Brave New World: The Future-Nature Guide

In our new collection for Spring/Summer 2018, we’ve drawn inspiration from the confluence of two disparate forces: technology and nature. Its influence shows through in many ways both subtle and more direct - In natural fabrics given tech treatments to imbue crease and water resistance or in organic patterns married with geometrics and stripes or in our trademark sharp formal tailoring given a futuristic edge with forward-looking styling.

 

Whether in fashion or the wider culture, the relationship between technology and nature is an endless source of scientific, intellectual and creative fascination. Elsewhere, creators have allowed this influence to seep into their work through a dazzling variety of media. Here’s our round-up of the finest creative work to embrace the combination of tech and nature.

 

Brave New World (1932) – Aldous Huxley

Arguably the great science fiction novel of the 20th century, rivalling even Orwell’s 1984, Huxley’s vision of a sedated, micro-engineered future never paints a straightforward dystopia nor rosy utopia. Rather, Huxley presents us with a richly detailed world in which pleasure is mediated, pain is numbed and dissent is suppressed. Yes, overall the writer leaves us in no doubt that this is not a future towards which we want to be working, but this is no one-dimensional hellscape. Huxley is enthralled by the possibility of future technology, and clearly revels in its description, yet his ability to anticipate its dangers is uncanny. It’s a cliché to assert that this and 1984 are frighteningly prescient of our time, but there’s a reason both novels still chill present day readers.

 

Brave New World 

 

 

 

Her (2013) – dir. Spike Jonze

Like Brave New World, Spike Jonze’s 2013 film, Her, largely shies away from impressing a predetermined opinion on technology’s continued advancement into every area of our lives. Preferring to present the viewer with a series of events that are entirely imaginable based on how far technology has advanced into our current lives.

As Joaquin Phoenix’s Theodore falls in love with his increasingly cognisant OS, we too are enchanted by the quirkiness of the semi-familiar world in which he lives, and that emotional investment makes the trauma that ultimately besets him all the more potent. Aside from its affecting, perfectly-paced plot, this is a work of striking visual beauty, from which the organic has not been simply banished, as in the dark cyberpunk aesthetic of Blade Runner, but assimilated by the manmade environment. In this future, the possibilities may be dangerous, but they sure are stunning to look at.

 

Her (2013) – dir. Spike Jonze

 

 

 

James Holden & The Animal Spirits (2017, eponymous, Border Community)

The British music producer, James Holden, has forged an enviable career upon innovative, leftfield techno, trance and electronica, pushing the conventions of his chosen genres to reach adventurous new heights with each record. In this collaborative album with the Animal Spirits, an ensemble whose rolling, broiling improvisation functions as a pitch-perfect counterpoint to Holden’s Vangelis-like synths and tendencies towards the sonically cosmic, he has created a record that feels both timeless in its scope, and unmistakably progressive (in the purest, least indulgent sense of that word) in its vision.

Check out a few of his tracks on our weekly playlist – along with a few other bands who are working with the future nature theme here.

 

James Holden & The Animal Spirits (2017, eponymous, Border Community)

 

 

 

Saga by Brian K Vaughn and Fiona Staples


The ongoing comic series by Brian K Vaughn (Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina, Runaways) is the story of one young family’s struggle to survive in a chaotic, colourful and in some case just downright bizarre galaxy far, far away. Taking cues from Star Wars, Romeo & Juliet and Flash Gordon, mixed with Vaughn’s trademark brand of wry adult humour, the series clashes a very human (even if the main characters aren’t actually humans) coming of age drama with high technology, intergalactic travel and ancient sex magic. The family at the centre of the story come from two warring races, one highly advanced techno warriors and the other paganistic magic users who fall in love, run away and have a baby. The culture clash at the heart of this space-age family drama is a recurring theme in the series and Fiona Staples does as fantastic a job of visualising and presenting this for us. Alana and Marko have marital ups and downs, disapproving in-laws and petty arguments like any couple but played out against an enormous space opera which is cinematic, hilarious and highly recommended.

 

Saga by Brian K Vaughn and Fiona Staples

 

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