A Mini Encyclopaedia Of Future-Proof Curios

AKA the fall/winter 2021 trends that foretell what’s going to matter most in fashion (and the world)

- Gordon Ng & Keng Yang Shuen

BIOTEXTILES

Short for biodegradable textiles, this refers to materials engineered out of organic sources such as bacteria, algae, animal cells or yeast. It’s not new in material science, but real-life applications have been largely limited to prototypes with scalability and refinement still an issue. That has not stopped some of luxury’s biggest names from delving into them though and, more significantly, incorporating them into pieces that we can actually buy.

This season, Hermes – a name synonymous with exquisite leather – for example has released the Victoria (this page), a handsome duffel crafted partly out of Sylvania. Created with the Californian start-up Mycoworks that finesses materials out of mycelium (read: the root structure of mushrooms), this leather alternative is tanned and finished in the maison’s workshops in France to enhance its durability. The plan is for the label to use it alongside its existing line-up of luxurious skins.

Over at Cartier, the latest generation of the signature Tank Must (opposite) aren’t just the brand’s first solar-powered timepieces. They also debut a leather-esque strap that comprises zilch animal parts and is instead 40 per cent plant matter produced using waste from apples grown for the food industry in Switzerland, Germany and Italy. According to the brand, this – as compared to manufacturing a traditional watch strap – helps cut down its carbon footprint by six times; water usage by up to 10 litres; and conserves energy equivalent to that needed for charging 200 smartphones.