When I was first presented with the brief, ‘Life on Mars’, I was straight away drawn to the issues surrounding the sustainability aspect of fashion and the environmental responsibility movement that we are currently witnessing within the fashion industry, as we are all becoming increasingly aware daily of the significant impact that the fashion industry has caused on the planet globally (Parkes, 2021). Fashion is one of the most damaging to the environment and polluting industries throughout the world, and through my research I discovered that that as of 2021 the UK’s landfill is full and at maximum capacity. This sparked my initial ideas on what life on Mars could be like in terms of how we will combat this arguably life-changing situation. The industry is constantly adapting, reacting and innovating in terms of using the most up to date sustainable fabrics and materials such as recycled polyester, as well as ensuring their processes and manufacturing methods are also in line with current and relevant innovations within the industry, such as limiting transport, sampling and excessive manufacturing. These changes are key to developing a fashion industry that is kinder to the environment, but are these changes enough or does more need to be done?
Key innovators within the sustainable fashion movement are brands and designers, such as Stella McCartney, who dedicate a vast majority of efforts into researching and analysing what products, materials or trends are the most innovate and reminiscent of their brand values and target audience currently. For example, a more recent and notable collaboration within the brand was Stella McCartney and Candiani Denim (a family-owned denim mill), who in partnership created a collection of 100% biodegradable denim jeans (McCartney, 2021). The partnership collaboration narrative and message states, “In a world where resources are diminishing and landfills are overflowing with discarded garments, it’s our duty to look for renewable resources, in addition to biodegradable and compostable materials”. This sparks many ideas for us as the consumer to visualise the endless possibilities that we could use and experience on our life on Mars, as this is just one example of how we can focus our attention on creating clothing garments of the same quality and quantity, however at a more environmentally and responsibility friendly cost. This viewpoint of creating a trend with more natural and re-useable materials could be the future of how the industry creates a response to the impact that it has caused on the environment. Will our future of fashion on Mars rely on using renewable and biodegradable materials or is this not enough in response to changing the damage caused?
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When developing my research further, I discovered a vast amount of new and interesting scientific and technology driven related brands who are developing and expanding into the world of digital fashion, virtual reality and computer-aided artificial intelligence – finding innovative and unique ways of how they can incorporate these elements into their brands. This side of the fashion industry provides a new, contemporary and innovated space for brands to present a whole new way of communicating to their targeted consumer how we can all further contribute to the important issue regarding sustainability in a new and previously un-seen way (The Fabricant, 2021). From science fiction historical films such as ‘Barbarella’ and the 21st century Spielberg production, ‘Ready Player One’, a wide range of generations have been visually presented with the many possibilities that the ever-changing world of technology and science can bring to us in the future across all industries – not the fashion industry alone.
Particularly in recent years, we have seen many successful digital fashion brands releasing collections solely through the digitalisation of their designs, digital and virtual runway shows, as well as having them designed by artificial intelligence sources. A new up and coming brand, ‘Auroboros’ has received the title of being the first fashion house to merge science and technology with physical couture, as well as digital-only ready-to-wear designs. This space of immersive design has allowed consumers to redefine how we can imagine and affect changes to the clothing consumption issue – shaping ‘new discussions around the idea of a utopian future and its relationship to the human body’ (Auroboros, 2021). Auroboros has allowed me to visualise and conceptualise a unique space where digital fashion could be the most effective answer and response to the global clothing consumption issue, as digital fashion in combination with elements of technology and virtual reality could have the ability to limit and reduce physical clothing items completely – effectively reducing excessive and unnecessary purchases and ultimately limiting the need for so much consumption.
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The brand has the ability to heavily influence the future of fashion in terms of trend, as well as predicting the future of what fashion will be like on our journey to Mars. By delivering what would previously be regarded as a fantasy, Auroboros has created digital clothing sci-fi world, through simply scanning a picture through digital platforms such as Snap Chat and Instagram, which then allows the digital and virtual reality mode clothing to appear onto a consumer’s body for all to witness this latest immersive and innovative technological adaptation – a truly unique and contemporary experience.
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After further research into the digital fashion sector, I discovered another fashion brand that has changed and enhanced the world of digital fashion - ‘The Fabricant’, who are also passionate about reducing the fashion industry’s environmental impact. The Fabricant has conducted research into how they can aid in solving this issue and resulted in finding that “The digital fashion model generates the biggest reduction in environmental impact of any other fashion model in the world” (The Fabricant, 2021). As one of the world’s first digital fashion houses, the brand creates 3D garments and fashion narratives that are entirely non-physical pieces and are beyond physical boundaries. This research is significant when deciding what will be the outcome of my final trend, as it is interesting to analyse if the digital fashion space or the physical but sustainable fashion space is more compelling in having the bigger reduction in the global environmental issue. It is also interesting to research further into the many collaborations that the brand has participated in, such as with PUMA and Tommy Hilfiger, as these collaborations have the ability to extend the message of converting to supporting brands who share similar values as the collaboration would reach both consumers of ‘The Fabricant’, as well as reaching the collaborating brand’s targeted consumer also.
