“I read once, passingly, about a man named Shakespeare. I only read about him passingly, but I remember one thing he wrote that kind of moved me. He put it in the mouth of Hamlet, I think it was, who said “to be or not to be”. He was in doubt about something. Whether it was nobler, in the mind of man, to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune— moderation—or to take up arms against the sea of troubles and, by opposing, end them. And I go for that; if you take up arms you’ll end it, but if you sit around and wait for the one who is in power to make up his mind that he should end it, you’ll be waiting a long time. And in my opinion… you’re living at a time of extremism, a time of revolution, a time when there’s got to be a change, people in power have misused it, and now there has to be a change. And a better world has to be built and the only way it’s going to be built is with extreme methods. And I, for one, will join in with anyone—don’t care what color you are—as long as you want to change this miserable condition that exists on this earth. Thank you.”
-Malcolm X
The above is a closing excerpt from Malcom X’s Oxford Union Debate, December 3, 1964. It is one of many of the revolutionary speeches that he made as a global voice against racism and a symbol of Black liberation up until his assassination in February the following year.
In today’s climate, his message remains true more than ever— we all live in a time of extremism and revolution. A massive subtle war goes on around us, with pervasively amplified attempts to suffocate those that speak out against the old crumbled systems, and no sector of our lives remains free from it, despite what most play dress up to pretend otherwise.
“...to take up arms against the sea of troubles and, by opposing, end them..”
In a centralized tech and media dystopia, where our every thought and data metric is calibrated to work against us in favor of a mediocrity of convenience and inertia, culture becomes the currency and arms that we take up to break free.
In this corner of the nascent web3 metaverse, we trash the myths that hold us back, to create a new fashion movement.
Web3 is our one true shot at transforming the foundation and every aspect of the landscape surrounding us. To get the next evolution of the internet right. To co-create the open web3 metaverse, where not just communication infrastructure is decentralised as in web1, or semi decentralised as in web2, but, is fully decentralised end-to-end across everything of value. Accelerating the timeline to when we get there has become critically urgent as the old legacy players from web2 and many decades before, continue to give us the twin illusions of freedom and choice. Weaving systems that work actively against us to the short term benefit of the very few, these cartels continue to exert accelerating control of our data, finances, health, social mobility, beliefs, thoughts, relationships with each other, and more, through shocking levels of fraud and abuse.
These illusions are made worse by those who wear the glitter of web3 in #CT public, but simp web2 Meta behind their masks.
Pumping NFTs and VC social clubs deployed on chain isn’t enough to actually be web3. If that’s all it took, all we’d be doing is petitioning for slightly better conditions from those in old power in the hope that we might become the new priesthood. We can do better than become replacement gatekeepers as the previous generations retire on the data riches they’ve extracted from us.
So what’s so revolutionary about fashion?
It makes us into anyone we dare to be.
It gives us superpowers.
In a traditional sense, that’s limited to an impression and what our pockets or bags carry for us. With web3, the metastory, programmable utility, and interoperability enabled by transformative redefinitions of fashion extend to our senses, and the tangible exercise, of luxury and power.
It is an Arthur C. Clarke kind of magic when we can reframe how and where we wear fashion, the materials we use to design it, and what it ultimately is.
It is finally the full set of all the tools that we wear.
If we hope to build the better world we all know is within reach, the only fashion that matters is that which empowers us as designers, wearers, and buyers with enhanced ownership, self-determination, prospects for wealth, and creative freedom. Beyond simply artisanal images, 3d models, and glitzy videos secured by NFTs and DAO vaults, web3 fashion actively advances the interconnectivity between us and our strengths from edge to edge. From lace to seam.
Within this broader vision fast becoming more real by the day, Trash Fashion, is an anti-establishment form of digital design that takes what many might see as old, worn out, used pieces and recycles them into an entirely novel interpretation as part of a much larger message. It’s a bottom up composable approach to directly imprint mod culture into the very fabric of the source materials.
It is not for the faint of heart or the risk averse. But then, again, when is anything good and revolutionary afraid of getting trashy for change?
For far too long traditional fashion has been among the most unsustainable industries, with the most exploitative, destructive, dehumanizing, and extractive practices. As these legacy brands catch up to the supposedly easy new money enabled by web3, it is no surprise that many are now in a rush to spin up blockchain x fashion initiatives and are experimenting with minting all too ordinary fashion NFTs— as direct transplants from old ideas of luxury and appeal, without any of the industry fundamentals actually changing. At the crossroads of a radically new socio-economic medium, it’s obvious we need to define the difference between old famous throwaway fashion NFTs vs real web3 fashion, and with our actions, choose to build and scale the latter. It’s just far too comfortable and safe not to.
The safest thing that we can do in a time like this is supply fashion, digital or physical, that is cozy within what those before us defined as the constraints of what we could be. It’s not to say that high fidelity 3D is something that I don’t enjoy immensely, or that it can’t be revolutionary, but, to take a radical stance we must strike at the heart of the abusive system.
Trash fashion breaks the illusion.
It is the ultimate form of expression that you can wear and take off without permission.
All interpretations are welcome.
🗑🗑🗑🗑🗑🗑🗑🗑🗑🗑🗑🗑🗑🗑🗑🗑🗑🗑🗑
To commemorate Robness’s epic sales this week & Max Capacity’s awesome Dos Punks, I’ve designed 4 Dos Trash Fashion NFTs. Three minted within this article and one listed on the DIGITALAX digital indie web3 fashion marketplace here (DOS #5).
All sales profits will go directly towards continuing to seed and make the market for web3 fashion. ❤️