Somewhere over the Rainbow – in a Not too distant future
In World 133 at least 60 % of clothes would originate from some source of community sharing. Fashion libraries, swapping and similar practices would provide most of the garments people would use. Fast fashion would be prohibited. Traditional dressmaking practices would be present. Emotional design would be an integral part of clothing. Education would integrate the importance of committed clothing and the possibilities of personal philosophies and aesthetics behind individual choices. Historical sources would be the meaning giving practice of ancient monasteries and also the anthropological sources about the meaning giving clothing practices of traditional cultures.
The world emerges as a result of a series of crisis similar to the COVID pandemic, forest fires and floods. Lots of people must face the fact that there is a stop to present operation of the world. There is a general feeling of desperation. In some country a woman president gets elected who comes out with this crazy idea of actually being radical about changes and sustainability. She involves into her electoral program the prohibition of fast fashion industry, but also integrates poetic clothing into school curricula. Actually that is becoming one of the reasons behind her getting elected. And she does it. The main message being: what if it actually can be done? What if those changes are not utopias. This needs a realization that the world we are living in is a dystopia came true.
Without unpredictable surprises no real change can actually get realized. The president said: lets play that we can do it. And people liked it. (So much about avoiding to become draconian.)
PS.I can not be too playful since I do not believe in gradual and soft changes. Simply because we do not have enough time for that.
What if …
against rational expectations communities would actually initiate radical changes?
Issue:
consumption
Inspiration:
philosophy, Bruno Latour
This World was contributed by Zsuzsanna Pörczi, Ph.D (located in Budapest, Hungary) using a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence which allows others to share and adapt the work in any medium and for any purpose, providing that they credit the author and share their material using the same Creative Commons licence.
Does this World remind you of something?
I am keen to hear about any historical or contemporary real-world examples – whether individual practices, subcultures or mainstream activities – that this fiction brings to mind.
Please share any such examples using this form. Thank you!