Litro #137: Future Fashions

by Dan Coxon (Editor), Claire Smith (Contributor), Ian Sales (Contributor)

"She glided along the catwalk, naked, twelve feet tall with limbs so slender it seemed physically impossible she could be upright or walking. Her skin was a velvet blackness that absorbed all light and reflected none, giving high contrast to an iridescent oil slick rainbow tattoo that flowed over her body." From 'Catwalk' by Ivor W. Hartmann

For the last hundred years, we have been constantly imagining – and reimagining – our destiny. Science fiction writers and directors have projected mankind into the future through new worlds, new cityscapes – and, of course, new fashions. The fashion industry has always looked to the future for inspiration, so it’s no surprise that designers have often been involved in creating these sci-fi visions. Jean-Paul Gaultier, Paco Rabanne and Pierre Cardin have all lent their visual style to the imagined societies we have seen on film. From Barbarella’s intergalactic beachwear to Katniss Everdeen’s combustible evening gown, fashion shapes the way we view mankind’s future.

As London Fashion Week brings the clothes of tomorrow to the catwalk, Litro #137 also puts science fiction’s Future Fashions in the spotlight. We celebrate some of the iconic designs of the last fifty years, and imagine where the fashion industry might end up in the near (or distant) future...

Read more of Litro #137: Future Fashions here.

Unknown Binding

First published September 1, 2014

About the author

Dan Coxon is an award-winning editor and writer based in London. His non-fiction anthology Writing The Uncanny (co-edited with Richard V. Hirst) won the British Fantasy Award for Best Non-Fiction 2022, while his short story collection Only The Broken Remain (Black Shuck Books) was shortlisted for two British Fantasy Awards in 2021 (Best Collection, Best Newcomer). In 2018 his anthology of British folk-horror, This Dreaming Isle (Unsung Stories), was shortlisted for a British Fantasy Award and a Shirley Jackson Award. His short stories have appeared in various anthologies, including Nox Pareidolia, Beyond the Veil, Mother: Tales of Love and Terror and Fiends in the Furrows III. His latest anthology - Isolation - was published by Titan Books in September 2022.