Trend Union Trends & Textiles AW 2027/28 - "Tradition"
This book is the result of my personal quest to understand our times and read the chaotic,
barbaric, irrational turmoil we are living through. Gradually, the world is shifting to the
right, and then to the extreme right, almost unnoticed sometimes. The Silicon Six* are
planning the overhaul of democracy and the founding of feudal provinces and city states,
to literally divide and govern society while avoiding paying taxes. To overrule we the
people; a moment when we will have to abandon our sovereignty to the hegemony of AGI.
Yet, the reason the world is turning to extremes and why governments are becoming
authoritarian must have other reasons than purely political and economic ones.
I believe this is the result of the long loss of traditions that have left us bereft of emotions,
of celebrations and rituals, of religions and spiritual practices, of family and even friends,
of social cohesion. The digital age has already exacerbated our ongoing lack of purpose and
managed to turn people into introverted citizens, unable to meet and flirt, uninterested in
having sex and unwilling to congregate.
We therefore must design innovated traditions and curated conventions that are at
once steeped in historic mores and manners, yet also completely contemporary and
irreverent, blending periods, mixing ages and merging ancestral knowledge with intelligent
technology. Something able to bring us together again. Inviting us to bond.
As always, fashion is proposing several answers to make people confident and self-aware,
through perfected style insights. With a vengeance, we will embrace conventional clothes
and spiritual garments, nostalgic outfits, magic crafts, ritual robes and outdoor outfits
that can withstand wear and tear and time. This urgent desire to give form to innovated
traditions might introduce an amazing fashion revival in its own right, igniting a wish to
dress up and play the part.
– Lidewij Edelkoort
Paris, Thanksgiving, 2025
Published in limited quantities and crafted in the heart of Paris, it is a true collector's item.
Trend Union Trends is released biannually.
