From 1930 to 1941, Pathetone Weekly ran film clips that highlighted ‘the novel, the amusing and the strange.’ At some point during the 1930s (the exact date isn’t clear), Pathetone asked American designers to look roughly 70 years into the future and hazard a guess about how women might dress in Year 2000. Apparently, fashion designers don’t make great futurists, and the designs fell rather wide of the mark — unless you want to count Lady Gaga’s wardrobe, in which case they didn’t do a half bad job. Or, for that matter, the male connected 24/7 to his phone and sundry gadgets…
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In 1900, Ladies’ Home Journal Publishes 28 Predictions for the Year 2000
If only reality had followed closer to their predictions.
Instead, both men and women of our age dress – or rather, barely bother to dress – like slobs and walking billboard advertisements for brand logos or inane and vulgar slogans.
It’s ironic that we demand elegant and beautiful aesthetic design from our devices and technology, and yet have the lowest possible aesthetic standards for themselves.
The world has become uglier and uglier, since its inhabitants have become uglier and uglier. We are misfits in our own beautiful techno-utopias.
Perhaps we are preparing for our eventual irrelevancy and extinction, once technology supersedes us completely.