How to Dress for the Future—No Jetpack Required

A brief guide to sci-fi style that's actually stylish.


Ever since the turn of the millennium and the advent of technology that allows people to share their bad sense of humor with the entire connected world, there's been all kinds of banal jokes about how our ostensibly futuristic world fails to live up to sci-fi predictions from the past. Where are our jetpacks, the jokes go. Where are the hoverboards that actually hover? Where are all the cool jumpsuits that several decades' worth of sci-fi movies promised us?

To be fair, we are living in classic sci-fi's future, and things aren't going quite as planned. 2017 is the year in which the The Running Man is set, and in the next couple years we'll be living IRL during the times when Akira and Blade Runner take place, but it seems like we're only getting the bad parts of the worlds they created.


We've got Blade Runner's environmental collapse but no robotic Rutger Hauer; Akira's civil unrest but precious few psionic-powered biker gangs; The Running Man's—well actually with the way things are going it wouldn't be a surprise if we actually have a full-blown murder-based game show on network television by the year's end.

But if you want to dress like someone straight out of a classic sci-fi movie, you're pretty well covered.

It makes sense that the easiest sci-fi scenario to dress like is also the one that's come the closest to actually being real. With a Russian cyber army on the offensive, a reality show star in the Oval Office, and 24/7 Internet connections in our pockets, 2017 feels eerily like a William Gibson novel from the '80s, and thanks to the unexpectedly popular goth-ninja wave, the blackout minimalism that defined the aesthetics of the cyberpunk movement he inspired is all over the place.


Options for dressing like an angsty hacker abound. Yohji Yamamoto's Y-3 line for Adidas is probably the best known, but there's also a lot of new talent working in the field. The second collection from upstart brand ONU was inspired by designer Christina Liao's time in Shanghai, arguably the world's most futuristic city. Sporty synthetic cropped trousers and a hooded rain shell in (of course) black will make you look capable of cracking a mainframe or busting out death-defying parkour moves, even if your actual computer skills don't go any further than a talent for picking the right Instagram filter. And if '90s cyberpunk cinema taught us anything, it's that nothing says "elite hacker" like a pair of black leather pants, like this slim moto-inspired model from Balmain.

Dressing like someone out of the hippified future societies of deeply stoned '70s movies like Logan's Run and Zardoz has also, weirdly, become kind of a thing. The trend towards oversized, unstructured garments has boosted the popularity of drapey, androgynous silhouettes befitting someone in a futuristic culture whose utopian appearances hide a deep, dark secret. In other words, it's never been a better time to rock a tunic.

Deveaux SS17
Getty Images

Deveaux's spring/summer '17 collection is full of New-Ager-from-space looks. Former Ralph Lauren designer Willy Chavarria's block-fit rollneck in beige also nails the look, while the upcoming debut from hemp-happy clothiers Jungmaven's Jung King line will offer a luxe riff on the traditional Indian kurta that's equally on-trend. The surging popularity of kimono jackets (including this particularly nice one from OG kimono jacket gurus Visvim) fit nicely with the look.

John Varvatos

Or maybe you see yourself more as a futuristic cyborg assassin of the type that defined sci-fi action cinema for a solid decade after Arnold Schwarzenegger's first turn as the nigh-unstoppable T-800? Lucky for you, we're living in a golden age of black leather jackets, the foundation of the cybernetic murderbot look. John Varvatos's asymmetrical moto jacket offers an eccentric twist on the staple look, while Off-White's spray-painted version adds a bit of post-apocalyptic flair. Alpha Industries is shoring up its dominance of the bomber jacket trend with an MA-1 in imposing (but touchably soft) black lambskin. You'll also need a pair of appropriately intimidating shades. Dolce & Gabbana's angular take on the classic aviator shape fits the bill nicely, while Ray-Ban's General mirrorshades look like a standard option at the Terminator factory. Finish off the look with black leather moto gloves like this touchscreen-friendly option.

And of course, even if we're not living in a world of totalitarian one-style-fits-all fashion, that doesn't mean you can't rock a jumpsuit. Everyone from A.P.C. to Alexander Wang has dropped stylish examples recently, and all-jumpsuit-everything brand Onepiece has moved beyond fleecy adult onesies and added some more appropriately sci-fi-flavored selections to their mix.

The only thing stopping you from dressing for the future you've always imagined is you.

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