Revisiting Space: Geometry, Again

In their 2000 publication, Fashion: A Crash Course, Andrew Tucker and Tamsin Kingswell prophecy the direction of 21st century fashion--as an extended exploration of 1960's "Space Age" modernism.

Within this genre, the concept of androids in particular has gained considerable popularity from 2008 until now.

Anyone who keeps up with pop culture will have noticed, for example, the strange accessories that blur the line between human and robot in recent music videos: Beyonce's arm of steel in "Single Ladies" or the network of machinery under Christina Aguilera's skin on the cover of her album, "Not Myself Tonight."

This curious and rather perplexing phenomenon, to say the least, has been dissected at length by pop culture scholars and tin foil hat wearers alike. However, today's entry does not concern itself with the dialogue emerging from the notion of robotics (I see the fashion trend as a mishmash of mod and military, myself), but aims to explore, a smaller, concurrent phenomenon.

In the past two years, science-fictive fashion has existed as a nod to the avant-garde, an amusing development considering how gauche sci-fi was in the 90s; now, however, many embrace Space-wear over Sarah McLachlan-inspired hippie skirts, cheap velvet, or lace.

For we are now approaching the end of 2010 and the "transhumanist" fashion agenda (as some term it) begins to drain to its dregs, leaving us with the fundamentals of design.

Thus, we find ourselves again at square one, literally. Geometry.

Recall, for example, La Roux's popular 2009 hit "Bulletproof." Her music video concentrates at length on the dimensions of space itself and engages with a variety of mind-bending ocular concepts. (To see the video, visit this link, as embedding has been disabled http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUsbpmQ9-mc)

We witness, for example, the breakdown and transformation of shapes, a process that emphasizes lines and renders structures transparent to the eye. Meanwhile, the artist, who plays second-fiddle to her setting, sports an androgynous but decidedly feminine look, with playful crayola streaks across her eyes; all around her, blocks of color rise and float as the shapes they are tethered to merge or detach to form something into new:





Teen Vogue, ever aware of small trends like this, demonstrates how one can achieve the geometric look in their September 2010 issue:



Although I certainly hated the subject in school, geometry and any media that manipulates shapes and perspective never fails to capture my attention. A reconfiguring of the deconstructed look, perhaps, and a celebration of the 90's enthusiasm for bright Lisa Frank colors, "Neo-Geo" has reinvigorated Space Age fashion and rescued it from the dead seriousness of military-wear. Wherever mod goes next, I hope that it remains whimsical...for a little while at least.

Elle Fanning