The New Black: fashion, technology and the future

If, like me, you're interested in what the future holds for the fashion industry, then you need to set a bit of time aside to watch the documentary I've embedded below. Presented by AEG, The New Black is a thought-provoking exploration into the way we create and wear clothes in this most science-fictional of centuries. Let's put it like this: in the next ten years our clothes will most likely be interacting with us in all sorts of unexpected ways.
From specialists at Adidas who are weaving fitness-monitoring tools directly into sportswear, to the design house that built Lady Gaga's bubble-blowing dress, there's plenty here to inspire, intrigue and downright boggle the mind. The real game-changer? For me, it's the work being done by Suzanne Lee at Biocouture. She is growing--or more accurately brewing--fabric from the same sort of yeast microcultures familiar to the beer and bread-making industries. This is stuff that's true cradle-to-cradle. Grown from naturally occuring substances, and completely compostable at the end of its usable life. Now that's forward thinking.
I guarantee you'll find some food for thought in The New Black. In an industry where there's frequently too much going on to consider research and development, it behooves us to look to the fringes to find out what will be shaping our clothes, and our relationship to them, in the coming, challenging years.