Is it a mere coincidence? Two Oscar-nominated movies _“The Artist” and “Hugo Cabret”_ remind us of an age when the industry was fabricating dreams. Maybe that can find repercussion in the fashion venues. Fairy tale movie screenplays and even reality shows have been gaining a fantasy quality that has a lot to do with what fashion has been going through.

Add to that the overload of digital information that leads us to brief windows of daydreaming escapism whenever we find an opportunity. Reality has then become our new obsession _be it in fashion, TV, movies, photography, arts or life. But is there reality without dream? Or is it a dream without reality?

As the AW2012/13 reached its end _with Louis Vuitton evoking the theatrics that have been cast out from fashion in the 21st century_ a question emerged: if fashion was becoming obsessed by reality (the commercial aspect), shouldn’t it also remember the old times it made us dream? Some fashion dream weavers have stayed forever in our memory: Alexander McQueen, John Galliano and Hussein Chalayan.

Now reality is different and there is no room for nostalgia. Adapting fantasy to reality has become the greatest challenge of fashion creators. That’s why exhibition Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations, held at the MetMuseum in NYC, makes perfect sense.

THAT’S WHY WE CHOSE DREAM AS THE THEME OF THIS ISSUE. REALITY AND DREAM ARE BOTH ESSENTIAL AND COMPLEMENTARY ELEMENTS TO THE EXISTENCE OF THE HUMAN RACE.