Fashion’s Guide for the Future
Fashion’s Guide for the Future
By Henry Primos Smith — January 27, 2024
In 1957 the Soviet Union launched Sputnik One, the first artificial satellite launched into orbit. In the heat of the Cold War conflict, the United States catapulted itself to the final frontier and the space race began. People around the globe became infatuated with the advancements of space.
This influence would trickle down into film, television, design, literature, and fashion. One of the main artists working within the sci-fi niche of the mid-20th century was Italian fashion designer Pierre Cardin. Cardin’s work reflected the optimism in the advancements he saw around the world through his use of strong primary colors, dramatic silhouettes, and diverse materials. His work—in a retroactively ironic way—heavily relied on plastic. Ironic to us in a modern sense when talking about utopian ideals, but to Cardin plastic was an otherworldly material that represented advancement beyond a world built of iron and cloth. His 1964 collection, Cosmocorps, would serve as costuming inspiration for the brightly colored uniforms of the Star Trek franchise.
With optimism came pessimism. Blade Runner (1982) took a very different approach when proposing where our future may end. Inspired by detective noir films, costume designers Michael Kaplan and Charles Knode created large and striking silhouettes to portray their future landscapes. Vivienne Westwood drew inspiration from these vivid images in her iconic 1983 collection Punkature.
Alexander McQueen created a fully realized dystopia in his spring 2010 show Plato's Atlantis. Through this collection, he imagined a world where due to global warming, humanity had returned to the sea. In proper sci-fi theming, this was the first runway show to be live-streamed, and as the rigid robotic arms of the cameras moved along with the flowy aquatic nature of the models, it created a rather striking visual of dystopia.
Thierry Mugler frequently drew inspiration from science fiction classics such as the first feature-length sci-fi film Metropolis (1927) in his 1995 autumn/winter collection Robot Suit. A collection represented most recently by actress Zendaya at the premiere of sci-fi staple Dune: Part Two last February.
The interplay between science fiction and fashion reveals a dynamic relationship that reflects societal hopes and fears regarding the future. From Pierre Cardin’s optimistic Cosmocorps, which embraced innovative materials like plastic to symbolize progress, to the dystopian visions seen in Blade Runner and Alexander McQueen’s Plato's Atlantis, fashion has continuously adapted to the narratives of its time. Designers like Vivienne Westwood and Thierry Mugler have further blurred the lines between art and storytelling, using sci-fi themes to comment on cultural anxieties and aspirations.
This evolving dialogue not only captures the zeitgeist of each era but also invites us to explore the implications of technological advancements, serving as both a mirror and a canvas for our collective imagination regarding what lies ahead.
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