In World 72, rationed sustainable utility garments are brought in by an eco-conscious government. An underground scene emerges, with speakeasy clubs providing opportunities for young people to rebel by wearing illicit clothes from the decadent past.
This is the Instagram page for Cotton Club, a nationwide chain of speakeasies, which exhorts partygoers to ‘ditch the drab ass boiler suit and reinvent yourself for the night’. Their latest Instagram post advertises the next event, a Mardi Gras-themed night in Nottingham, with costume rental available.
Finding a venue that will not be raided by the police is a constant challenge for the club’s organisers. A WhatsApp chat between two organisers reveals that the Nottingham event will be held in the abandoned Debenhams store in the city centre: they ‘can be loud AF and no-one will notice’. Another WhatsApp chat between a clubgoer and organiser shows the clandestine nature of access to the club. The clubgoer does not need clothing rental for this event: they have ‘nicked a pre-ration dress’ from their nan.
A glimpse of the club’s Spotify playlist shows a focus on clothes through a compilation of fashion-themed songs.
This Exploration was contributed by Maz Hedgehog, Annebella Pollen and Kara Adey (located in the UK), developed from a World contributed by Caroline Raybould, 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 authors and share their material using the same Creative Commons licence.
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