I have given some thought to what I think might be some future trends in dress. The prospects frighten me.
Perhaps I am a doomsday-prophet, a stormcrow, but the most likely scenarios, to me, are continued deterioration of dress.
First, I consider past trends in dress, over the centuries. The business suit of today, a form of semi-formal dress, was originally leisure wear. Over the centuries, formal dress deteriorated into the adoption of leisure wear as this century's formal dress. Even the tuxedo, today's formal wear, is used only for the most formal and ceremonious occasions. With the advent of business casual, and even casual (leisure - jeans and t-shirts) clothing infiltrating business, the trend seems to be, again, the adoption of leisure wear as formal wear.
Let's take this a bit further.
We have seen example after example of the deterioration of the moral values of civilizations down through history. The most obvious example of this trend in human civilization is the Roman Empire (though it may be seen in the history of the Greeks, as well). With the deterioration of moral values, behavior and dress became less modest. We can see this taking place in our own society, as well.
Compared with the dress standards of the turn of the last century, today's dress is shocking and immodest. How might this trend over the last century continue to affect us in our future? There is a growing tendency to show more and more flesh, dressing less and less modestly. Combine with this, the overturning of laws which mandate modesty in dress (take, for example, New York State's law allowing women to go bare-chested in public any time a man can go bare-chested in public). The trend may be moving toward more minimal coverage, and perhaps even public nudity -- at least among young people.
The call for legalization of public nudity has gone out, all over the country.
And further...
We are told of pollution, we are told of shortages of resources. We watch the prices rise as our salaries and wages decline. Many are forced to purchase clothing of poor quality, or the most basic of clothing. Will we wear less in order to save money? Will we wear less in order to save resources? Will we wear less in order to cope with increasing temperatures due to the greenhouse effect? One hundred eleven degree heat is hard to take in fabric coverings. I wonder.
The other extreme may rear its ugly head, and we become puritanical in our dress, in open rebellion against the rising tide of immodesty. Isn't that what happens when the lowest point is reached in human moral decay? Will we be forced to wear burka-like attire to either protect ourselves from immodesty or from increasing UV radiation from the sun due to a deteriorating ozone layer?
These are questions which I cannot answer, but one thing is for sure -- now that I have taken this class, I will be more aware, in the future, of clothing trends, and will be watching with great interest. However, before public nudity becomes the norm, I will be old enough to have lost both my youthful body (as if I have one now???), and sharp eyesight. I don't know whether to be disappointed or not.
