Saturday 10 July 2010

Great Scott!




You could've knocked us down with a DeLorean when Total Film tweeted that 'Future Day', in all its time-bending glory, had arrived on Monday. What's 'Future Day' you ask? Just that monumental point in time that Marty McFly and The Doc visit in iconic 80s classic, Back To The Future 2. The magazine alleged that the famed date was upon us, causing a near-meltdown on Twitter, followed closely by waves of "why the hell haven't we got hoverboards yet?" Unfortunately it turned out to be a hoax, perpetrated by a cheeky bit of photoshopping that showed what should've been October 21st 2015 as Monday's date instead. The good news? We've got a bit more time to invent those hoverboards. Wait, what? They already exist? Future Horizons developed a model in 1997 but it was deemed too treacherous for the mass market. If you're a fanatical BTTF purist, however, they *are* selling instructions on how to make your own - a fabulous alternative to the Central line if ever we saw one.


Flying cars, pizza-hydrators, a rocking Huey Lewis & The News soundtrack…there were innumerable brilliant things about this cinema classic, but what's always stood out most in our minds was Marty's kick-ass future get-up. The movie extras swanned about in colour-pop brights and the kind of inverted 80s redux looks that wouldn't be out of place on Henry Holland's catwalk, but Marty 'Nobody Calls Me Chicken' McFly's self-drying jacket and power laces were the combo that launched a thousand sartorial dreams. And copies, seemingly - check out
these, erm, somewhat rudimentary homage to Nike's self-adjusting high-tops. Nike actually met fans half way after an enormous online petition was launched 2 years ago to create the actual shoes - ok, no power laces, but the McFly-inspired HyperDunks were designed in similar colours and included some Back To The Future arrows. Hmm, maybe they're waiting for October 21st 2015 to release the real deal. Here's hoping.

So it looks like we have some way to go before we reach Robert Zemeckis' vision of what the future should be like. To paraphrase Times journalist Caitlin Moran, if Marty *did* land here today, he'd take one look at Shoreditch and go,
"Fucking hell, it's so EIGHTIES!"


We'd best get to work, then…

Words: Olivia Phillips
Graphic: Aurore Pelisson


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