With rampant AI on the loose and aliens entering the mainstream stratosphere, the idea of transhumanism, which delves into an ideal that advocates the use of technological modifications to enhance human functioning, and evolutionary beauty aesthetics have been reflecting in trends and micro-trends.
One of its branches delved into pendant heavy and nature-engineered motifs, mimicking the organic shapes of tropical flowers, foliage, exoskeletons, and natural forms found on earth, tapping into both ideas of transhumanism as well as biomimicry.
Concept stores like APOC hosts a whole range of brands serving this aesthetic, featuring artists and designers exploring the alchemical relationships between nature, humans, memories, ecological and technological debris, and technologically driven evolution, often characterised by themes of surrealism and incoherency.
On the other hand, at the wake of the Y2K trend in 2020, futurism and nostalgia helmed trends, which grew into inventive methods through which indulgers expressed their attachments to old school technology.
At first, we shifted from AirPods and modern in-ear pieces back to headphones, earphones, and walkmans, which further turned into moulds for neck pieces. Artist @thesteampunkghost takes classic dials and time-pieces and turns them into necklaces and chokers. Instagram accounts dedicated to the genre post about trinketry from the past, like the Nokia Medallion (2003) and the cutting-edge sunglasses from the archive of Oakley.
iPhone cameras shifted back to the digi-cams from our childhood, with beaded straps and keychains attached. Many-a-jewellery reference CPU boards, flip phones, gameboys, old-school keyboards, or all of the above, melded together.
