I’ve spent a lot of time looking at past predictions of the future over the years. But every once in a while I uncover something that’s so accurate, it’s almost spooky. This video from 1960 is just such a video.
The short film, published by British Pathe, depicts what fashion will be like in the year 2000—forty years into tomorrow. But unlike the aviation-themed fashions of the 1920s, the radio-inspired fashions of the 1930s, or the space-themed fashions of ‘The Jetsons’ in the 1960s, the predictions from designers in this short film are weirdly retro.
It’s not very often that we see futuristic predictions that rely so heavily on the past.
“Although certain buildings are timeless in their appeal, the same can’t be said for clothes,” the narrator of the 1960 film explains. “What was fashionable yesterday, is often ugly today. And yet fashions undoubtedly travel in cycles. With this in mind, we wondered what clothes would look like in the year 2000.”
As the narrator notes, the designs are by Harry and Monty Moss of the Moss Bros. fashion firm. And their company still exists today in Britain, even if they’re struggling financially over Brexit fears. They didn’t predict Brexit in the 1960s, did they?
You can watch the entire film at YouTube and judge for yourself whether these prognosticators of 1960 got it right:
Then again, the year 2000 definitely had worse fashion sense than some of the people dressed up in this film. And that’s just a scientific fact.
Don’t believe me? Let’s travel back in time to visit some of the biggest stars of that era, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. Here’s what they looked like at the 28th Annual American Music Awards in Los Angeles on January 8, 2001…
That’s a yikes from me, guys.
I say we let the people of 1960 dress us from here on out. Or at least go back in time and fix up whatever Britney and Justin are wearing.
Mr. Fedora flasher from the 1960 film may have had a creepy look on his face, but he at least knew you don’t wear denim on denim, otherwise known as the Canadian tuxedo.