fashion industry.
Divided in six sections – Extreme Style, Power and Performance, Maverick Materials, Future Fabrication, Radical Retail and Future Horizons – and including a series of interviews with designers, forecasters and architects (among the others there are also Q&As with Iris van Herpen and star architect Zaha Hadid), the volume opens with a quick analysis on the shifts in silhouettes and shapes towards body mutating forms inspired by science, mathematics, physics and geometric figures, but then moves onto the new techniques that can help designers creating advanced garments.
Embedding portable technology such as MP3 players in a jacket was deemed as the next big thing fashion-wise just a few years ago, but things have now changed thanks to further researches in fields such as engineering, biotechnology and science.
Quinn analyses the latest experiments in nanotechnology, looks at garments with kinetic powers that can change shape morphing on the body and makes interesting examples of how biomimicry (synthetic methods that mimic biomechanical processes) can be applied to sportswear or urbanwear to create dynamic suits that improve an athelete’s performance or protective outerwear that can produce an electric charge or integrate shock-absorbing protectors.
The best part is definitely the section exploring new materials, a topic extensively tackled by Quinn in another previously published volume, Textile Futures.
The part dedicated to materials and included in this book is instead a round-up of the best and newest materials, from organic fabrics derived from plant-based polymers to conductive fibres, new elastic materials (including impact-resistant materials but also spider silk), protective, reactive and regenerative technologies.
This is actually where fashion and other fields merge: fabric printed with substances that react to toxins or bacteria alerting the wearer and textiles impregnated with medicines and therapeutic substances are particularly interesting as they could have very useful applications in the workwear and medical markets.
New techniques such as 3D printing, spray-on or photovoltaic fabrics are also analysed, while the last part of the book looks at alternative forms of marketing and retailing - both physical, with boutique designed by architects and looking like spaceships, and virtual, with digital dressing rooms enhanced through the use of social-media forums, and remote wardrobes.
Fashion forecasting is the very last topic tackled in the book: the author wonders if it will still exist in a not so distant future or in which ways it will change, while also questioning the future relationships between brands and consumers and modern marketing practices asking the consumer to contribute creatively to collections or support crowdfunded brands (practices that in some cases revealed themselves as very profitable only for the brand and not for the actual consumers).
In a way most of the contents of Fashion Futures remain at the empirical and theoretical levels as specific experiments about nanotechnology or biocouture (remember Suzanne Lee’s project based on using cellulose-producing microbes to brew biodegradable garments?) are still at the testing stage, yet it will be interesting to see what will happen to these experiments in two or three years’ time.
Will the human body actually manage to grow its own genetically engineered garments or will we develop fabrics capable of detecting and diagnose immediate health risks? Time will tell, but, for the time being, research rules.
Fashion Futures by Bradley Quinn, published by Merrell is out now.
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"Fashion futures" what can possibly be invented concerning clothing ? Except maybe new materials, a new kind of synthetic which respects evironment, pants will remain pants and a skirt a skirt.
Posted by: APT | July 28, 2012 at 06:12 PM