During the 2010s in World 168, young people drove a radical shift first towards performative ironing. The rise of ironing performances on social media was followed by trends for choreographed ironing to music that swept the globe. Policy was introduced to put irons in public spaces like libraries, and high street brands sold wrinkled clothes in an effort to stay relevant to young people.
Ironers can book a public ironing booth in advance or just turn up. Local enthusiasts and experts are around to support, and short classes are offered for free. Young people influence and inspire each other, creating localised trends that diverge from mainstream ironing techniques. The surge of creativity prompts people to bring other crumpled items into their ironing, so that waste and recycling bins are emptier than ever before.
What if …
ironing became a performance art?
Issue:
busy lives and having no time for clothing care
Inspiration:
World 30 (remixed) and comment from another participant at remix workshop
This World was contributed by Barbara Brownie (located in Bedfordshire, UK), developed from a World contributed by Becca Warner, 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!