THE NEW CREATIVE PARADIGM
1/15
The landscape that fostered postmodern cultural creation is in flames. If we are able to evolve, this
fire will raze a forest whose dead roots cling to a dead system, and from its ashes will rise a new
creative paradigm. If we refuse, we will be left speaking a dead language, to no one, in the dark.
The internet has ushered in a new age, a faster digital reality that speaks to more people more loudly.
For tech and startups, it’s easy, the language of this world is their own. But traditional players of
cultural production like fashion remain wary of adapting to the change that digital natives embody.
First steps were taken: Tapping into non-seasonal cycles, and drop models, digital advertising and more
diverse modes of content creation. The systems of power, for the most part, however, have stayed intact.
We worked on our infrastructure and our distribution, but one part remained untouched. We didn’t change
the way we think about ourselves. A new fluency is necessary; we must convert or be condemned. Adapt or
die.
THE NEW CREATIVE PARADIGM
2/15
I. )
INTERNET = REAL-TIME
ANALOG = SLOW-MOTION
The Internet is the new real-time. Reality is happening here; all the time, everywhere, at lightning
speed, source unknown. Subcultures formerly residing in the streets can now be found in Reddit threads
and private chats. Streetwear will soon be replaced by Internetwear. The analog interprets the digital
in slow motion → From setting the agenda to interpreting the agenda. Humans, unable to cope with the
speed at which information is presented, burn out. Analog magazines that don’t shift gears shut down.
Maybe you should just be a newsletter!
THE NEW CREATIVE PARADIGM
3/15
II. )
APPROACHABILITY VS.
EXCLUSIVITY
The battle between being accessible, woke, and believing in a better world vs. creating desire through
exclusivity, gate-keeping, and making money, is reaching primetime. This tension reflects our internal,
individual struggle of being fluid – stylists, creative directors, DJs all at once – and the commercial
drive to act territorial about our identity. The success of the individual genius is outdated. Time to
examine how to make non-territorial wokeness profitable.
THE NEW CREATIVE PARADIGM
4/15
III. )
THE DEATH OF THE
COLLABORATION
When Balenciaga x Gucci doesn’t raise eyebrows, you know that collaborations are over. Two entities
would meet to slap logos on each other. The collaboration seemingly ended with its announcement. Hot air
printed on a Gilden hoodie. All PR, little substance. In the age of fluidity, stacking identities feels
entirely retro. We’ve entered the endgame of postmodernism, where there are no longer any opposites, and
merging identities is normal, if not to say expected.
THE NEW CREATIVE PARADIGM
5/15
Start-up lingo slaughtered lux brand communications with slogans screaming, “look how accessible this
is.” Forcing function via messages of goodness, proclaimed authenticity, and the commodification of our
quirks. Patronizing a woke consumer with subway ads like “Saving money with honey feels like when you
notice a typo on a poster and are super proud of yourself.” Wake up, honey, you’re not a VC bro!
THE NEW CREATIVE PARADIGM
6/15
V. )
POST-AUTHENTICITY-MODE
Trump and a global pandemic lifted the veil on our romantic little idea of authenticity in an inherently
mediated world. The opposite of authentic, the escape from what’s real - fake furs, life on Instagram,
VR - proved to be better than authentic. We enter Meaning-Mode. Presented with 10x versions of the
truth, we choose what we want to believe. “Does this fit into my version of self?” Regardless of real or
fake. Your shopping cart signals personal values and affiliation with communities. Are brands the
equivalent of band T-shirts now?
THE NEW CREATIVE PARADIGM
7/15
Fashion stole from everything and everyone. Now everyone is stealing from fashion. Fashion as an
industry became more about marketing and less about the craft. When Ferrari can drop a clothing line, we
have to wonder: What does it mean to be a fashion brand today? Will designers drop in and out of
mattress brands, Ikea and Toyota? Is Toyota the new Balenciaga? What do we have left to defend the
fortress?
