Unitards only look good if you spend half of your day in the gym.
Whereas a cape can hide a big butt.
I predict capes.
Sorry, Edna.
I’ve often hoped for the same thing. Especially in regards to hats.
I find the current trend of always dressing casually to be downright offensive in some situations. I was at a funeral a few months ago and stood in the recieving line behind a young lady wearing a red halter top and shorts. At least a dozen attendees wore jeans and t-shirts.
Remember, kids to ask yourself: WWMW?*
- What Would Marlene Wear?
No one has mentioned The Fifth Element yet?
Hologram auras; a mass of floating images that you can’t even see the wearer through ( Tuf Voyaging )
I predict that all of these will be available somewhere, in some subculture or other… and there will be NO mainstream fashion.
Actually given how gymnopobic young people (especially boys) are today their children will wither cover everything from wrists to ankles or rebel against their parents excess modesty by exposing as much flesh as possible. Tops could vanish from girls suits and boys might were suits that end above the knee or even “gasp” bath in front others!
Women’s clothes will change much more than men’s clothes. I could were a modern suit in 1912 without attracting to much attention, yet a woman who did the same would be stared at and have mothers shooing their kids away.
What about Bluetooth implants?
I’ll admit I haven’t been paying attention to fashion all my life, but since I HAVE been, it seems that clothing has gotten more decadent. girls want to dress up like princesses, not like country club tennis players or whatever. So in the next few years, things will get more decadent or in different ways. Bustles, I think, will catch on.
Hair fron the 20s to the 40s will be big again. It’s different enough to begin with that not everyone has it, but nobody’s parents wore it and nobody remembers when people wore it and it doesn’t look too stupid. A few people will do it to be different and a few more, and then it’ll become mainstream.
Flapper styles will be back too. It’s the perfect combination of slightly edgy (or can be made edgy easily), vintage, and decadent.
As for the really crazy crazy stuff… tutus, tulle, and tutu-like styles. Or perhaps tutus with jeans.
Geisha styles, perhaps. The round doll mouth is already popping up in punky and some scene kid styles, but will be more mainstream. Shortened versions of kimonos to be worns with jeans or stylized, tailored kimonos to be worn as dresses.
Men will wear santa claus beards. Full beards and moustaches. They may tease their long hair to make them look like lions.
There will be better-looking temporary tattoos and everyone will have much more extensive tattooing than they do now.
Dancer fashions tend to leak into the mainstream inexplicably. So the next two, I’d say, would be wearing capris (made from cut-off sweatpants) under shorts, wearing a leotard only on bottom with the top part hanging out over your pants, and wearing loose knit (like sweater knit. like legwarmers with a waistband.) pants. Also, leotards in general with short skirts (nobody will see your underwear) or even perhaps with wrapped dance skirts so people will walk around all the time like they’re in ballet class.
Actually, the recent Edwardian/Victorian trend had already begun years previously in Japanese street fashion, and is still going strong over there.
The magazine Kera shows pictures of girls in both complete Victorian doll-like outfits and combinations of European historical styles with contemporary articles of clothing. They’ve also got classic Japanese items with a punk sensibility, like yukatas with skull patterns. Oh yes, and the occasional tutu-like skirt with jeans… 
I’m thinking, or at least hoping, that more of that creativity will show up on this side of the world.
^^ that’s what makes me think it WILL pop up more strongly over here in the not-too-distant future. I’m not being very creative here… just mentioning stuff I think will actually catch on.
If we’re going for bizarre… animal print facial tattoos and wearing those long nightshirts in public. That would certainly make me say “wtf”
That would be so cool! You could play video clips on your clothing! Hmm. Are LCDs flexible, and could they be made thin enough to wear?
I’d like to see a return to the days of Men Wearing Hats.
And Capes would be pretty cool, but only if I had a sword-stick to go with it. And maybe a top-hat, I haven’t decided yet. 
What were capes ever for? If you want to avoid being cold and wet, a lot of things are better than a cape.
I mentioned this in another post today. Ladies only, I hope.
I noticed a new look amongst the Ladies Who Stand Outside Nasty Motels With Hopeful Looks-tweed blazers and knee length skirts. Either Librarian Kink is more prevalent than I expected, or the Unslut look is now more provocative than skirts short enough to require pube grooming.
It’s already 2006 and I haven’t gotten my silver jumpsuit with the lightning bolt on it OR the moon boots which were promised to me by every 80s movie.
So, I am hoping for this to happen soon!
Spoken like someone who’s never worn one. A full-length hooded cape is Da Bomb, yo.
The only thing that keeps me warmer than my wool-lined velvet cape is my Polartech jacket. The only thing that keeps me dryer is my rubber Mac. Those are both synthetics, and I actually forsee a return to natural materials in future.
One of many things I took away from Bruce Sterling’s excellent Heavy Weather was the clothing - disposable paper clothing that came on a tear-off roll, originally intended for weather refugees, but adopted by counterculture types as well. Coolest bit - you could run it through an inkjet for instant daily mood statements if you wanted.
Although personally, a return to ruffs, slashing, blackwork (and codpieces for men) would be most welcome. But only the earlier stand-up ruff, not the later pieplate ones.
I think we’ll see faux modesty fashions - very demure, respectable clothes, with breasts and genitalia showing.
Ever read the short story The Conglomeroid Cocktail Party?
If you’re not operating a motor vehicle or doing any work, a cape is generally warmer than a coat. Simple thought experiment, why doesn’t your blanket have sleeves?
Knee high boots for men aren’t actually absurd pretty sure some men would still be iffy about knee high boots like how they were with skinny jeans in the future and yeah pretty sure collars are already kind of popular for women in this era but mostly with gen z people.