Fashion Futuring in Thessaloniki

On April 14, 2025, the MOMus–Museum of Modern Art in Thessaloniki hosted an inspiring international event that brought together experts in futures thinking, design, and sustainability. Titled Fashion Futuring, the workshop was organized by the Greece Node of The Millennium Project, hosted by Helenos Consulting in the context of the EU funded “Eyes of Europe” project.

The gathering was more than just a creative exercise—it was a participatory, systemic exploration of the possible futures of fashion, facilitated by Clarice Garcia (University of Technology Sydney) and Epaminondas Christophilopoulos, Co-Chair of the Greece Node. At its heart was the Fashion Futuring method, a unique seven-step process blending speculative design with systems thinking and embodied reflection.

Experts from across The Millennium Project’s global network and friends, including futures researchers, designers, and strategists, participated in the event, contributing diverse perspectives on how fashion may evolve in a world shaped by uncertainties.

Among the participants was Mara Di Berardo, Comms Director and Italy Node Co-Chair of The Millennium Project, who shared her reflections on the workshop in a detailed narrative now published on Substack’s Futures Digest. In her article, she not only describes the creative flow of the day, but also highlights the underlying contradictions, tensions, and inspirations that emerged during the design of fictional fashion artefacts—each embedded in speculative societal systems.

Her group explored a dystopian future marked by technological excess and environmental nostalgia, where even fashion reflects broader inequalities and ecological anxieties. Their creation? A dynamic, gender-neutral swimsuit with adaptive nanomaterials—both a symbol of resilience and a reminder of ongoing privilege divides. Other groups envisioned futures defined by empathy, privacy, AI-nature symbiosis, and survival.

While the scenarios ranged from utopian to dystopian, a common thread emerged: the centrality of values—connection, protection, resilience, and equity—as guiding principles in imagining desirable futures. As Di Berardo notes, the method’s power lies not only in generating visionary concepts but also in sparking critical reflection on our current trajectory and decisions and in emphatisizing the interplay between speculation and strategy.

As the Eye of Europe project continues, this pilot will feed into broader efforts to foster participatory, citizen-centered foresight across Europe.

Read the full article on “Fashioning Tomorrow. A participatory journey exploring the futures of fashion through speculative design and foresight at MOMus, Thessaloniki” by Mara Di Berardo.

Discover more about the Eyes of Europe” project.