Predictions

One industry leader and five trend forecasters look ahead 40 years and give us their predictions on fashion, beauty, luxury and more.

Six global trend forecasters share their takes on what lies ahead.

FORTUNE TELLER

Noted futurist Faith Popcorn knew early on that she had a knack for identifying trends. It wasn’t intuition or psychic powers, she says, but, rather, “an ability to tie different trains and trails and strings together.” Popcorn was set to become a lawyer at first, following in the footsteps of her parents, both attorneys. But, after college, she decided she couldn’t bear another three years of school. She took a job in advertising, where she watched her colleagues sell clients a vision of present day, completely missing, she says, “that the culture was the media of the future.” She quit and started her own company, Faith Popcorn’s BrainReserve, which, today, works with 10,000 futurists across the globe (called her TalentBank), from different industries. Based on their research, Popcorn and her team identify the trends of tomorrow, advising Fortune 500 companies on how to capitalize on what’s to come. Her work, which is constant, takes her around the world—not that she sees any of it as “work.” “Everything I see leads to something else,” she says. Her big prediction for life in 40 years, based on what she’s currently seeing? “We’ll be augmented humans. We’ll have tweaked our DNA, so we’ll all look great .... Tech will take us to new realms via manufactured memories... and ESP-like communications. It will be an unnerving but amazing time.”