If 2019 was an age of glitter, the post pandemic era is one of bioluminescence – an eerie, almost sacred glow that emanates from the world’s deepest darkest places. Scientists have studied this phenomena of the sea, where an amazing network of animals rise from the deep to follow the phases of the moon. Once there, they cast a net of seduction with pearlized beads of light, sparking a mate – ensuring life. It is an arduous journey. It demands time in the dark, and a belief in the light. And so too us. Bereft of surface sparkle, we have plunged deeply over these past months. We have sat in the darkness and prayed for the light. We have explored emotions and peeled back layers. We have met ourselves, not just in unending pixels glowing hot and white on our screens, but through the forced march of time through who we are, and what we really want. It has been a journey that is just beginning to shine back a glow – that deep tumescent pulsing promising a life well lived. This new future is one that will turn on our needs, and our unique desires. We are crafting new lives that feed our whole selves and help us explore who we might be on the deepest, richest levels. And it is truly the most exciting trip to be taking right now. On this road, I’ve been listening to Tyler the Creator’s late album, Call Me if You Get Lost. His excitement – his joy – in discovering new ideas and new passions is a call to arms for us all. Love what you love – make this your life’s work. Love it as if you will die if you don’t.
To quote Tyler: “I just hope that people hear this album and it just opens them up, pause, to want to geek out and treat the shit they like like it’s the illest shit.”
This week, the Scoutlook ponders the many roads single shifts and trends can take. We explore the explosion of fem-tech, empowering women in a whole new and far deeper way. We look at the rising interest in how we home – with a next gen evolution of holistic interior design. And finally, we share the rapid adoption of ownable visual languages as a new way of expressing who we are with what we love.
Twinkle, twinkle good friends…. I see you all shining!
Dreaming of Home
After 16 months of various stages of lockdown, our homes have taken on new meanings and certainly, new importance. First as sanctuaries and then cell blocks, the current iterations reflect a deeper commitment to how we want to live. We have invested in our spaces in ways that would make Joanna Gaines proud! (well, perhaps of our intent, prob not the actual outcome…) Home-based living is part of our new lexicon, and it is one that will continue to garner time, attention and investment. What’s next? Following trends in both the tech and self-care sector, the next wave of nesting plays in the metaphysical. Picture a quantum long jump (yes the Olympics are still on – no judgement, please!) from Marie Kondo to a template based on your personal Human Design. The thought is that if our homes are indeed places to tend and care for ourselves, that self should be our highest and best iteration. How do we create this space? Just imagine…
One hot version is The Home Being Method, which offers personalized home design based on one of 12 Design personalities. Referenced as the “DNA” of home creation, this process involves self-understanding of how consumers home, and draws out ideas and possibilities that feed that need.
Home consultant Olga Naiman offers up Spatial Alchemy, which ‘integrates interior design with the principles of human transformation” promising a home that coaxes out your most evolved self. A sort of life coach for the domicile, the process is a means of creating a space that ultimately empowers an individual to live their best life.
The next phase plays in the metaverse. The ‘shifting’ trend which has been surging on Tik-Tok hints at our hunger to alter our physical experiences and to inhabit alternate realities (sans psychedelics, obvi!)
Now, this power comes home. Appealing to the home owner who prizes sustainability and plays well in the virtual, this entry eliminates décor in favor of digital. Empty rooms will come equipped with special projectors that can transform spaces into locations that inspire healing, meditation, or become energizing stations – all with the tap of a device. Ultimately this type of programming will be bespoke to individual desires, but most probably will start with a series of set programming.
Scotty – Beam me up!
Show Me without Telling Me
In a world teaming with hyperbolic fake news and misinformation spreading like kudzu across our screens, words have become cheaper than ever before. Young people are increasingly relying on video and iconography to rapidly communicate with each other, and to evade adult interpretation. It also serves as a means to connect users with each other on a cryptic, pseudo-slang based basis -# iykyk. The latest play via WhatsApp sees emojis merging with popular memes, tapping into users’ reference to popular songs as emotional moods. (A nod to the huge pandemic trend of teens curating music tracks to lean into feelings they were forced to ride out solo.) Although this is not exactly a breakthrough move (Kimojis anyone?) the play on music as mood telepathy makes it a smart step. I anticipate a continued shift from the written word to a more visual language across multiple platforms, more in keeping with the rapid pace of communication, and the hunger for short cuts that telegraph moods, needs and desires.
The next phase is emoji ownership. Following the hot NFT market, one company is betting on the desire for individuals to co-op emojis and visuals to tell the personal story of who they are. Harkening back to our initial thought that we are the sum total of the things we hold most dear, how better to tell the story of you through a series of specially coded graphics? Eliminating the redundancy of name rights, and the opacity of titles, self-prescribed and purchased visuals would be used instead to codify your unique essence. Sound good? Well, there’s a YAT for that:
Flow with It!
The emergence of products created to support women’s menstrual cycleover the last several years has been truly a seismic shift in the world of personal care and taboo smashing. There are now dozens of ‘period panties’ serving the struggle with staining – and one group is taking this challenge even further. Pantys, a brand who launched the first transgender and non-binary undergarment line last month, has a fitness line, offering the same protection and ease of movement as their underwear. The collection coincides with a UK-wide poll of 2,000 women revealing that 54 percent stop exercising as a result of their menstrual cycle, with that number increasing to 73 percent among 16 to 24-year-olds. Power to the period!
Commercial exercise programs are also shifting into this space. Many Olympic athletes have discussed learning to work with the shifting dynamics of their own hormonal flows during the month. P.volve, a studio/home based program beloved by Hollywood celebrities has announced a new system that lets amateurs do the same. With hormonal tracking devices, and prescriptive created regimens to accelerate results based on phases and stages, this company is simply the first of what no doubt will be many to come. I anticipate fitness studios in the future being equipped with ovulation and phase trackers to curate and suggest best case regimens for all female guests. For the perimenopausal pack, it will bring a whole new meaning to ‘feeling the burn!”
And where there is heat, there is always a new beauty product. Playing in the hormonal tracking space comes a new collab between L’Oreal and the Femtech leader Clue, the period tracking app with 12 million users in 190 countries. The plan is to deepen knowledge on the relationship between skin health and the menstrual cycle. The newly minted duo is promising cutting edge content for starters, with a plethora of products expected to follow. I anticipate this category to rapidly explode, with a huge pent up demand for skin care, hair care and fragrance products tuned to the unique rhythm of women’s individual bodies.
And for some fun taboo smashing, cheeky brand Nars has tapped three female artists to unveil a series of NFTs capturing the female orgasm – a nod to their best-selling Orgasm line. I imagine there will be heated bidding for these pieces, as women look to provide insights and ideas for partners. Bottom line, sexual health and wellness is a huge piece underpinning feminine potential, and the more these arenas are met with real service and reform, the higher and faster will women rise. All in favor? Say ohhhhh!
In closing, I share a lovely piece from Atlas Obscura which speaks to the dying art of the Indian traveling talkie tent. When reading this piece, I couldn’t help but think about the noisy pop-up world we currently live in. It seems that everything old is new again…and there is something to the sharing of stories and passing on of notes and gifts to those in the next village that could be repurposed today. We long for connection… and live for delight. Note taken, brands??
