NOMADISM

on the road to fashion

 

 

 

now that our smartphones and tablets and pocketbooks have made us wireless and have set us free we are able to work everywhere and anytime we want; sitting down in a cafĂ©, laying still in bed, walking in the fields, doing shopping, in flight and in waiting or at the kitchen table to search for some recipes at the same time. as a result we no longer need a desk or an office and are able to completely reinvent our existence and timetables. borders of working time and leisure time have faded as we decide on our own timetables and priorities. we are free to roam and wander…

 

under this influence we will again become nomadic and are without knowing it going back to the beginning of mankind when our species would roam and wander, living off hunting and gathering; at times being pastoral shepherds and seasonal farmers.

the prognosis is that our species will in fact become super nomads with our world as their field of action, and maybe some other planets as our pastime pleasure. the fact that business has become entirely universal will make our work global, with many travels and short stays in other countries and city-states; and as always fashion and design sense the beat of these new nomads to come.

fashion will therefore become nomadic and go on the road for inspirations from all itinerate tribes and migrant movements in history; from the first pilgrims and pioneers to the most recent urban nomads, from the first adventurers to the contemporary campers and from the historical migrants to the futuristic mind travellers.

 

designers will be inspired by bedouin tribes and songline aesthetics to create moving and floating styles meant for a dynamic life amongst portable, flexible and multifunctional objects and electronics, living life with smart tablets and even smarter textiles to lounge in relaxing landscaped interiors.

 

the caravan is the icon of historical as well as contemporary mobility; it means freedom as well as comfort, signals adventure and safety all at the same time. therefore we see a revival of this compact dwelling in hotel design, food distribution and fashion retail. the relative costs of the cabin on wheels and the mobility it entails make the camper and caravan the newest asset of mobile living and working.

able to turn around a generation and to reinvent what again will become the marketplace; this time in the analog world!

 

the latest developments in social structures in the world at large resemble more and more the fluid and interactive groups of still existing nomadism, where we all become families of hyper nomads that are constantly on the move and thus discover that trust, cooperation and delegation, even at the distance and enabled by skype, are the secret ingredients for a new social order that believes in humans and their freedom to roam as long as the basic rules are so well written and understood that they become almost part of our dna, as if embedded in our being.

 

after a long period of mad mapping and super controlling of all information which has resulted in a world which is governed by data and stifled by statistics, we might read this trend as a return to a better and freer society in which the positive qualities of man will outweigh the negative ones.

 

drifting without purpose, the mind is invited and allowed to walk about and let go which helps to create space for new thoughts and ideas, focussing on new future plans; the aimlessness of wandering could be a newer way to create, going astray in extraordinary territories of the brain. recent studies have shown that the distracted wandering mind is enhances the working memory and is therefore extremely positive and maybe even vital.

 

wander!

 

paris 12/06/12

Lidewij Edelkoort