Mo Kim

It’s the second weekend – and the second double fashion feature! Both Saturday and Sunday’s themes pushed me to get creative with interpretation, giving me lots of room to play with different styles before settling on my final outfits. What’s most interesting about these two themes, though, is how they both engage anxieties and anticipation about our future in different ways.

Saturday’s theme was techwear, which unlike what I thought, was NOT in fact how Silicon Valley bros dress. Techwear is Gore-Tex jackets; sleek black compression tops; flowy pants; waterproof boots. It’s simple, functional, and built to last. It’s also incredibly futuristic: many of the participants in Reddit’s techwear community dress like main characters from a cyberpunk movie. Or maybe they’re dressed for a future that each new development in computer science, whether self-driving cars or open-source AI, gets us a little closer to.

The truth is, this future feels bleak to me – and clearly to many people my age. This anxiety about what the world will look like in 50 years, or maybe even 5 years, drives techwear’s appeal: as GQ journalist Keegan Brady writes in an article exploring techwear’s rise to mainstream popularity, “In a time of unceasing, cataclysmic ecological disasters, techwear garments are inherently sustainable: they are built to last.” As our generation come to reckon with the impact of our society’s reckless consumption of natural resources and destruction of long-standing ecosystems in the name of higher profits and production, our fashion choices have evolved with our thinking. Instead of pursuing fast fashion trends (and clothes) that die out in the span of months, we’re choosing items that have practical value; moreover, we’re choosing items that help us feel prepared for the social and environmental changes we will have to face together in the near-future.

I know that eventually, I want to be more involved in collective actions and organizing that can make a difference for our generation and future generations; for now, though, I’m starting to become more conscientious and thoughtful about my habits. One promise I made to myself when starting this challenge is that for this month, I’m only wearing what’s already in my closet: I think chasing trends – even ones like techwear – inspire people to make impulse purchases that perpetuate a destructive cycle of endless production and consumption. I’m learning how much I can already do with what I’ve already got, and that makes me want to take better care of the clothes I have right now (and stick to buying things I know I’ll really love), rather than always yearning for that one theoretical garment that will fill the void in my heart.

Meanwhile, Sunday’s theme hearkens back to a historical era where people’s anxieties feel almost charmingly innocent by today’s standards: Y2K. Hard to believe now, but there was once a time between the years 1999 and 2000 when people genuinely believed computers were so simple that having to roll over their clocks from one millennium to the next would cause their systems to crash, leading to widespread havoc. This, of course, never happened, but the culture of anticipation and speculation around what life in the fabulous 2000s might look like did lead to some amusing fashion trends!

What fascinates me about this era of fashion is the many different subcultures that emerged from it: as this Stitch Fix blog points out, there was a style for everyone, from colorful cyber geeks to hip-hop aspirants to punk rockers to polished preppies. The future was scary, but it was also completely unwritten, which meant everyone had the power to craft the new millennium they wanted to live in. As someone who grew up in the 2000s (and early 2010s) myself, I remember that cocktail or trepidation and ecstasy brewing in my stomach: I saw in my teenage years the misguided War on Terror in the Middle East, the election of America’s first black president, and the eruption of the Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter movements. I didn’t fully understand this world yet, but I knew change was coming, and I wanted to be part of it.

That explains why, despite all the options I had for the Y2K theme, I gravitated towards my old reliable punk-rock staples: a graphic tee layered over a long-sleeve, a flannel jacket on top, and jeans and runners to round out the look. Despite my upbringing as a studious and obedient pastor’s kid, I’ve always had a bit of a rebellious streak, informed largely by the music I listened to. Bands like 65daysofstatic, Maybeshewill, and Rise Against (hell, I’ll throw in Linkin Park, too) served as my political awakening, helping me hone my compassion for those struggling around me into rage against the machine that manufactured their suffering. I may not be in high school anymore, but I’ll always be a punkass kid at heart, and I’ll always do my best to fight for those around me so we can better the world we share together. On the hard days, my clothes feel like armor – an ensemble that gives me the nerve and spunk to keep up the battle.

Thinking about the future often depresses me: I often wonder if this is going to be the end of the world after all. But with the right outlook (and the right outfit), maybe it doesn’t have to be.

Steal the look(s):

Coming tomorrow: I find the biggest, loosest t-shirt in my dresser and go ham.