Fashion of the Future

I used to find it hilarious when I'd watch films like Escape from New York, Demolition Man, or Johnny Mnemonic or any other films depicting the future and you'd see all the crazy clothes...and it just never seemed "futuristic" to me. I don't know, it all seemed so grounded in the fashions of now. It was more like they took all the worst elements of 80s and 90s fashion and decided that the future would love these terrible abortions of a fashion idea, and then some how add more dayglo and neon and awkward cuts of fabric, and there ya go.

However, nowadays, as I flip through the newest Urban Outfitters catalog (I have no fucking idea how they keep finding me. I put myself on that no catalogs list, and somehow I'm getting their catalog again 3 months later), or just walking down the streets of New York, period, I begin to think that maybe I was the stupid one for laughing. I see Wesley Snipes and his ridiculous ass platinum blond hair and his campy looking get up and I swear I might've seen someone in that getup, unironically, in some photo from Last Night's Party. Take any leather and chains future gang members, and you got a party in Bushwick right there.

On another note, I've lately been really into reading about colors. I'll randomly do some Wikipedia reading, but colors are proving to be fun. I also read this site too, that's all about colors through history. They have their own weird history and reasons for having names and whatnot, and I don't know, it's just interesting. Or you find out that a certain color no longer exists because color can go FUCKING EXTINCT because they ran out of a mineral or a source for that color a long time ago. I think that's just crazy. I mean, the fact that are colors that can no longer be recreated? Well, I guess they can somehow create a facsimile, but what about colors that stopped existing long ago where you might be able to see it in an old painting or something like that, but you can't be sure that's the exact color you're looking at that some other person from 200 years ago was looking at? Am I weird for thinking that's just really neat? Anyway, my latest fascination is with Paris Green. For one thing, it's poisonous. Also, it's not used in paints anymore because it's poisonous, but the fact that you can no longer get that same vibrant Emerald Green without it tickles that special part in my brain.

The more I think about it, I wonder if it's because little tidbits like these take me back to when I was younger, and I still believed something like magical realism was pretty damn plausible in the world. I mean just read the section on toxicity for Scheele's Green.