An eclectic display at the 2nd Metaverse Fashion Week
The second edition of Metaverse Fashion Week came with a few technical hiccups — and featured a line-up of big brands, from Dundas to Adidas and HBO.
Čítaj viacUverejnil používateľ Cointelegraph By Inna Kombarova | apr 10, 2023 |
The second edition of Metaverse Fashion Week came with a few technical hiccups — and featured a line-up of big brands, from Dundas to Adidas and HBO.
Čítaj viacUverejnil používateľ Cointelegraph By Inna Kombarova | apr 10, 2022 |
Incredible as it may seem, digital fashion has developed so much that it already needs its own fashion week with all that implies: from the shows and presentations of new collections to public talks and parties with true DJs. The first-ever digital fashion week took place March 23-27 in Decentraland, a decentralized virtual social platform on the Ethereum blockchain.Previously, Jonathan Simkhai presented his collection in Second Life right before New York Fashion Week. After the show, skins of evening outfits could be purchased at NFT to dress up users’ avatars in Second Life.[embedded content]Decentraland also held the first full-fledged fashion week in history, lasting five days. On the first day, Selfridges launched a store where NFT of the real exposition currently held in London was presented — the future of Victor Vasarely’s work and the influence he had on his contemporary Paco Rabbane called UNIVERSE. Players can purchase NFT dresses as well as Fondation Vasarely artworks.The second dayDuring the second day of the Metaverse Fashion Week (MVFW), there were a lot of panel discussions, modeling workshops, interviews, the UNXD Luxury District opening and mini-games. After all, we are in the gaming space. And, perhaps the most significant parts were two shows by Dolce & Gabbana and Philip Plein, as this is the reason why both gamers and fashionistas paid attention to MVFW.Related: NFT adoption: Tokens take the runway at Metaverse Fashion WeekDecentraland’s graphics immediately prompted questions from many Instagram users who commented on brands’ posts about MVFW. Decentraland was launched in beta in 2017 and many creators questioned the graphic’s quality, working with what they had. Because of the quality, the shows looked ridiculous, forcing brands to only post the images of the skins that could be purchased in-game. For example, Dolce & Gabbana chose cats with glasses and hairstyles as their digital models. Their show was held in a virtual hall with a circular podium and flowers.Each cat had its own style and the collection echoed the brand’s real show, both in the set design and the presented skins. This season, the D&G’s fans will fall to logomania in the Metaverse and will wear animal print, down jackets, voluminous shoulders and sunglasses, beaming with happiness.Philipp Plein held his show with a huge skull, noting the brand’s symbol. The skull opened and its tongue uncoiled to present the models walking in the show. The fans of the Philip Plein in this metaverse season are expected to wear luminous glasses or respirator masks, helmets with cat ears, down jackets, wings and bathrobes.On the brand’s website, prices for skins that were sold just off the runway started at $1,500 for Moon $urfer and went up to $15,000 for Platinum $urfer. These skins come with a special treat: A small skeleton sitting on the shoulder — probably to justify the cost.After the show, everyone was invited to go to a party where Plein broadcasted himself from home to join the party, bragging on his Instagram stories that his clothes were presented in the Metaverse for the first time. The designer was wearing his brand’s custom skin: a helmet with cat ears. It is clear that the Metaverse fashion adores cats.Moreover, many brands opened digital boutiques in the Metaverse. In the Luxury District, shoppers could find Dolce & Gabbana and Philip Plein, but also luxury watch boutique Jacob & Co and a shop with Hèrmes Birkin bags. Are there any other ways that would allow you to emphasize your status in the Metaverse, if not a Birkin and a watch?Related: NFT fashion hits the runway as designers launch in the MetaverseJacob & Co launched “Astronomia Metaverso,” a nonfungible token (NFT) collection that includes eight watches, one watch for one planet in the Solar System. “The watches from the five closest planets to the sun (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter) have been produced as one-of-a kind physical watches (which include an NFT of the watch), while the three most distant planets (Saturn, Uranus, Neptune) have splintered into multiple digital-only variants.”The third dayOn the third day, there were an Etro show and a presentation of the Dress X collection. The Etro show was the biggest failure of the whole MVFW, as the styling of average avatars in mediocre garments with branded Buta designs was enough for a digital collection in the Metaverse. The show was held in the same place as Dolce & Gabbana, but with fewer special effects and not enough glow and style. The audience’s behavior was far from perfect — many users were just rushing near the stage, spoiling the show. It was clear that organizers had no technical restrictions to prevent this, or it wasn’t expected. The fans didn’t like the show and tore the collection’s presentation down.The fifth dayOn the final day, there was a presentation from Estée Lauder, the first cosmetics brand that performed brightly in the Metaverse. They presented a product that gave the Avatars a veil of gold glitter, which looked amazing. As a smart branding move from Estée Lauder, it gave away gold glitter for free — users were happy and their avatars sparkled.There was also a Dundas brand show with dresses with ties and glitter going out of your avatars. In fact, there was not anything particularly outstanding: It repeated the physical collection, playing with the concept of dress up yourself. Now, users can dress their avatars. The models they used were more humanized and less clumsy.The final chord was the Auroboros x Grimes Immersive Experience party with Grimes performing. It was clear to everyone that she moved much better than the standard Avatars and even better than the models on the catwalk in this metaverse. She was wearing a suit with snake scales and had long braids. It did look like Grimes has been living in the Metaverse for a long time — she simply adapted.After five days of watching MVFW, it’s cool to see so many brands taking part in the new page of the fashion industry history, even if they couldn’t predict the result of this experiment. The shows didn’t look the way the brands expected they would, as publications on their social networks made clear. This is because brands posted the best photos from the show and not the reality of pixelated avatars and simple looks. Perhaps the graphics were created specifically to make onlookers feel nostalgic, only then to amaze us with stunning results and an evolution of how the future of MVFW will look, even with realistic impressions of the garments and the models wearing them.All we can do is hope that the next fashion week will be more technologically advanced and that Balenciaga will join the list since it seems to be the pioneer of digital fashion in the world of luxury.[embedded content]This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.Inna Komvarova is the founder of the popular fashion Telegram channel Mamkina. In 2019, she quit her job as the head of the industrial sales department at a prominent climate company and started working full-time in fashion media.
