Talking Fashion

I went to a discussion last night on how fashion is being influenced in todays digital age. Hosted by Bad Idea magazine, the Future Human discussion was held at The Book Room in Shoreditch. Guest panelists were Ruth Marshall-Johnson- Senior Editor of WGSN think tank, Helen Brown-Founder of Catwalk Genius and Iris Ben David-CEO of Styleshake.

It was fun to attend something a bit different and talk about the future of fashion with people in the industry. There was a lot of talk about 3-D body scanners so that your personal computer can take accurate measurements and make online shopping easier. I'm not really sure if this will really take off, it sounds a bit gimmicky, but I suppose it would help that woman who is nervous about online shopping for fear of getting the wrong size.

Fashion today is a hybrid of influences, we take our inspiration from the past and from different cultures and mask them all up. Style blogs have perpetuated this trend by taking photos of people from across the globe and making them available for everyone to see and be inspired from.
As we do take inspiration from the past, more and more people are buying vintage clothing from the 60's, 70's, 80's and now the 90's. We also look to the high street for quick and cheap fashion that we may wear only once or twice and then go back and buy the newest trend on the street. We are a throw-away fashion generation now and Diedre, the Press Assistant for Beyond Retro asked a great question (I am paraphrasing here as I was already on my third glass of wine by then):

     What will happen in 20 years when we will try to buy the clothing from this decade?

I doubt we will be buying things from Primark in 20 years as this clothing will probably not last that long. My Primark tops don't even last one wash! I do believe that there will be a bigger shift towards clothing that is well made and long lasting in the near furture. Firstly, the environmentalists are already freaking out about the amount of clothing we throw away and secondly, we will realize that our money could be better spent on clothing that will last.

Next Future Human discussion: The Automated Nation, 14 April