Artist Catherine Young debuts post-apocalyptic fashion for a hotter planet

Ever wonder what humans might wear in the future, when the planet may not be that livable? This year’s <a href="http://www.archandcity.org/">Architecture and the City Festival</a> in San Francisco brought us a very special program on fashion for a hotter planet. For <a href="http://apocalypse.cc/tagged/Climate-Change-Couture">Climate Change Couture</a>, artist <a href="http://theperceptionalist.com/about/" target="_blank">Catherine Young</a> uses fashion as a medium to communicate the impacts of a global warming on lifestyle. Read on for the hottest looks from the post-apocalypse.

<a href="http://theperceptionalist.com/about/" target="_blank">Catherine Young</a> collaborated with artists and scientists in the <a href="http://apocalypse.cc/">Apocalypse Project</a> to spur questions about how humanity might live in the not so distant future, given that we are already experiencing the effects of climate change in our daily lives.

Young developed the works during a residency at <a href="http://www.fcl.ethz.ch/" target="_blank">Future Cities Laboratory</a>, which is the first program of the Singapore-ETH Center to address global environmental sustainability. The Singapore-ETH Center was established by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) and Singapore’s National Research Foundation (NRF) as part of the NRF’s <a href="http://www.nrf.gov.sg/about-nrf/programmes/create" target="_blank">Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise</a> (CREATE).

Plastic bag dress from the Climate Change Couture - Manila Collection.

Catherine Young’s work explores alternative futures through interactive storytelling and sensory experiences that evoke conversation about our collective futures from a wide range of audiences.

Will protective armor be the new normal as green house gas emissions rise?

Combining science and design, the Future Cities Laboratory develops new knowledge, technologies, and approaches for a sustainable urban future.

What will we wear when the planet is less livable?

San Francisco’s <a href="http://www.swissnexsanfrancisco.org/" target="_blank">Swissnex</a> organization hosted a preview of the participatory art exhibit before a larger exhibition titled <a href="http://www.iftf.org/what-we-do/events/the-apocalypse-project-grand-opening-reception/" target="_blank">The Apocalypse Project: House of Futures</a> which just opened at the <a href="http://www.iftf.org/what-we-do/gallery/">Institute for the Future Gallery</a> in Palo Alto and runs September 21, 2015 - April 15, 2016.