“To live externally is to live more dangerously,” Moskowitz writes, of giving up the constant inward gaze. “It is to live a life that takes up public space, a life that is messy and confusing and thus a life that is often frowned upon, especially in an era in which everyone is accustomed to control and curation over social space and affect.”

Caring what other people think is human and often learning and getting feedback on how one can improve is key to success so not living in other people’s minds does not mean not listening to or caring what other people say or think.

It means stopping using their metrics and their rulers of success to rule the way we live our life.

If nobody was lookin... See more

This aesthetic is functional maximalism, and is the outcome of the post-gorpcore, post-genre fashion, changed urban lifestyles, our mass embrace of nature, TikTok creative influences, and a pushback to the omnipresent minimalism. Functional maximalism is fashion’s expansion of its own aesthetic vocabulary, with tokens from sports, outdoors, gender ... See more

“We should not forget that maybe not everybody only wants a camel cashmere turtleneck,” Olivier Rousteing remarked. Beyond the cyclical nature of fashion, Rousteing’s observation captured a mash-up of trends that has been solidifying into a durable aesthetic.

“Why isn’t it an app?” This argument feels like the make change from the inside. We know that’s not how the world works, but it’s hard to see that you’re in water as a fish.

But what’s hanging in the balance is the image-cultural environment of the future. One not dominated by a format monopoly.