In the 1960s the dawning of the Age of Aquarius was hailed as an era of great individual freedom. Fashion designers like Pierre Cardin and Andre Courreges showed space-orientated, futuristic designs. Others like Paco Rabanne made clothes from materials such as moulded plastic and metals, forgoing the traditional requirement for needle and thread and questioning retained ideas about garment construction. These designers, like Sir Thomas More, were anticipating a future time that would, indeed, have altered by that time’s arrival. Tellingly, the clothes of the mid-60s were immediately followed by a romantic revival, which reflected both the prevailing drug culture and ‘Anti-Vietnam’ sentiments of the time. Continuing this uncertainty, fashion’s pre and post-millennium tensions have been a continual re-appraisal of fashion throughout the ages – in particular the latter decades of the 20th Century.
At closer scrutiny, the Aquarian Age looks much more like the age of the group. Human behaviour may be freer than it ever was but CCTV watches its every move on many street corners. Our every other movement tracked by recorded mobile phone usage and credit card payments. And now our general appearance too, is ever more casual and systemic; the American sportswear aesthetic has been exported alongside globalisation and is seen in many developing countries as an ‘aspirational look’. Maybe it’s our fear of sticking out – especially with so many others watching. Or maybe as technology pushes ideas of life into a hyper-speed of new possibilities, fashion’s role as a barometer of change in society is about to end.