We are nearing the midpoint of the decade, and as we do our inevitable future is closing in. This is in reference to how our 21^st century is going to appear, and how we are setting the tone for our cultural participation in it. The hype surrounding the CES show and fervour over wearable tech that was covered before, including in last week's post, underscores our willingness to march forward if only because progress is informing us that we have little choice in the matter.

Exponential explosion of the fruits of our research and discoveries, magnified by the accessibility of advanced materials, methods and tools all lead us to a world that was reserved for scriptwriters and novelists that seemed more at home in Comicon than in Vogue. And yet, the results being incorporated into the most mundane aspects of our lives is starting to occur, and this provides the backbone of internal permissions we give for allowing this progress to be our daily reality.

This plus economic realities of having technical skills as the new foundation for survival have reawakened our appreciation of everything that would have been unfairly labelled as “nerdy”. The Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerburgs of the world remind us that tech is the path to riches and when our security is challenged by threats of economic security the awareness of the value of wealth is heightened, especially in a society that stigmatizes poverty to the degree the fear has been a reliable foundation for most marketing initiatives relying on consumption. The power of fear, recently taken to a new and darker level by Toronto advertising firm St. John, highlights emotional connections that can shape our cultural development. We embrace what we feared (technology) because the alternate (poverty) is even more fearful. And as we realize the value and worth of intellectual innovations, we awaken to the promise it can hold to deliver us a better life, which is what technology sells us.

The affinity for the more intellectual opens the doors to appreciation of forward thinking and fashion has no trouble reinterpreting that vision. The microfibres, double faced materials that eliminate traditional linings and laser cut edges (all hallmarks of the 90s) have become commonplace, and as our capitalism has trained us to demand newness while celebrating innovation as progress, we demand evolution and the industry happily obliges. If you were to pay attention to the pre-fall collections, which have resumed post holiday season, you would notice a key aspect of design.

While familiar cuts and silhouettes are the mainstay that appease our insecurities regarding economic expenditure and reinforce appeal through familiarity, the shift towards modernization has started to gain traction. It can be subtle, such as what has been continuously offered by Hussein Chalayan, blending the familiar with tweaks of modernity to nudge us subtly along towards expanding our levels of convention. Or a nod to our openness to science can be whimsical, such as the clever molecule reference from a dress found in the recent pre-fall offering from Christopher Kane. For others, the jump can be bolder. Along with material and finish innovations, found in many of the pre-fall collections out now, exploration of proportion, cut and assembly is getting more sophisticated , and some of this creative muscle-flexing can be seen in collections from Alberta Ferretti, Balenciaga, and Barbara Bui.

Here, the climate or hybridization that preceded it and the level of technology we have now to implement more calculated execution has set the stage for exploration and implementation of concepts that seek to challenge the conventions we recognize as having grown out of. Some of the cuts and assembly almost hinge on what would have leaned towards sci-fi, yet we are living in that world now. We can 3D print anything, are working towards drones and robotics as augmentation of our working world, are reaching a level of connectivity with the cloud that orders on Borg mentality, and are creating algorithms to help us anticipate our own behaviour to the point where our world has the potential to customize our existence. It is evolving around us and these designers see that.

As these creatives push the envelope and technology continues to assert itself through collaborations (such as the recently announced partnership between Intel and Barney's/Opening Ceremony/CFDA ), we can expect our fashion to become more shameless in letting us know that the future is coming and it wants to open the doors to allowing whatever that new 21^st century silhouette/cut/proportion should be. Fashion fuels the competition for who influences who, and there is a lot of ambition in our world. Of course we will really see by the time this decade is over, and these pushes we are seeing now may give us a few clues about what framework that new talent will spring from. Barring the realities of the pragmatic aspects of the world, there is some excitement in the air and it's being reinterpreted for you to wear. And you wait...the best is yet to come.