Beauty

Back in the day, Tristan Walker was a Silicon Valley wunderkind. He was still working on his Stanford MBA when he joined then-red-hot startup Foursquare as director of business development.

Grooming has long been the domain of women. But as social mores evolve, affluent (household income $125,000+) Millennial men are making inroads into this formerly forbidden territory in ways their fathers couldn’t have imagined. Yet, while these men care as much about their appearance as women their age, old-fashioned attitudes about masculinity are creating tensions that brands and retailers should recognize—and resolve.

Katia Vega has an unusual specialty in her research. She adds technology to everyday beauty products to give people “superpowers.” When she thinks What the Future, she’s wondering if we’re ready for all the cool stuff she’s working on. WTF: How would you describe what you do?

There is a fair amount of historical evidence that suggests growing grains to produce beer is the reason humans morphed from hunter-gatherers to an agriculture-based society. Yet in the past 20 to 30 years, there’s been an incredible efflorescence. What does innovation look like in an industry that is as old as civilization itself?

Her rapt community of followers on the Patreon crowd-funding platform (15,000 strong, each pledging about $3 per month, she says) support her financially and emotionally. The emotional part isn’t a one-way street. When she asks What the Future, she is thinking about the role of art in beauty and the rapidly changing relationship between the artist and arts funding.

“Do we actually take in beauty and support the creation of new and more beautiful things?” Ipsos, working with the non-profit Americans for the Arts, has fielded two large, national surveys on the topic. The answers turn out to be “somewhat” and “yes.”

There is a fair amount of historical evidence that suggests growing grains to produce beer is the reason humans morphed from hunter-gatherers to an agriculture-based society. Yet in the past 20 to 30 years, there’s been an incredible efflorescence. What does innovation look like in an industry that is as old as civilization itself?