Motorcycle Apparel from the Future: XCOL RIDEWEAR 2050
The iconic red motorbike with a futuristic background is many people’s childhood fantasy. With the current technologies, the mobility that used to only exist in Retro-futurism and cyberpunk artwork is gradually turning into reality. Future mobility is an ongoing innovation and technology-driven topic worldwide, with global companies trying to invent the future. But not just mobility is a future topic, so is fashion. What will riders in the year 2050 look like? This time, Sabukaru has teamed up with Xcol[@xcol_official], and invited four artists to bring the childhood cyberpunk rider fantasy to life.
As a high-performance electric motorcycle brand based in China, Xcol successfully gathers worldwide professional engineers and talented artists altogether and is committed to presenting future lifestyles to the young generations. Different from traditional high-tech companies, Xcol not only works on revolutionary technologies but also can be viewed as a cyber fashion artist. Their unique brand culture and design philosophy on futuristic cyberstyle make them stand out in both the fashion and tech industries.
The central theme of this Ridewear Campaign is to present the motor riders' outfits from the future. In order to have a look into the future of cyber fashion, sabukaru, together with Xcol invited four designers with their own unique styles, Yamepi [@yamepi_01], Johnny Terror [@johnnyterror], Vinzent [@vinzent.me], and Marcel [@chillfolio], to participate in the event to start dreaming and visualizing. We tapped into our favorite illustrators and CGI artists with simple questions and tasks: How does Cyber Fashion look in the year 2050?
Now, allow us to proudly present to you our four favorite designers and their vision of the future of fashion.
Johnny Terror, a Berlin-raised and Tokyo-based artist, designed two ride wear outfits for our project this time. Inspired by Japanese manga and honed his illustration skills at the University of Arts Berlin, Terror uses his artwork to bring his wild imagination to reality. This time, he came up with two full sets of practical yet stylish outfits named “Skyblue” and “Xcol Turqoise” for the riders in 2050. To protect the riders from injury, Johnny also designed a heavy fabric coat with a front pouch and elbow protection pads. The back of the coat features a pixel-pattern color fade with an Xcol logo. The shoes are made of thick material with an enforced heel pad. The strap closes with a convenient buckle mechanism, and the front includes a metal toe cap under the fabric.
Our second special guest, Marcel Sygula, is a visual artist based in Cologne, Germany. Born in 1987, Marcel was fascinated with videography and design from an early age. After graduating from university, he began to live off his art talents. Many of his works, such as Digital Catwalk and Cyber Urban Fashion, are full of cyberpunk and futuristic elements. For this Ridewear campaign, Marcel created an animation and literally brought the riders from 2050 vividly standing in front of us. Both riders wear classic shining motorcycle helmets but in two completely different outfits. One is wearing a blue down puffer coat that looks like a space suit, while the other rider is in a traditional purple rider suit made of memory cotton. The two characters, along with the shimmering motorcycle hemmed by flowers, made a dreamlike scenery.
Yamepi, the Japanese illustrator whose characters are famous for punk sensibility and skate culture aesthetics, also joined us in our imagination journey. As can be seen from his Star Boyz characters, the motorcycle gang is one of the primary inspirations for his artwork. This time, he imagined his Yamepi’s character dressed in Xcol ride wear in 2050. The character is wearing iconic headgear as always, but this time with a massive portable battery as a backpack to power his headgear. To better control the motorbike, the Yamepi character also wears rider gloves to provide knuckle protection, with darker material on the fingers ensuring grip. His futuristic belt is paired with some flared trousers, and over-stacking hems are still fashionable in 2050 since vintage is always in fashion regardless of the era.
Last but not least, Vinzent Britz is also a German artist based in Berlin. He is a creative art designer with digital imagery and virtual experience expertise. Vinzent designed a very practical rider suit with pads protecting every joint and a dynamic, smooth line design pattern. With the lights off, the smooth line patterns instantly turn into fluorescent tubes glinting in the dark. The ingenious design is not only unique and stylish but also protects riders who travel at night.
Bridging the gap between the present and future, all artists have brought their own artistic flare to the project and gives us an indication of what could be in store. While the artists share similar directions, the diversity showcased highlights the vast complexity that this genre holds. Regardless of how the future looks, it’s an exciting road ahead.
