The Future of Fashion Predicted by the Past : 150 years of Retrofuturism
hello everyone and welcome back as we turn over into another New Year the predictions for what will come start flying we're looking at politics weather and of course fashion but what about predictions of fashion for say the next 10 years or 100 years what would that begin to look like that's a pretty tall order to make predictions that far out but in reality we can find plenty of examples of really massive future predictions for fashion dating back at least 150 years where they're predicting what life will be like in the 1950s or in the 21st century and the best part about this is that their future is now our present or even our past so I thought it might be entertaining to go through some of the more creative future fashion predictions they love to do fashion shows and do interviews with experts and fashion designers with everyday people to try and put predict what life would be like and say a hundred years and there are some interesting Trends to see throughout that roughly 100 Year span that we're going to be looking at where the predictions made in say the 1890s are not going to be the same as the predictions made in the 1930s or the 1970s they not surprisingly foresaw very different Futures depending on what their present situation was but there are some pretty Universal Concepts as well everything love to tie together new and old they realized that fashion was almost constantly cyclical looking to the past to predict what the future will be that styles are going to keep coming back over and over and over again this is not a novel idea in fact we can find references in the 19th century talking about the concerns that they have that the rough padded shoulders the Farthingale all of those different styles are going to be back in again every time they're just a little bit different and it's this constant adapting of old styles with new technologies and the everyday needs of people who are wearing these garments that constantly Propel us forward so it's a 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women do now is not what women are going to do in the future and one of the best examples of this is a French book titled the 20th century it's predicting what life will be like in 1952 and it is extensive in fact it's over 400 pages long full of so many amazing illustrations so even if you don't want to go through and read the French I highly recommend taking a look at all of the images in the book there's a link down below for that and this book not only predicts the fashion of 1952 in great detail but also what the world will look like in terms of government politics activities Sports so many different things and women will be lawyers and that's what this will look like so forth and so on fashion wise I do have to say they aren't the most creative they do recognize that women will need to be more active and they adjust women's wear accordingly they're still very much the 1883 style without so much under structure and shorter in length so that way it's a little bit easier for activity women are still wearing really elaborate hats really elaborate hairstyles and they have also added Bloomers underneath of these shortened skirts men too also have these Bloomers as you might notice so they're updating menswear a little bit as well though they're still pretty similar to men's suits of the 1880s they too have some pretty elaborate hats and I've also noticed a pretty extensive quantity of visible pockets so clearly the functionality of this clothing was a key factor potentially taking 1883 making it functional even for evening wear the evening wear that they show is definitely elaborate Ruffles and interesting patterns and colors very flashy in that regard but still shortened still pretty functional granted I do have to say whatever they're doing for the dance in this image pretty much looks like the chicken dance maybe they predicted that in the future they have a pretty consistent style going throughout all these images I do appreciate the fact that they show what different outfits would be for people participating in these activities such as women fencing we also have women in the military because they predicted that there would be essentially a feminist Revolution though not in those words which I found pretty ironic because in a sense there is a feminist Revolution that really picks up in the 1960s and 70s though I don't think it looked like this especially not in the militaristic sense they're picturing a literal military Revolution but the book itself definitely focuses very heavily on the fact that clothing will need to do more than it is being asked to now this is a trend that we will continue to see throughout the late 19th and into the early 20th century though not all predictions are quite as practical this series of predictions from 1893. well they definitely listened to the part where we said we're constantly inspired by the past and that's pretty much the entirety of what they're showing just the extreme parts of different Decades of fashion whether it's the sleeves from the 1830s or the roughs of the 16th century whatever it may be they essentially just put everything into a grab bag and got to see what came out they're not very realistic that is until we reach the 1980s I'm not gonna say that these outfits are entirely indicative of the actual 1980s but that skirt is definitely something that did exist my Barbie had that skirt and you can't tell me that this 1993 option isn't just basically New Wave someone definitely wore this so I suppose at some point you end up so wrong you come back around to being right but thankfully not all of the predictions are quite this uh out there this article from 1910 returns to that premise that clothing will need to do more that people are going to be more active and therefore need clothing that adapts to that specifically women are going to be more independent they're going to want more unique Styles and things are going to be tailored to what they specifically need Formal Wear will still be a little on the frilly side in some format it will be for beauty as they say rather than just practicality but for every day where you need functional clothing they reference bloomers and pantaloons which they're still meaning pantaloons in the older sense of the term which is a tightly fitted trouser they also foresee a lot of pockets and flat shoes in fact their outfit that they put together is specific to Aviation so therefore seeing what clothing will need to be like for women who are flying through the sky something that allows them to do all of those functions will still being fairly fashionable and you can again see the influence of 1910 in this they're not going too far outside of their own era in terms of inspiration but what is practical has now changed after this is where we start to pick up a second Trend