The human perception of what we consider “fashion” today has evolved over time. Once, clothing was designed for protection and warmth with primitive uses of animal skins instead of creating fabric. Then it became about identifying social strata, or one group of people front another. Clothing is used in a way of protection in times of battle and war as armor or bullet-proof vests. With climate control in our homes and homeland security, the primary concerns of the next evolution of society are connection, communication and creativity. These needs will need to be met with a variety of design solutions, encompassing architecture, product design, fashion design, and user interface design.
In Rodolphe El-Khoury’s Figures, Essays on Contemporary Architecture, he writes that fashion in future societies will become the “mediator between the realms” of built architecture and the wearable architecture of fashion. Clothing will embed wearable smart technologies that will relate to the internet of things. These smart devices could information incorporate sensors for self-identification, target imagery for augmented reality components and react to the conditions of the other elements of data in proximity. Fashion becomes, then, becomes a tool for communication and interaction with the surrounding world.
Fashion will also relate to the understanding of the built world itself, as it may be seen as a “new order of urban artifact,” as El-Khoury suggests. With embedded technologies, fashion may incorporate lights, colors and masses previously inconceivable through augmented reality technology. The clothing itself may be 3D printed by the use of technology, or encompass the elements of headgear or hand trackers that are necessary for some communication devices such as in augmented reality and virtual reality head mounted displays.
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