The Era of Semantic Networks

Up an until last year you needed to be an expert in semiotics to understand most of the cartoon like signaling used at Silicon Valley. The language concocted in the iridescent world of computer screens and pertaining to cyber situations was like occult sciences indecipherable for most humans. Not anymore!!

Thanks to a recently sealed partnership between cartoonist and designers this language will gradually but surely become part and parcel of Millennial wardrobes. Indeed, Yohji Yamamoto and Sanrio announced a line called «Kitty’s», inspired by the characters of the animated series Hello Kitty.

New York designer Jerome Lamaar, known online as Style Monk, recently brought together animation and fashion by depicting classic cartoon characters in outfits from the Spring 2013 runway shows. And while it is not the first time that cartoons and fashion enter a marriage, the novelty resides in the kind of cartoons that will become printed material for skirts blouses and dresses beginning next year.

Millennials, as we all too well know, were born with a smartphone in their hands. They thus deride the sound while treasuring images. To their minds images are part of reality while sound is just a backdrop to reality. Thus, their language will increasingly be visual and in the world of images fashion plays a fundamental role as disseminator of personality, mood and beliefs. For Millennials clothes are the envelop for souls not the dress for bodies. And that fundamental difference can only be portrayed through images.

Demand for outfits that proclaim the victory of the environment; good overcoming evil; mediational beatitude and the theological virtues that are enhanced by mindfulness and meditation is beginning to gain traction in the fashion industry. These moods and aspirations can only be conveyed by images according to users who normally pay a 35%-40% markup over other pieces of clothing. And so far, the favorites are those of Lamaar who together with Barbara Marker, Casey Robin and Elle Fanning have seen their drawing hobby turn into million-dollar business. So, think twice before you ask your kid to concentrate in math!!