Onlife | Season Trends

The digital revolution, along with the relentless invasion of virtual and social spaces, has stolen from young people the best years of their lives. It has stifled their desire to be together, annihilated their need to interact as well as every playful and ancestral instinct, such as pushing, chasing, wrestling, hugging. Physical play has become video gaming, socialization has become social media, real life a screen that is permanently switched on. Isolation, a distorted perception of oneself and others, aggression, self-harm, hikikomori are just some of the serious consequences of this decline. This theme explores the perceptible, albeit very slow, awakening, and the consequent return to the world, of Generation Z and Alpha. Out there, far from what is filtered, from what passes without leaving a trace, the so-called ‘digital natives’ begin to explore the places where things truly happen, gradually realising that the flow of life is not that of a listless scroll. A handful of scattered yet ravenous adolescents leave their bedrooms, look at one another, occupy real spaces. They move between light and darkness, between empty streets and lived-in rooms, without a precise direction but with the need to be there. Listening to voices rather than reading comments, looking at one another rather than merely view. Days go by without order: sunlight pours through the windows, the night ignites with artificial lights, and everything becomes part of the same experience. Timidly, old analogue devices are rediscovered with amused curiosity. Record players, cameras, books, tapes. Things that leave traces. And so: photographs pinned to walls, worn vinyl, folded pages. Simple, tangible objects that preserve shared moments. Actions, too, are simple, corporeal, impulsive. Like moving – on skateboards or roller skates, chasing a ball, dancing wildly or pushing the trolley of an old supermarket – which is a way to measure oneself, a sign of belonging. And then, arranging a date, sitting around a table, talking. Or simply staying together in silence, listening to gentle music. Finally, touching, holding one another, exchanging emotions and physical sensations. Forgotten or never-lived experiences that bind people together, that push forcefully towards “the great leap”: from online to onlife.

Research: Elisabetta Arcaroli for Autumn/Winter 2027.28 season.

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