In the past - say, 1997 - "futurist" was a catch-all cliché for clothing that was gadgety - a coat equipped with GPS capabilities, for example - or made of some fantastic material like electrically conductive carbon micro-fibers. With clean, laser-cut lines and geometrical motifs a la Courreges, this was clothing that looked like it belonged in outer space - and out of place everywhere else. Now that we've made it safely into the 21st century, the future looks less...futuristic. The vocabulary of geometric shapes is still there, but it has become more organic, like in the insect exoskeletal structuring of MEGEN MING LEE's debut menswear collection. Always a mainstay in Stephane Parmentier's architecturally-tailored collections, the geometry is now less literal - Mies van der Rohe giving way to Salvador Dali in the imploded silken box dresses of his spring 2003 collection.

Futurism isn't exactly all sunshine and oranges, either: Isabelle Ballu's "umbrella habitat" and khaki oilcloth burkhas stress protection, both against the elements and public scrutiny. "I have a fairly grim vision of the world," says Ballu. "It's becoming an increasingly threatening place, so I feel this need to be protected and anonymous." A similar vibe can be found in Testu's close-cut, elongated coats, though slices through a long sleeve or slashes down a backseam offer an unexpected, voyeuristic peek at the body beneath. Pret a Partir's siliconized cotton coats also guard against inclement weather; laser-printed with a blown-up photo of Dutch artist Norbert Fiddelers, the image looks like a video still, zeroing in on another of futurism's obsessions: media.

Media - infused with notes of technology and combat - is the message at Nice Collective as well. Joe Haller and Ian Hannula's current collection, "Electric DIY," employs TV static prints and graphics distorted by video filters. A previous collection called "Man: Machine" blenderized space travel, machinery and robotics in clothing that is street-hip and sportswear-easy. Nice Collective's combat and technology focus comes naturally: San Francisco-based Haller worked on DNA sequencing and performed fluoroscopic radiology by day and DJ'd by night through the 90's. Hannuyla, also a DJ-turned-designer, is a competitive cyclist who delved into combat photography when he joined the Marine Corps.

The future collapses on the past in Sophia Kokosalaki's newest collection, which paraphrases her native Greek culture while telling a stressed, poetic story of the days to come. As Kokosalaki moves fluidly through time, Ingken Benesch and Kai Duenhoelter sample from different cultures with similar ease. The German duo behind the street-luxe line Hotel grafts street cred onto Tinseltown flam with "Hip Hop Hollywood" - a satin bomber with Mildred Pierce shoulders says it all. Hotel folows up HHH with a spring collection that riffs on everything from the 1970s German Pentecostal movement to Siddhartha.

Eight visions of the future, and the only thing that unites them is the understanding that the future is not what it seems. "The future is about resistance against fashion's globalization," says Parmentier. "When I try to think about it, I see the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey. A dense, massive weight floating in the air - the perfect contradiction."

-Clara Young