A WINDOW TO THE FUTURE
As the digital revolution continues to transform everything from politics to music, SELFRIDGES - in an attempt to challenge the way we interact and consume fashion - has established its first palpable contact with the future through its AW19 The New Order campaign.
Composed of some of the world's most innovative digital creatives, such as Cattytay, Jon Emmony, Ines Alpha, Filip Custic and Jamie-Maree Shipton, the groundbreaking proposal will set a new framework for the future of fashion, possibly revitalizing the entire industry.
Jon Emmony - previously Digital Art Director of Nick Knight’s SHOWstudio - is a London-based Digital Artist and Creative Director known for his mind-blowing surrealist 3D-scanned compositions. His film for the 110 years old institution - along with photographer Chris Sutton - follows the models’ exploration of individuality and character; both in a physical world and in the digital realm, where reality is augmented into a world of pure imagination.
One-fifth of the ‘New Order,’ Cattytay, is a major part of this industry revolution. Self-made and self-taught, Cattytay is a visionary in her field, she founded “DigiGal:” an online platform to connect with other female digital designers and increase the number of females in the male-dominated industry of 3-D design.
The collective is pushing the experimental sampling of fabrics into new and unseen territories, influencing a new phase of sustainable development within the fashion industry, while also creating a new wave of digital fashion content.
With zero impact on the environment, it’s a really neat solution to the industry’s overconsumption as when using 3D design, clothing can be sold without having even been created. This could be a huge contribution to reducing waste, as the majority of customers purchase clothes online rather than from a physical shop.
In today's society - and more importantly in tomorrow's - people express an increasing desire to transform themselves through automated social media filters, advanced make-up techniques or, for the more privileged, plastic surgery.
The exaggeration of that, fantasizing about how the complete aesthetic freedom of appearance would be in the future, is what characterizes the work of Inés Alpha, who - born and raised in Paris - is leading the 3D make-up revolution.
Will we soon be able to buy 3D make-up collections for download?
Filip Custic is not just an artist. He is an illusionist, a juggler who enjoys art, gravity and the laws of attraction. His mind, generous and open to the world, explores and plays with pataphysics, the science that studies irregularities, rarities and exceptions. The Spanish-Croatian multidisciplinary artist's work explores the significance to be human in our present and immediate future, as with the impact of digital technology on our conscience and sense of identity.
“The freedom of creation that the virtual world has is generating new questions for the human mind and, with that, comes evolution.”
Jamie-Maree Shipton is a London-based Stylist and Creative Director who has bridged both fashion and technology, incorporating digital artists to expand the realm of editorial. Jamie is the Creative Director of Selfridges’ menswear-focused Instagram account, The Yellow Drop.
Together, ‘the New Order’ and Selfridges are giving design, advertisement, and the shopping experience a look into the future. Designs can be tested and formulated on-screen without wasting fabric or product. Advertising is no longer limited to the props in a studio and department stores can still grow and advance in the new age of shopping (Selfridges will also unveil a new window display for passers-by to purchase, for the first time, digitally rendered products directly from the windows by scanning a QR code).
The project is a fascinating approach to how the Internet and post-millenarian technologies have transformed our ways of seeing and giving birth to a new culture, to how digital media, rather than traditional art forms, allow us to describe the contemporary experience. Those of us who feel that the virtual world moves faster than the physical will finally be able to feel relief from falling into the obsolete. But what is the best way to bring such innovations into society? And how will it influence retail and fashion?
