The clothes of the future will be so cheap that every young woman will be able to follow the fashions promptly, and there will be plenty of fashions. Artificial silk that is superior to natural silk is now made of wood pulp. It shines better than silk. I think that the silk worm barbarism will go in fifty years, just as the indigo of India went with the production of indigo in German laboratories.

Thomas Edison, 1910

"I was thinking of something more in earth tones"

Clothes not only make the man, but the era–especially if the clothes in question forego wool, cotton and silk in favour of rayon, nylon, dacron and any of a host of other "ons".

But what would clothing look like in the 21st century?  Would it be dignified three-piece suits set off with a crisp Windsor knot?  A charming summer dress suitable for country luncheon?  Perhaps something in a herringbone tweed? Or perhaps light-weight, metallic suits for men and shiny, metallic dresses for the ladies. Metallic dresses and suits fit with ascending tungsten rings surrounding the hips and/or the hems of sleeves and skirts.

Nope.  None of these even got a look in, and with no Chanel or Mulberry bags around to anticipate the forthcoming trends, there were some pretty bizarre predictions.  If the prognosticators had any say, it was going to be overgrown footie jammies for men, miniskirts for women,  and something in stainless steel for the style-conscious automaton.

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