Futurist Modularity

The Futurists are an interesting bunch. They fetishized technology, war, pranks in general and violence. Hum…what is there not to like? Of interest is their explorations in fashion, particularly Giacomo Balla’s modular suit. Ages ahead of Andrew Bolton’s Supermodern Wardrobe (2002) in which the author argues that modern life is increasingly predicated on a need to respond to “the physical and psychological demands of transitional spaces such as roads, railways, airports and the street”, Balla’s 1914 suit proposed a modular system that could be reconfigured ad-hoc to respond to changing social and environmental contexts. Akin to modern society’s enchantment with urban drift (Baudelaire’s Flaneur; Debord’s Dérivist) the Futurist envisioned a living in which we would want and require constant sartorial change, especially in relationship to our environments. Isn’t that what wearables are all about?