You might have seen it, but you may not know what it’s called. Ever noticed the outfits of some role-playing video games? Think Final Fantasy or Anime-inspired games. It’s called Dystopia or Cyberpunk fashion. A dystopia is a society of undesirable or frightening. It is a strident contrast to Thomas More’s Utopia – with nearly perfect qualities. The Dystopian fashion, on the other hand, is a well put together kind of rough. Think neural jack and Shemagh scarves. With the collapse of urban social structure gives a further path to such ‘unique’ fashion pieces. Clothing is becoming more unconventional, as creatives and designers are drawing inspirations from different silhouettes and turning the unconventional to conventional. Rick Owen’s DRKSHDW – a Paris-based line of American designer, Rick Owens. A line that features unorthodox pieces including, sporadic prints, experimental shape, monochrome color palette, and no accessories.
Dystopian pieces are not for typical departmental purchases. Most of the designers that stray into this type of fashion have their websites catering to their unique visitors and buyers. Described by Vogue as ‘The future of Seoul fashion’ Bajowoo has his brand 99%IS which stocks on its website and ships outside Seoul. This is also similar to American, Bulgarian-owned Demobaza, a cyberpunk brand. Dystopian fashion is bland – earth-toned, just in blacks, whites, and greys.
Will Nigeria Adopt?
Although the Nigerian fashion scene poses great chunk to the $31 billion industry, but our fashion is still in its infancy. Nigerian brand, Tokyo James seems to be towing along those lines. His designs feature a post-apocalyptic convention, which is indeed futuristic. Dystopian pieces grossly feature Neoprene, Cotton, and Denim. Tokyo James includes knitwear usage and leather (still very much dystopian).
There is a dystopian epidemic crawling into even the conventional designer’s closets – they’re now mixing both silhouettes. Dystopian fashion has clearly been around for a while, but it’s just crawling into the consciousness of the public.
It’s hard to predict which will key into the futuristic approach but we do have our binoculars in hand.