that of futuristic Technologies the Fabrics of the future all of the different technologies that will come out of this rather utopic future there is actually a fashion show in 1928 that was meant to be an anniversary of a rather large department store and they not only looked at the very up and coming Trends but they looked at the larger scale fashion Futures as well what would happen in the coming decades overall they thought for women at least things would continue to be fairly feminine but in Good Taste and that things would need to be practical for both Leisure and activity they first show 1940s Sports costume that is as they call it brief meaning that it doesn't have a lot of extra stuff going on to weigh the person down it's simply functional they also talk about a 1950 Aviation suit because they figure by then everyone will have taken to the skies and this Aviation suit will be made out of chiffon and sheer velvet have soft kid leggings and cap and a leather windbreaker they do put this specifically in quotes because it is not a really common term in that era I don't know if it's necessarily the first use of that term I doubt that it is but it is something that is specifically used for Aviation garments early on versus the say 1990s windbreaker version that we all have in our minds as we move forward into the 1970s they foresee the beginning of Technology really coming into play where textiles will have a lot of metal not just woven into them but we'll also be wearing a lot of metal pieces as well in 1985 the prediction was back to that theme of flying where specifically the costume would have feather-like editions that allowed the person to have individual flight and skipping for forward into 2028 which I guess technically is still the future but it's not that far off we're again back to the theme of flying with an all metal based suit textiles and metal pieces combined that is um inspired by the organ not the organs of the body but the musical organ where they specify that it will be the popular instrument of the truly civilized man of the future so guys we have apparently now only five years to make pipe organs the coolest thing ever as we move forward into the 1930s a lot of the predictions start to include medical science as well they think that we will have perfected Humanity so far that really we're not going to need clothing in the same way that we currently do things like air conditioning and central heating will mean that we no longer have to worry about wearing clothing for temperature protection and that we won't have to worry about wearing makeup we'll have such perfect features that they won't matter anymore we'll also wear wigs so that way we always have the perfect hairstyles essentially to them moving forward into the future it's going to be more important that our clothing does the futuristic functions that it needs to and this is not a really small group that believes this in 1939 Vogue did this amazing spread in conjunction with the world's fair that was occurring in the same year and instead of going to fashion designers who were used to only predicting out a few months or a few years they instead went to the exhibit designers people that were literally designing all of these futuristic Concepts and Technologies for the fair and they asked them what do you think fashion will be in the distant future and they ended up with nine different designs and they are all pretty dramatically different there are some themes that carry through but there is a range of we'll say practicality to these some such as this one which is just simply a heated coat are incredibly practical this one is also fairly sensible saying that we will have four gone skirts and that will be able to regulate our personal temperature via this belt this is definitely something that I would actually wear I honestly don't think it's that far-fetched in terms of style then there is this Ensemble where the designer thinks that science will have made us perfect to the point where we actually go through a phases Humanity of nudism but then we decide it's kind of boring and we should continue using draperies for fun therefore all clothing will be incredibly adjustable and practical in that sense we'll have permanent makeup and we'll also not really need to carry objects around with us anymore basically we're going to work on a system of credit and we'll have some sort of technology that allows us to say have doors that recognize us when we walk up to them and will open for us which honestly not that far off we do have all of that technology in a cell phone nowadays but we still have to carry that around with us so I'm not ready to get rid of pockets just yet others focused on the technology itself such as this aluminum coat this person thought we would have essentially 3D printing that clothing would be molded into the Shea shapes that we need and put together that way rather than flat woven and cut and seamed up in complex shapes this designer thought that one of the major problems would be that of travel we'd be constantly traveling so we're going to need to be able to do so with a very light luggage meaning that the clothing that we're wearing will need to adjust from one environment to the next one situation to the next so they included sleeves that zip off and change in that manner they also thought that the clothing was going to regulate the temperatures of the person that is a major theme in this era then we move into some more unusual Styles this designer thought that textiles would essentially be Everlasting they would defy corrosion wear and tear they would prevent dirt and would be shiny like Silk essentially they were looking towards things like lucite to be part of the future so they included both lucite and glass fabric these specific materials such as lucite cellophane other things like that also carry over into this designer's ideas who thought that the transparency minimal fabric idea was going to be pretty essential that again our clothing would manage to maintain Heat versus cool and that therefore we wouldn't need heavy structural clothing in the same way moving towards it being even less covered there is this design that thought we would have elastic net which we do and that the skirt would be made out of a type of fabric that could be condensed down for travel purposes and then expanded back out again to which I have to say if you were around in the 1990s you probably remember this no other comments but additionally this Ensemble has a what they call wrist Gadget that does all the technological things that we would need in one small package but if you perhaps think that is not enough there's not enough technology buried in all of these different garments I have for you our final Ensemble from Vogue which is the best and this shows that we certainly can't leave out the men when it comes to forecasting future Fashions either this