After concluding my extensive research on a variety of different avenues that could potentially join us on our life on Mars, I have been influenced the most by the digital fashion, virtual reality and artificial intelligence newly emerging sector of the industry. My concluding trend will be focused on how brands can incorporate these new elements of digitalisation and creating a virtual space, with hopes to limit the production and sampling of physical clothing as much as possible. I have been inspired by both digital fashion houses ‘Auroboros’ and ‘The Fabricant’ mostly, as both of these brands have immersed ways of creating this digital experience and making it available to the everyday consumer, not limiting the spread of the brand’s narrative of contributing to sustainably limiting the fashion industry’s environmental impact. Notably through making their 3D clothing pieces available on social platforms such as Snap Chat, ‘The Fabricant’ has ensured that the message and importance of the brand narrative can be widely accessible to all, aiding their ability to inform, educate and expand on people’s knowledge and understanding of the global issue. This is in important factor that I will be including in my final trend, as making the trend and collections accessible to all will help to influence the targeted consumer, as well as potentially having the ability to influence other brands into also contributing elements of digitalisation and virtual reality within their brand with hopes to limit excessive clothing consumption.
The digitalisation of fashion also continues to allow the freedom of limitation to what we can wear on Mars, as the ability to customise and adapt our clothing virtually through virtual reality and technology will help to limit the possibility of our life on Mars from having a ‘uniformed’ look. Having taken inspiration from digital fashion houses through my research, I have decided that my trend will take place in the form of technology, specifically an app, that can allow targeted consumers to customise and adapt their clothing to suit the conditions on Mars, such as adding or removing layers during Winter, adding pockets and changing the length of trousers to then be the length of shorts in Summer. Through allowing such a wide range of customisation of clothing garments within the app, this will significantly aid the reduction of excess clothing consumption, as rather than there being a need for consumers to purchase a variety of clothing items to fit seasons, occasions or lifestyles, consumers will only need to make one purchase which will then allow them to unlock complete control of adapting and customising their clothing for each of their individual needs. This trend will also help to aid a reduction of excessive consumption on the production and manufacturing side of the fashion industry, as there will no longer be the need for sampling of clothing, different clothing colour or size production in combination for no requirement of travel and polluting manufacturing to physically produce the clothing garments. By incorporating my trend into digital technology and social media channels, consumers will be able to share their outfits and clothing pieces virtually, such as through communicating their ideas and designs through the app as well as extending the message and brand narrative further through pre-existing social media channels – again, limiting the need completely for physical clothing pieces and excessive clothing consumption.
My trend’s colour palette was initially influenced by the connotations of sustainability and eco-friendly communities, such as earth tones and muted colour scales, following influence from sustainable designers such as Stella McCartney, Pierre Cardin and Burberry. However, after taking my research further, the colour palette of my trend has been extended from greens, browns and oranges to also include blues, purples and muted black to incorporate my trend of the digital and technological space alongside my sustainability and reducing clothing consumption narrative. When visualising a digital and technology based space, we may think of coding and computer programming which also usually connotes to a blue, purple and grey colour palette. This way, rather than my trend’s colour palette being based solely on earth tones, consumers will have the ability to add some colour into their customisations to avoid creating a ‘uniformed’ look on our life on Mars, and still having the freedom present for consumers to wear what they want in a sustainable manner.
My trend is called ‘Technoscapism’, which is made from a combination of all the individual elements of my trend. My trend will participate within the technology emerging sector of the fashion industry taking form in an app, as well as hosting virtual reality and artificial intelligence methods of design, therefore the technology aspect is present in this part of the title. The second half of the title stems from the idea of our journey to Mars representing the idea of escapism, as the idea of living on Mars is very futuristic and is a new innovative idea for many. Not only this, but my trend and the digital fashion space collectively has only recently been developed at such a public scale, therefore for many the idea of having digital clothing and being able to digitally access virtual clothing could fit the idea of a sense of escapism and a sense of what living within a utopian society could be like on our journey to Mars. ‘Technoscapism’ is a trend about merging different elements of what is digital and what is reality whilst also blurring the line for future adaptations and potentials that could become a reality on our journey and life on Mars. The future of digitalisation and the possibilities that this sector proposes are endless, not in the fashion industry alone, but for many other industries globally.
REFERENCES Parkes, J. (2021). Santa Kupa creates pixelated digital clothing line Decrypted Garments. Retrieved from https://www.dezeen.com/2021/09/13/santa-kupca-decrypted-garments-digital-fashion-design/ McCartney. (2021). Retrieved from https://fashionunited.uk/news/fashion/stella-mccartney-introduces-biodegradable-stretch-denim/2020011447017 Sustainability — The Fabricant. (2021). Retrieved from https://www.thefabricant.com/sustainability Auroboros (2021). Retrieved from https://www.auroboros.co.uk/
IMAGE REFERENCES
Figure 1 – Stella McCartney https://luxiders.com/how-sustainable-is-stella-mccartney/ Figure 2 – Auroboros www.auroboros.co.uk Figure 3 – Auroboros www.auroboros.co.uk