THE NEW CREATIVE PARADIGM
8/15
I. )
OPENSOURCE VS AUTHORSHIP
Power in the new creative paradigm belongs to those who share. In 2019 the New York labels Vaquera,
CDLM, and Section 8 presented their collections at the same venue seamlessly, one after the other. They
shared audience, resources, energy, and communications, positioning themselves as individuals that are
part of a like-minded collective. Think Taylor Swift squad but without Taylor. Don’t gate-keep
knowledge; Ideas and resources shouldn’t be taken personally – that’s the mantra on our way to a higher
energetic frequency of the mob.
THE NEW CREATIVE PARADIGM
9/15
Creators don’t need brands anymore. They have grown an audience of supporters for themselves online.
Influencers starting beauty lines, designers tagged as individuals under brand Instagram posts indicate
a power shift from brands to creators.
Foreshadowing a radical change in the way we work.
THE NEW CREATIVE PARADIGM
10/15
III. )
BRANDS = PLAYGROUNDS
Brands don’t create culture anymore; they act as playgrounds — new mixtures of content, social media,
and commerce — providing the tools (access to the archive, materials, infrastructure) for creatives to
come in and out. Think communist workshop.
THE NEW CREATIVE PARADIGM
11/15
IV. )
THE COMMUNITY AS PATRON
Before the rise of multiplayer games, Youtube comments, Substack, ecetera; identity formation was a
public business. A brand would put out a collection deciding what the trend was. Now communities are
shaping their own identities in niche ways. Platforms like Patreon allow them to monetize their ideas
independently from corporate conglomerates. The Big Brother TV show slogan “You decide” perfectly
captures the mode of control by feedback. A new economic system in which communities inherit the power
that once belonged to brands.
THE NEW CREATIVE PARADIGM
12/15
V. )
CULTURALLY PRODUCTIVE
ALCHEMY
Don’t explain the concept, be the concept. Doing the work vs. talking about it. The medium is the
message. Deduct literalism. Identities merge. “What late capitalism repeats from Stalinism is the
valuing of symbols of achievement over actual achievement” Mark Fisher. In the new creative paradigm,
collaboration is about merging identities to advance. Do the right thing, give up your idea of self to
create the new.
THE NEW CREATIVE PARADIGM
13/15
VI. )
MEMEIFICATION OF
COMMUNICATION
A persistently shrinking attention span is no excuse for trivial content. We have to update our
communication style. Memes deliver complex ideas in a bitesize format, a good example of how
communication can be brief and deep. Recently, infographics designed NOT to be understood surfaced in
magazines like “Pin-Up” and the New York gazette “Civilization.” A statement of infobesity and the world
working in ways that we’ll never fully wrap our head around —
in short, a graphic flex. Ask yourself: “Am I contributing or masturbating?” Read a McKinsey report or
just look at the “Iceberg Model” of communication one more time.
THE NEW CREATIVE PARADIGM
14/15
VII. )
DEMOCATRIC IN FORM,
DICTATORIAL IN SHAPE
Niche pockets of interest — hyper-focused support groups demand clear directions. We left the era of
pleasing everyone and are back to please the few. In short: Choose your values and stick to them
unapologetically. Having balls / Being radical is highly rewarded.
THE NEW CREATIVE PARADIGM
15/15
VIII. )
ART AS IDENTIFIER
Our participation in a community is valued higher than the products it creates. Products are tokens of
shared beliefs, physical expressions of online tribes. What we purchase is what we stand for wether that
is through physical possession or digital participation. “Our job as public service broadcasters is to
take people beyond the limits of their own self, and until we do that we will carry on declining... It
doesn’t mean we go back to the 1950s and tell people how to dress, what we do is say “we can free you
from yourself” – and people would love that.” Adam Curtis.
Our idea of cultural production is merely 200 years old.
We’re at the cusp of change.