On Swedish television the other day, a fashion editor stated (for which time?) that trends are cyclic, repeating themselves every 20 years. That trend-oriented universal truth, or myth, might be a way to predict trends.

But to predict the future of the entire fashion industry, there are other aspects to consider than trend cycles. In an attempt to capture the zeitgeist and learn something about the new era of fashion, I asked industry insiders about their thoughts on fashion today and tomorrow.

We will keep asking this question, so stay tuned.

Photographer: Albin Heyman

DANICA KRAGIC
Professor of Robotics and Artificial intelligence at Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm.

Q: How do you see fashion today?
A: We are facing many challenges today regarding the number of clothes we produce, the frequency with which we wear our clothes, and the way we recycle our clothes. So yes, there is room for improvement.

Q: What will fashion be like in 50 years?
A: I once said that we will have come far if we eat what we wear and wear what we eat. It might sound odd, but I think we can find a way to create fashion that can be used for other purposes, maybe not to eat, but clothes that can easily be recycled for other purposes. I hope that the research on new materials will lead to biologically based materials making it easier for the clothes to recycle themselves.

Photographer: Albin Heyman

AUDREY HU
Stylist and Creative Consultant, Paris.

Q: How do you see fashion today?
A: To me, fashion today is about being very experimental. Not only with the designs themselves but also with the material. Nowadays everyone is trying to be sustainable and being experimental with that as well. Fashion is about experimenting and daring to try.

Q: What will fashion be like in 50 years?
A: I still think it will have a lot to do with the actual material. I know people are experimenting with NFT now but still, I think it will be more about finding what's around you, what you can outsource from what’s already there, and then reusing it and inventing it. It’s still going to be the same as today, but in new ways and with new materials.

Photographer: Vanessa Tryde

FUMINA TSUJI
Contributing Fashion Editor Elle Japan, based in Copenhagen.

Q: How do you see fashion today?
A: It’s such a big question. As of now, I’m working in the fashion industry, but in the beginning, I was just a super big fan of fashion. I think fashion today is our best way to express ourselves and our sense of art.

Q: What will fashion be like in 50 years?
A: I hope it’s getting much more sustainable. Hopefully, the technology will be developing. Fashion and technology should be intertwined. I hope we can enjoy fashion in a sustainable way, and also in a practical way.

Photographer: Albin Heyman

LISA LANG
Director Policy and EU Affairs Orchestrator, Brussels.

Q: How do you see fashion today?
A: First of all, it’s a definition. When we talk about fashion it’s completely divided between what fashion is – and the fashion industry. And that is a big division. The industry is in a lot of trouble. They haven’t done their homework. They will get so slammed, left, right and centre, on EU legislation to a very high degree. The current fashion industry won’t exist as it is in 15 years. Probably faster. Fashion, as it is fashion, will always prevail. Because fashion brings us together, fashion is close to people, it has its own narrative where it’s blind to borders and it’s there to bring us all together. Fashion is a tool for diversity, and at the moment trapped in a completely dysfunctional industry. But that one will die because it has to.

Q: What will fashion be like in 50 years?
A: Frankly, I think that in 50 years we have to be so sustainable and we probably will have outports on Mars, on Venus or underneath the Ocean because we will just have to learn to be far more sustainable. In 50 years we really are going to grow and eat our clothes. There will be a fully circular economy, full circle because we simply have to. There will be far less humans in the world. Products and also fashion will have a far higher value because we have to make sure that we consume less. We have to be in full cycle with nature because mother earth is really upset with us at the moment and she lets us know that. The value of a single item will be so important and everything that we consume has to go back into the circle. What we see now is just a tiny, tiny glimpse of where we have to go to. The question is also if we even exist in 50 years depending on how much damage we have done to the environment. Because it is irreversible already. I think the definition of clothes doesn’t work anymore. Second skin is being fully in the metaverse. Let’s see if the digital economy will survive because they are also very energy hungry. Or maybe we won’t be wearing clothes anymore. What’s the purpose of that?

Photographer: Vanessa Tryde

SHAI BELARDI
Fashion Consultant, Stockholm.

Q: How do you see fashion today?
A: It depends on the viewer. I think fashion is a personal journey for everyone if that makes sense. It depends on what that consumer is looking for at that particular time. I think fashion is changing and it’s inevitable, it’s going in a new direction and I think Sweden is absolutely the future for that and has been for a long time. So fashion for me is change, if I have to use one word.

Q: What will fashion be like in 50 years?
A: It all depends on how the world would look like. I think that if fashion exists, and it will always exist of course if I wouldn’t make a wild guess there is going to be a more recycling way of thinking, more upcycling but also personal upcycling. People will use their already purchased pieces and remake them themselves. And I also believe that people are going to start trading fashion more, among themselves. Vintage pieces will be important from the point of view that things are not going to be made the way they used to be made.