Growing up, I dreamed of what the future would look like. I wore out my Back to The Future II VHS, fast-forwarding and rewinding the hover-board and flying car scenes, praying that I could just get my hands on a time-machine and get a glimpse of what technological wonders the future might hold. I set up a work shop in my dad’s garage, removing the wheels off of my skateboard, dismantling old toasters and vacuum cleaners, experimenting with electricity and magnets, determined that I could make something hover, but to no avail.

I binged on sci-fi, climbed giant radio towers to stare off into space, thinking I could figure out how to make contact with extra terrestrial life. I bought myself a suit ten sizes too big, hoping one day I’d fit into it and become a real life F.B.I agent assigned to cases like The X-Files, just like my hero agent Fox Mulder. I had a fascination with lazer pointers. I collected them. If I could mow enough lawns eventually I’d have twenty of them and I could somehow combine their powers and wield a ray-gun or God willing a lightsaber. But alas, somewhere along the line I gave up those dreams to live in the present tense, discovering time moves faster when you’re patient.

Now here we are, the future.

Well, the future from my space-time continuum that is. The future my boyhood self waited 20 years to finally see, and oddly enough, it looks a lot like the past. It’s like I traveled backward instead of forwards. Still no hover-boards, still no flying cars. Hell, we still haven’t even perfected the electric car car yet. Oh, but we have the ability to stream digital porn 24-hours a day from the palm of our hand. Whooptie-doo, what a long way we’ve come. Seriously though, that’s really the only defining characteristic that the twenty-teens really has. That we can communicate and consume endless amounts of digital media whenever, wherever we are. We’re a society that’s glued to our phone as if it were an extension of our body.

The only real prediction I can make about the future from this point in time is that babies will soon be born with communication devices implanted straight into their brain. They can Face-Time with their mind. Netflix will have a virtual-reality app tied into this internal-brain wave system that will allow you to genuinely feel like you’re in the Tanner household as you binge on every season of Full, Fuller, and more than likely Fullest House. But that’s just one mans opinion, and I’m getting way too ahead of myself. We we’re talking about the present. Well actually, the future. The future from the me from 1984. The past from the me thats writing this article. This is getting really confusing.

So where was I, oh yes, Retro.

The Future is Retro.

It’s like the future is one big nostalgic Cafe 80’s from Hill Valley 2015, but only the top 2% can afford Air Mag’s with power laces. And if you still don’t know what I’m referring to, please revert to your copy of Back to The Future II. And if you don’t have a copy, stop reading this instant and go get one. Just kidding, don’t stop reading. NEVER, stop reading.

The future is filled with nostalgia, and I have to say, it’s refreshing. What’s new to the youth is nostalgic to me. The newest hit show on TV Stranger Things takes place in 1984, literally my birth year, and makes you feel as if you were smack dab in the 80’s again. The kids carry Trapper Keepers and ride Madrid skateboards, play Dungeons and Dragons, and their only means of communicating with each other are walkie talkies and land lines. But nostalgia today is not just limited to the 80’s, not by a long shot. The music festival culture is at an all time high, channeling the days of Woodstock in the 60’s, and a new wave of modern day hippies in tied dye come out to party in droves. Greaser culture of the 50’s is everywhere. Leather jackets, motorcycles, sailor tattoo’s & pompadours slicked back with pomade, the only thing missing is the doo-wop, but Pharell did make “Happy” at one hundred and sixty beats per minute. The 90’s are more alive today then they were back then, with their bright color neon clothes and funky patterns, and their quick passing fads like Tomagochi and Pogs substituted by Pokemon Go! and Fidget Spinners.

The best of today’s generation have Retro down to a science.

Take these kids for instance, Product’s of the 90’s. They’re a creative collective of adventurers and film photography enthusiasts that can take thrift store pieces and put together outfits that look as if they belong on runways with Gucci. Anytime I’d wear an outfit from a thrift store in school I would have gotten my ass whooped! Nowadays its the coolest thing you can do. But they aren’t caught up in the HYPE! They are free spirits, curators of vintage styles that are somehow impeccably modern. The girls of the crew, Julia, Theresa, and Kat all have Depop shops where they sell their thrift store treasures, and are working towards having their own clothing and lifestyles brands someday. Below is a gallery of some of their styles along with links to their social media.This creative collective proves the future is bright, the future is nostalgic, and #TheFutureisRetro