The War

Controlling digital sovereignty. I feel the first mistake in a war is needing to control. Wars can be won without taking a single step onto the battlefield. With timing, vision, and exceptional creative execution, digital wonders can be manifested, so grand, people forgot a war even started or existed in the first place.

So, what is digital sovereignty, what is this issue with social networks, online identities, etc? In a data mined culture, thoughts, personality, and democracy is at a crossroads when words are shared online and advertisements are tuned. In an attention economy driven by tactics powered by status and unethical gamification we have lost the arts, but it is returning.

A profound renaissance era that will change politics, create new genres, empower individuals, and redefine couture during an inevitable merger with technology. The idea of socialization will change virtually and physically, but guided by those who did not impose the problems we witness today. Platforms driven by principle and craft and hardware shepherded by institutions of trust that have maintained respect for the arts. The world then changes on its own around them. No kicking or screaming, no crying or rage. Because the wind changed course and a ship’s sails need to adjust in order to move.

The complex with the new era of interaction is the problem of multiple devices. Not just 1 smart phone. But, 5 rings. Not just a smart phone and a watch, but rings and bangles. Not just a smart phone, watch and glasses, but rings, bangles, and earrings. Is the market ready to manage so many individual pieces. Are these pieces to be exclusive to a single entry point or multi platform. Do people even want to be covered in technology 12 hours a day? Will they allow a metamorphosis to consume their skin rather than their thoughts and personality this time around. Will they be able to take it off?

This is why I do not shy away from hard to discuss topics such as consent and privacy. Topics we should be discussing further, diving deeper into rather than pushing away and/or judging the messengers who laid out the maps. There’s an art to influencing direction around such, subtler and more approachable ways. Wearing the solutions is one of them. I am very optimistic about the future, but anxious more-so to be a part of what may become a new future for fashion. And potentially a part of a line of American Fashion Houses that put European influence, on wearable tech, to the test.