Ensemble is meant to be essentially a knitted jumpsuit it's practical and quick fastening no longer do men have to do all these buttons and hooks and snaps all of those really really tedious things to get dressed in the morning over the top of that we have the belt and the vest which carry all of the different things that you need rather than having to fill Pockets every single day which is incredibly inconvenient to pull all of your things out of one set of pockets and put them into another instead the man of the future will have these different pieces to carry everything for him now you might also notice that he has a very uh stylistic option for facial hair this designer thought that beards would be the way of the future men would no longer shave their face in opposition to the way that nature has made them and I don't know if it was the designer's choice or the person who dressed the model for the day but the curls in the beard are a wonderful addition to this element and of course we can't forget the crowning glory of the whole thing which is the giant antenna hat and this designer thought that the way of the future would be what they call Omega waves that the entire ensemble would be essentially hooked up to receive Omega waves in the you would need the giant antenna hat in order to do so appropriately what these are isn't really overly specified they just seem to be the wave of the future literally and figuratively which I have to admit not terribly off in many ways we do have Wi-Fi and satellite and Bluetooth and all sorts of different waves through the air that we are constantly accessing through technology that we carry with us granted I am glad we do not have to wear an antenna hat to do so at this point in time and this is not the only prediction for antenna hats and very we'll put it space age futuristic attire obviously there are tons and tons of examples within the Sci-Fi range of media but I didn't want to get into those because that seemed less a prediction of our actual future and more a genre unto its own but uh plenty of it does bleed over this 1952 prediction includes not only the antenna hat but also jeweled eyebrows which again I'm feeling so very 2005 for that they also think we will have gone to tunic styles of drapery as well as uh Wings in order to allow us to fly around for the purposes of easier shopping and it's this tunic part that I want to point out to you because this is sort of the next phase that we're moving forward into in the late 19th early 20th century they talked a lot about individualism when it comes to Fashion that everything would be tailored towards what you need your clothing as an individual to be able to do as we moved further into the 20th century came more about the general concepts of Technology biology and what technology could do for you how as we move forward into the 1960s and 70s it again changes to be more about the fact that they believed the future would be full of practicality through a really Universal style that everyone would be wearing similar Fashions and that we would no longer be concerned with differentiating between one person to another with these Styles so the tunic is really the beginning portion of that they also have a slightly more dystopian view of the future well before we were talking about how clothing would keep us warm or cool depending on the weather now we also have to include body paint to protect us against pollution and radioactivity so suddenly not so much the perfect situation and I particularly want to point out that they interviewed both the models and some of the people who were viewing this fashion show the models thought the clothing was not nice um they they weren't so sure about all the parts but one of the people that they interviewed in the audience his opinion was that um it was sexy maybe not for women but sexy for robots I don't know what this means but it gives me great concern and this is essentially how we see the future moving forward from there the rest of the 70s talks a lot about unisex Styles leggings leotards tunics things that will no longer show how wealthy or important a person is some think that will have to differentiate in new ways such as wearing mantles of old such as the Romans did in order to show that they deserve respect and Authority but we're going to rely on things like jersey knit and stretchy Fabrics that things are going to be created in their three-dimensional Form without having to sew things together anymore things will either be glued together or be made as is without seams that essentially we're no longer going to need the entire practice of sewing instead clothing will be molded to us and practically instant we might even have one size fits all situations and I do think this prediction of homogenization is really important because though today's Style does not look like the 1970s version with leotards and tunics you do have a lot of leggings but it's not entirely monotone in the same way we have existed honestly for the last roughly 20 years with very generic and homogeneous Styles menswear and women's wear is not as far apart as it used to be and if I told you that I saw a person wearing jeans and a t-shirt that tells you nothing about the person's situation in life their status their wealth gender that they're presenting as any of that sort of stuff it literally tells you nothing it could be anybody all over the world so we have in some ways trended towards a very homogenized style and I think if anything the future of fashion might actually be away from that again back to what we're predicting at the end of the 19th century where we're looking towards individualism and clothing that will do what we need it to except it won't necessarily be that the clothing will be the most functional for our everyday jobs because more and more our everyday jobs don't require us to physically be doing all of that much instead we're looking towards a future of fashion that allows us to be expressive in our individualism that the Aesthetics that we have really honed in on over the last just couple of years are one of the many ways that we could go forward with fashion in the future that things like Cottage core dark Academia or whiskey grandpa or whatever it is that your particular style is is something that you can actually find and acquire in a range of different Goods and that you feel like you're allowed to wear them and those are both things that are currently changing with not only the way that we make and sell fashion through the internet but also with the way that Society is going that individual options and expressiveness through your clothing is gradually becoming more and more encouraged that there will be a level of creativity and individualism and honestly even a little bit of Whimsy in our clothing going forward that we've never really been able to accomplish on that scale before
2023-01-08 03:47
