FUTURE IN FOCUS

(FROM A WEEKEND NOTE, THE EDITOR'S LETTER IN STYLE WEEKEND, THE FRIDAY LIFESTYLE SPECIAL OF MANILA BULLETIN, FRIDAY, 01 FEBRUARY 2008)


In Hong Kong two weeks ago, we had a glimpse of the last quarter of 2008 and beyond. After all, it was Fashion Week and while the catwalk was all dressed up for Fall/Winter 2008-2009, the trend forecast was already zooming in on the seasons after that.

The ‘Far Away’ is at our doorstep. —Martin Lehec, trends analyst and agent, Colin International

Technology, of course, is assumed to play an even greater, if pivotal, role in changing fashion. According to Martin Lehec of Carlin International, a global style agency that mixes design with marketing and communication, advancement in technology, which will enable more and more people to access information, form very strong opinions about their world, and, consequently, express themselves more resolutely, will make it imperative to shift from industry-based to individual-based economy.
As a result of rapid urbanization, nature will be a luxury and there will be a strong demand for the emotion elicited by untouched nature. A floral kaleidoscope, for instance, will dominate the future of prints, as will elements suggestive of the wild life. In future summers, there will be a growing interest in underwater touches, such as aquatic purples, seaweed effects, water shimmer, and the texture of droplets.
In the face of ecological challenges, which, to Lehec, are only another term for economic opportunities, plastic vegetation will bloom, along with vibrant optical yarns, airy, earthy volumes, and fragile but protective fabrics. The empowered individual who will comprise the market will no longer settle for empty promises from brands and so environmental credentials will be as important as cut, color, and fabric.
Also, in the context of an increasingly man-made world, fashion as well as other related industries, such as beauty and interior design, will explore matter, extracting meaning, as Lehec explains, “from the most mundane of objects,” such as a grain of salt or a lava flow or “metal, in its fluid state, coming to a boil.”
Science, from various fields such as genetics, climatology, and nanotechnology, will integrate itself into fashion, cosmetics, urban design, and architecture and take all into the direction of self-sustainability or otherwise proclaim it as the ultimate ideal expressed in strong, spontaneous statements.
These strong statements, catering to the empowered individual, will find expression in logos, messages “to go,” powerful graphics, and provocative, impactful, “what you see is what you get” visuals.
Indeed, a new breed of sentimentality is on the rise, as we seek a common ground between past and future, between poetry and technology, between natural and synthetic. Think lace in architecture-inspired treatments. Think cotton with silicon coatings or varnishes. Think coats-of-arms and family seals reinterpreted in futuristic graphics. Think jungle profusion in plastic.
As we move further into the 21st century, emotions will continue to define our humanity. Paradoxically, in our pursuit of future-focused design, whether in fashion or in interiors or in architecture, as the findings of Carlin International suggest, we will remain human beings who find beauty in a blooming flower, meaning in a raindrop, grace in the movements of anemone, dreams in the flight of birds, and hope in the rising sun.

A
post me at aapatawaran@yahoo.com