Designers are drawing inspiration from the "new geological age", marked by the effects of human activities on earth, to create clothes featuring a rustic texture and ethnic adornments.
Angelia Teo, Asia-Pacific content director at fashion and style forecaster WGSN, calls the theme "Neo-geo".
It would become one of three big fashion trends in spring and summer next year, she predicted. "The earth is no longer made up of dirt, rock and minerals, but plastic, garbage and cement," Teo said yesterday.
She noted that scientists had declared a new geological age known as the "anthropocene", which featured the latest geological layer that was being formed on the earth's crust.
"For the first time ever, this layer will contain plastics and man-made materials," she said. "[The phenomenon] is inspiring artists like Elyse Graham in the US to use melted balloons and sands to make new rock crystals."
In line with the environmental changes, fashion gurus would focus on creating from scratch, she said. They will use traditional and primitive embellishments, and earthy colours such as adobe, terracotta and sand.