Getting old is cruel enough as it is. There’s no denying fashion advice is invaluable. We want to keep up with what’s new, what’s good, who’s doing it better and we have a lot to say on who’s getting it all wrong.
It is time you stopped believing in dressing your age
Getting old is cruel enough as it is. There’s no denying fashion advice is invaluable. We want to keep up with what’s new, what’s good, who’s doing it better and we have a lot to say on who’s getting it all wrong. An interest in fashion can be a rare way to unite the generations. Sure, some people lose interest at a certain age, and begin plundering supermarkets for acrylic “knits”, but style-conscious leanings never leave you.
Thanks to advances in diet, fitness, healthcare and, well, surgery, our ages seem to be less about acting a certain way and more just the number of candles you’re willing to risk on a cake before the emergency sprinklers fizz into action. So why do we still buy into the myth about “dressing our age”?
You will notice colours fading, styles becoming basic, and by the time you reach the 60s - if you can find someone who would be bothered writing for that age group about fashion that is - the clothes could come from pretty much anywhere, and have been made any time within the last 40 years.
Dressing according to your age is a patronising concept. But insisting people dress according to their birth certificate does them, and fashion as a whole, a great disservice.
Horrible clothes will always be horrible clothes, no matter who’s wearing them.
A huge part of fashion is making an impression on others, whether we want them to admire us, desire us, respect us, or listen to us.
Wear clothes that hang well on your body and make you feel comfortable. Dress for who you are and where you are but also who you want to be, and where you’re going. Dress for situations, possibilities, and aspirations. Personal style is a dichotomy: we should both challenge ourselves and try new things, but also work out what suits us and stick to it.
The meaning of life in a world without work
Most jobs that exist today might disappear within decades. As artificial intelligence outperforms humans in more and more tasks, it will replace humans in more and more jobs. Many new professions are likely to appear: virtual-world designers, for example. But such professions will probably require more creativity and flexibility.
The crucial problem isn’t creating new jobs. The crucial problem is creating new jobs in which humans perform better than algorithms. Consequently, by 2050 a new class of people might emerge - the useless class. People who are not just unemployed, but unemployable.
The same technology that renders humans useless might also make it feasible to feed and support the unemployable masses through some scheme of universal basic income. The real problem will then be to keep the masses occupied and content.
Virtual realities are likely to be key to providing meaning to the useless class of the post-work world. Maybe these virtual realities will be generated inside computers. Maybe they will be generated outside computers, in the shape of new ideologies. Maybe it will be a combination of the two. The possibilities are endless.