Čítaj viacUverejnil používateľ Cointelegraph By Inna Kombarova | feb 26, 2022 |
ourtesy of Kat Taylor Cattytay, digital fashion appeared in 2017. However, we began to talk loudly about it only in 2020. It all began five years ago when Kat first made an Instagram post with the caption “Virtual Clothing!!!”Then, there was a collaboration with Adidas, Off-White, Vetements and Balenciaga. These brands were interested in introducing fashion digitalization even before it blew up in the mass media discourse. Note that the COVID-19 pandemic had yet to happen and people were not stuck at home. Thus, there was no need for digital clothing at all. Nevertheless, it happened and fashion digitalization was predicting the future in the virtual realm.Related: Haute Couture goes NFT: Digitalization at the Paris Fashion WeekOf course, we all have tested virtual clothing in computer games way before Cattytay, but it was far from the fashion. Beggars can’t be choosers, as we say. These were jeans and shirts in the Sims and various armor in Shooters. But, no one could even imagine that in the near future, we would try on brand sneakers in a specially created application or that we would do it even for money, as it happened in March 2021 with the collaboration between Gucci and the Belarussian company Wanna. The first virtual sneakers could be bought in the Gucci application for $12.99 and they could be tried on in Wanna Kiks for $9.00 where, in addition to sneakers, you could purchase them (well, rather take a photo on them) and other accessories.And, it reasonably raises some questions: Why would anyone want it? Who needs it all? What would you do with it? Digital fashion lovers claim that this is how they save the environment. As some put it: There is no need to buy a real thing for a photo on Instagram. Well, but what’s next? What is the percentage of people who will constantly buy digital things for posts on social networks? Would that be just for fun? Would that be all the time?There are several probable scenarios. The first one, and the most realistic, is the digital fitting rooms. In order to see how new potential clothing fits you, it would be nice to try it on without leaving your home. It would be wise to attract customers to these potential applications. Some stores are trying to implement this feature. At this stage, however, everything is quite buggy. People are still getting entertained and this feature attracts customers. In general, this gives a picture of the attitude of real users to digital fashion. Currently, it’s like a game for them, while brands see it as a marketing opportunity.Related: Blockchain-enabled digital fashion creates new business models for brandsDigital fashion and gaming industry Next, where we can use digital fashion is, of course, computer games. For example, with the landmark collaboration between Balenciaga and Fortnite, buying a Balenciaga-inspired skin in the game grants you the opportunity to buy the piece in real life. You’ve dressed up yourself, then dress up your character — what a stroke of genius for gamers. Fortnite generally makes good money on built-in purchases, as users have spent over a billion dollars on in-game purchases for their characters.However, there is an issue with interoperability: The purchased skin for one game will not work in another. You dress up your character but you’ll no longer have your photo for social media. In such a way, we got Moschino skins for The Sims and Gucci for Tennis Clash.In 2021, Balenciaga presented a collection in a gaming format where all the characters are dressed in the latest season’s clothing. Thus, the cyber aesthetics came into the real-world fashion: what was once only within video games we are starting to wear in the real world[embedded content]Since Mark Zuckerberg announced the creation of a Metaverse, it seems that the digitalized and virtualized reality is becoming more and more natural, or even new normal. It simply means that we all will need to build houses and wear clothes in virtual reality as well as in the real world: whether it’s for meeting friends, for teaching classes or business negotiations. During one of these negotiations, Demna Gvasalia, creative director of Balenciaga, already gave an interview in virtual reality.Therefore, we must already think not only about digital fashion but also about digital design, so that paintings in NFT-form can be hung on the walls, regardless of practicality.Related: Why are major global brands experimenting with NFTs in the Metaverse?The empire of digital fashion In a short time, the digital fashion market grew into a huge empire, incomprehensible to most users. Entrepreneurial businessmen develop beautiful stories where we can hear about sustainability, protecting the planet and unusual designs that will never be implemented because they are simply unrealistic for production.Brands are happy to use digital fashion as another coverage opportunity but, in fact, it is not applicable and is not as beautiful in life, as may sound. For example, during the pandemic, Russian brand Alexander Terekhov launched a promotion where his couture dresses could be placed on a photo for $50. According to the comments from participants, it turns out that there was a huge number of difficulties and pitfalls — the deadlines were delayed due to the fact that the photos did not fit and the dresses did not look right on the client. However, the brand received the desired coverage opportunity in the media.Therefore, digital fashion is another tool for promoting the brand or a way to earn money for startups and digital designers. In a couple of months and for $700, all secrets of the new market will be revealed and one would be able to bring their brand to the world of meta fashion. However, the future is unclear. Will you design dresses for already famous brands or will you make your own? Will they actually wear the clothes you make in the Metaverse or use ready-made photos for $50?Will Metaverse executives promote fashion to the masses and how will brands get along? Will there be meta-stores or will all clothes appear with a click? How will it deal with counterfeits and will the brands unite into something bigger?So far, there are more questions than answers, but we are obviously on the verge of a new and very exciting industry that everyone is interested in.This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.Inna Komvarova is the founder of the popular fashion Telegram channel Mamkina. In 2019, she quit her job as the head of the industrial sales department at a prominent climate company and started working full-time in fashion media.
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