Clothing by subscription: Does the "fashionable uniform" LOT2046 have any future
June 1 starts a new loud project designer Vadik Marmeladov - creator of Lapka's beautiful wearable environmental sensors, RUKI business incubator and dozens of conceptual apps and games for iOS. This time, the designer came up with a basic subscription service: everyone who orders LOT2046 will receive a package once a month with a set of clothes, accessories and care products - all black and without labels.
For $ 50 a month you will be sent a T-shirt, socks and shorts, and another item will be put in each package: a sweatshirt, a cap, pants, necklace, jacket, or sneakers. Owners of the extended version for $ 99 will receive additional black things - including a toothbrush, bluetooth earpiece, towel, face cream, backpack, and tattoo machine filled with ink. There is also a corporate plan: if the company has more than eight adherents of the normore, for $ 299 a month they can receive a collective package with additional accessories customized specifically for their team. It is assumed that the project will save subscribers from having to choose and buy clothes - according to the designer, this is just a shell that distracts us from the main thing.
Although so far only US residents can become LOT2046 subscribers, quite a few social network users around the world have expressed their readiness to receive and wear black things by subscription. We asked journalists, designers and potential customers what they think about the project and the concept of a uniform as clothing of the future.
In my opinion, LOT very successfully combined the two main trends of the new generation: fashion nihilism and "boxed" services, which allow us to avoid making household decisions like "what will we eat today for lunch". It is becoming more and more difficult for us to choose not only because of the general information overdose, but also because we simply lost the skill, having simplified life with mobile applications or with such services that allow “not to think”. This is neither good nor bad - this is the evolution of humanity, so it is not surprising that LOT will attract primarily the generation of 20-25 year olds.
Young people are growing under the pressure of an emerging consumer culture in which “buying a lot is bad”, “buying a little is good”; they are socialized, active, see the connection between overproduction and other problems of society, therefore they respond positively to the idea of uniforms - which, moreover, allows the brain to be freed from making another "unimportant" decision. But for them this is still a game in such “cyber-men”, an opportunity to try on the future, which they saw somewhere in the “Black Mirror” or “Doctor Who”. The older generation meets the idea of “packaged” clothes with more skepticism.
We are regularly told horror stories about the uniform, to which all the clothes will be reduced, - we even somehow got used to seeing the future like this. And we are ready to rush with our fists to an advanced consumption system, which makes us buy all new (read - unnecessary) things. However, we forget that shopping is also taxes for which budget organizations exist, and that healthy consumption in an ideal world leads to a healthy economy and a healthy existence.
Therefore, the rejection of purchases and the intention to pass all my life in one sweater, in my opinion, is not a step towards harmony. Yes, and reduce clothes to a single utilitarian function would be very sad; For many people, appearance is a way to get new emotions, it’s a creative search and an opportunity to get to know yourself better. Of course, I do not rule out the situation of an ecocatastrophe, in which one day we have to save the planet - and we will switch to fully synthetic food and clothing, which after the working day will be sent to the shredder so that by the morning the 3D printer prints a new set. But does this mean that we completely lose our emotional and creative beginnings? Most likely not, because even in LOT sets there is a tattoo machine.
This story of Vadik is as thoughtful and beautiful as everything he puts his hand to. It seems to me that it is worthwhile to follow his stories not only for the sake of design - it’s rather a story about philosophy and the spirit of the times. In 2017, when the culture of consumption is very developed and services for any reason - from ordering food to cosmetic procedures at home - become routine, it is difficult to surprise you with a subscription to everything you need. Another thing is what kind of subscription.
Vadik does not just offer things with delivery. This is a manifesto, calling not to be distracted from the most important, being content with the necessary minimum. These items are not just blank or black - they are adjusted to the smallest detail, so that every detail in its place. In my opinion, additional options are worthy of special attention (cosmetics, a few accessories, tattoo machine) - pieces for self-identification. Yet such a story more attracts people for whom appearance matters. I am impressed by the idea of the same clothes, it is like a school uniform, which does not distract from a person and makes him more “visible”, allows him to consider its features. Somely trust those who make things you love, as stated in paragraph 19 of Vadik’s manifesto.
The idea of abandoning the choice in favor of the same type of supply, when there are no pants, reminds of life in the area. It seems that the prisoners used to say this about the release: "I have been feeding the host for ten years." In both cases, it is assumed that, freed from worries about the material, a person will direct all energy to work and self-improvement, will join the people of the future. Along the way, you can get rid of hoarding. In the description, it all sounds like a totalitarian experiment. At such moments you wonder how the most accessible, everyday ways of self-expression can be an effective anti-totalitarian mechanism.
On the other hand, this painful desire for banality differs little from the modern fashion of abandoning vivid manifestations of individuality. The border between minimalism and the poverty of fantasy is now difficult to draw. Typically, such a method of non-excess is used in fashion to draw all attention to the form, but in this case only standard packaging is offered. It is difficult to expect that the masses equipped in this way will greatly enrich their experience as a result.
I am ready to consider the fashion of the future as a set of uniforms, but only as a set. A considerable part of our individuality has already been digitized, and the rest of it is not bad to consolidate at least with a series of cliches, but by no means a single uniform, from which, after using not only memories, there is no trace. In a word, the only nice moment I see in this project is the name of its creator, Vadik Marmeladov.
LOT2046 is a beautiful myth about death and overconsumption. It is woven from the way the future will be presented in the fashion of the beginning of the century: from start-ups and artificial intelligence, San Francisco and LA, Kanye and Steve Jobs, the general insanity on streetwear. With the help of this universal language, Vadik aims to instill in his audience a conscious attitude towards time. As in his previous works, the basis here is not only a myth, but a set of rules for improving life. A startup for Marmeladov is a medium for philosophical ideas, a thing is a tool of narrative.
I think that LOT has every chance of becoming a very profitable business. In the era of the "highbike" is not so difficult to sell a million gorgeous black things. Additional interest in the story is heated by "McGuffin" like tattoo machines. But not a quick economic success attracts the creator. Growth for money, he denies in his manifesto. I hope that the return on investment will be enough for his universe to develop according to the high standards that have been planned. Staying on the market as part of our own ethics, attracting not just many consumers, but adherents is the main challenge. It will turn out or not, we will see very soon - and in 2046, if we are alive.
It is difficult for me to draw objective conclusions, since I know the work of Vadik Marmeladov for a long time. In all of his projects, we see the strained ambitiousness and adolescent maximalism - here you can quote the manifesto on its website for a long time. It is evident that he is looking for a visual language that is trying to implement with the help of not the most obvious ideas.
I consider this project purely as a utopian idea from the field of art and modern culture. An image from a science fiction novel rises before our eyes: everyone wears a uniform - functionality is above all, long live a corporation, there is no self-expression and creativity, no choice, absolute zero. Although, if you think about it, we all wear uniforms for a long time. And people before us wore uniforms, and will wear it in the future. It seems we have dozens of shops within walking distance, but in reality there is not so much choice.
Photo: LOT2046