In this week’s episode, we develop a theory of Scientifica, a fashion aesthetic that borrows from the visual language of science, with influences ranging from Victorian taxonomy to Utopian Scholastic nostalgia to legacy science-fiction world-building. We examine recent manifestations of this impulse—runway shows that feel like scientific exhibitions or presentations, references to astronomical phenomena and archival display, and couture idealization of intellegentsia femininity—and question what it means when the fashion world aligns with objective inquiry and institutional knowledge in the face of epistemological crisis.
Links:
“The Universe According to Timothée” by Mattie Kahn, shot by Annie Leibovitz – Vogue (December 2025 cover story)
Chanel Spring 2026 Ready-to-Wear by Matthieu Blazy
“The pioneering ‘great men’ of Victorian science were once attacked for being unmanly” by Heather Ellis – The Conversation
“Victorian Egyptomania: How a 19th Century Fetish for Pharaohs Turned Seriously Spooky” – History Answers
Utopian Scholastic – Consumer Aesthetics Research Institute
“Understanding the Japanese Influences Behind Star Wars” by Ollie Barder – Forbes
“The Complicating Role of the Private Sector in Space” by Victoria Samson – Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
“Goodbye, $165,000 Tech Jobs. Student Coders Seek Work at Chipotle” by Natasha Singer – The New York Times
College Board Research Brief on U.S. High School Students’ Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence
“Historians See Autocratic Playbook in Trump’s Attacks on Science” by William J. Broad – The New York Times
Tech oligarch freakshow: Elon Musk says AI is more dangerous than nukes, Peter Thiel’s creepy ahh lectures on the Antichrist, Sam Altman creepy ahh references to an AI kill switch
Vogue Paris December 1998/January 1999 Discussion – TheFashionSpot
The Price of Illusion: A Memoir by Joan Juliet Buck
Prada’s spacesuit design for Axiom Space, “the world’s first commercial space station”
“As Prada Pairs With NASA, a Look at the Best Space-Inspired Looks From the Runway” by Laird Borrelli-Persson – Vogue
“Was Timothée Chalamet’s Vogue Cover Really So Out of This World?” by Jacob Gallagher – The New York Times
“Michelle Obama Is the Perfect Partner in Matthieu Blazy’s Modern Chanel Suiting” – Vogue
