HUMANLY
The current dialogues on "self care" could never have predicted the level caring of the "self" we would need going forward. Checking in on, normalizing, balance, being okay.
Beyond just taking care of ourselves, we’re checking in on others as well, finding new ways to be together, create a collective, advocate for one another, for things that matter, and be kind.
Brands are finding out they need to do the same for their customers and are embracing a new level of dialogue and transparency. Focus is shifted from talking at customers, to engaging them in conversation, talking about progress, improvement, feelings, and the journey instead of the destination. Products are similarly care-full, gentle, comforting in construction and in texture.
THRIVE
The idea of wellness, health, balanced living looks a bit different in 2022 as well. Concepts we were walking toward became realities more quickly as we were hastened into a run by Covid-19. Goods that are good seem more important now than ever, and their improvement can’t be put off until a later time. We need all the help we can get to thrive now.
The future of fashion, technology, home goods is also the future of wellness. It looks less like shiny, futuristic tech, and more like balance with nature, the self, the world that integrates perfectly into our everyday lives.
Clean lines that aren't cold, but are soft to the touch. Integration that feels organic, intuitive, and caring. Interfaces that are intuitive and put the user’s needs first.
NEW ORDER
Maybe it’s pandemic-induced nostalgia for a simpler, better, more beautiful time. Or an (also pandemic-induced) collective false narrative of an idyllic pat filled with beauty and romance and genius. Perhaps the need for a little decadence and bacchanalia in the midst of troubled times.
From a more optimistic perspective, it might be excitement to build a better future using the best attributes and schools of thought from the past. Keep what’s good, get rid of what’s not, and create a new, better, more perfect future.
SENSORIAL
Maybe it’s the isolation that causes a spike in the need for stimulation. One of the ways we feel most alive, human, aware, awake is by having our senses validated, sensory information finding its way back to us.
Or maybe it’s nothing so sinister. Perhaps it’s all just a bit of fun and distraction from a very busy news cycle. Mental candy to help the medicine to go down.
