I bought you for fun (and because it makes sense)

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In a world of climate disruption, digital fatigue, and a crisis of connection, fashion is facing a reckoning. What's to come will be shaped not just by faster-moving trends or smarter technologies, but by something far more human: emotions. From a global moodboard of uncertainty and overexposure emerges a new set of imperatives driven by the fundamental desire to experience something authentic. From Milan to Melbourne, from runways to community centers, consumers demand more than just style. They want connection, care, and joy. The absence of joy in today's consumer landscape has become impossible to ignore. Many shoppers can't even remember the last time a brand made them feel something, anything. And in this void, emotional resonance is emerging as the most undertaken opportunity in fashion. This isn't sentimentality, but design strategy.

A return to playful creativity is already beginning to take hold, not as an escape, but as a form of resistance to the heaviness of our time. In the hands of the right designers, color becomes a dialogue between product and people , texture almost a therapy. Design becomes a fundamental soft power , a cultural diplomacy that responds to the need to feel lighter, freer, and more prosperous. At the same time, we are reconsidering our relationship with technology. The key question is: does it make me feel more or less human? Technology must become not only performative, but relational, and the most forward-thinking brands are not replacing human connection with automation, but are using it to dedicate more time to real human interactions. As environmental pressures increase, we are also witnessing a shift from performative sustainability to something deeper: longevity as a mindset . From repair to restoration, from vintage to recycling and reuse, the ethic of care is expanding beyond the product itself. Care is becoming a worldview that values ​​the past, repairs the present, and points to a more dignified future. In this emotional economy, fashion must do more than produce collections: it must create meaning. This begins by treating consumers not as targets, but as people navigating an increasingly complex emotional landscape. It means designing experiences that are not only fluid, but also supportive and even nourishing for the soul . And it means making room for the joy of discovery, self-expression, and connection. When the world seems heavy, lightness is not a luxury, it's a lifeline.

Lisa White is Director of Strategic Forecasting & Creative Direction, WGSN

This text draws inspiration from the presentation of the latest edition of Next Design Perspectives, the event on future trends in design and creativity promoted by Altagamma, held annually at the Triennale in Milan. The dimension of fun, which seems to have disappeared from the corporate agenda in recent years, is considered by the majority of our interviewees as an essential driver of purchases, but also of selection and choice: people are increasingly buying based on emotions, to the point that 86 percent of global consumers, calculated by cross-referencing various research sources, believe that at least one impulse motivation is necessary for every purchase, while 49 percent say they buy brands that evoke joy and positive feelings of lightheartedness.

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