Designing clothes for the future - inspired by the book, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
and based on current cultural, social, and scientific developments
1. Read the book (Brave New World by Aldous Huxley) 2. Research to understand the exhibit theme. 3. This guide can help! Fall 2018
Definition: Dystopian - relating to a state or society that is dehumanizing, unjust, unpleasant, and/or frightening. Opposite of utopian.
Several copies of the book are available in the FIT Library. It's also available in full text online from multiple free sources. Links to some of these are below.
Below: Audiobook
For more, read Huxley's Brave New World Revisited (first published in 1958), a nonfiction exploration of the themes in his novel Brave New World.
Search by person's name, subject, place, etc.
The book Brave New World describes a future world, set some 600 years beyond the original 1932 publication date. It's a world with many issues - genetic engineering, psychological manipulation, sleep learning, control of community, destruction of family, division of society into classes, mindless consumption, overpopulation, totalitarianism, and much more.
Using the world of Brave New World to spark your imagination, your job is to design fashion for a future world, a world of the year 2050 or beyond. Base your designs on cultural issues, societal problems, and scientific developments, such as those mentioned above, or others that you may find in your readings and research.
And remember - designer collections may also be inspiring. Check out recent Pierre Balmain collections and slightly less recent Kenzo menswear collections, inspired by the future.
This theme is open for interpretation. It's a conceptual theme, requiring a rigorous approach and standards of excellence in concept and execution. You have freedom of design - but your design research and development is of key importance.
Start your research with one of these -
E-books and scholarly articles on fashion topics. It also offers an extensive image collection including 1400+ selections from CoPA (Commercial Pattern Archive 1868 to 2000) and a fashion museum directory.
Use an incognito browser to access this resource. Click to watch video.
Continue with more specific fashion databases:
Contains every issue of Vogue from 1892 to present. Each issue can be browsed cover-to-cover in searchable full-text format. Each page and image is reproduced in high-resolution color with indexing, enabling images to be searched by garment type, designer, and brand names, among others. All covers, advertisements, fold outs and pictorial features are captured as separate documents,which are also indexed, searchable, and viewable in high-resolution color.
Spanning almost 40 years, this collection includes over 1,200 hours of videos of runway shows, designer profiles, and documentary films including coverage of the major fashion weeks in Milan, Paris, New York and London, as well as Miami swim and New York bridal collections.
Try these museum websites:
Use to look up theme, shape, detail, designer & get runway photos & inspiration for your designs!
Trend reports & forecasting for fashion.
Our WGSN subscription includes access to Fashion, Interiors, and Coloro (Workspace only). Insight is no longer offered as a separate section, but the content is featured across WGSN.
We do not have access to Beauty, Food & Drink, Consumer Tech, Sports & Outdoor, Barometer, Advisory
Use an incognito browser to access this resource.
Trend reports & forecasting for fashion.
Use the password listed for Doneger
To access Peclers(+):
Use activation code: 1GP8YF7I
Use your FIT email address
For "position" type student or employee job title
New users may set up an account by clicking on “Log In” at the upper right corner and following the prompts.
Faculty may book class tours to visit Material Connexion. Appointments are required. Please contact Lana Bittman - lana_bittman[at]fitnyc.edu for details.