From virtual idols to digital collections, many luxury and fashion brands want to seize the opportunities presented by the emerging technologies adopted around the metacosm. Although the adaptation process is slower. The just-concluded world's first Metaverse Fashion Week (MVFW) not only opened a window into the future, but also presented the dilemma of virtual fashion under the hardware problems and technical problems.
According to fashion outlet BoF (The Business of Fashion), the younger generation spends an average of 7.3 hours a week in the virtual world, and "in the past six months, 81% of Gen Z have played video game fashion", so BoF said virtual fashion will become "the next gold mine".
From March 24 to 27, Metaversey Game Platform Decentraland hosted the world's first MVFW. Over the four-day event, the inaugural MVFW featured more than 500 looks from more than 60 fashion brands, including Dolce & Gabanna, Etro, Tommy Hilfiger, and Estee Lauder, as well as London luxury department store Selfridges.
Open to everyone on Decentraland, MVFW is a completely free event where visitors can purchase the fashion brand's NFT (Non-Fungible Token, Non-Homogeneous Token) through their digital wallet using the platform's cryptocurrency MANA.
Image credit: Martin Shibuya/@martinshibuya/Twitter
Italian luxury brand Dolce & Gabbana unveiled MVFW's first fashion show. This time, instead of using human avatars as models, Dolce & Gabbana showed cat-inspired models dressed in unique D&G costumes and making their first strides at Lyon, a runway that looks like a Galactic disco.
While other brands are busy renting retail space for events, Swiss luxury brand Philipp Plein has already bought land in the metacosm. On February 4, the Philipp Plein Group announced through its Instagram account that it had purchased its first digital land in Decentraland, a property located in a prime location covering 179111 square feet (about 166,460 square meters). The land was acquired for 510,000 MANAs (Decentraland's cryptocurrency), equivalent to $1.4 million.
Philipp Plein's decision shows that he has high hopes for metaverse fashion. But if you want to establish a shopping destination on a digital land, brands are still in the exploration stage.
Threeium, a provider of software for creating and distributing 3D/AR experiences, partnered with creative production agency Craft to launch a virtual shopping mall in Decentraland during MVFW that includes a luxury shopping district — like Digital Fifth Avenue, and multiple brand boutiques. From awnings by the windows to Japanese ukiyo-e art, the luxury shopping district architectural decoration also pays attention to detail.
Image credit: Tommy Hilfiger/@TommyHilfiger/Twitter
Fashion apparel brand Tommy Hilfiger showcased its Spring 2022 collection virtual show at MVFW. With a decentralized protocol, The Boson Protocol, Tommy Hilfiger also opened a boutique at this Meta-Universe Fashion Week. Users can visit the store in the Boss Portal in Decentraland to buy NFTs such as hoodies. Physical versions of these items can also be obtained by redeeming NFTs.
The Boson Protocol is a new economy that connects smart contracts to real-world commerce and their data and becomes part of the Web 3.0 data value-sharing economy.
Image credit: Decentraland Twitter
Sophia's debut is a highlight of this fashion week. The first robot to acquire citizenship, Sophia is a humanoid robot developed by Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics and capable of expressing more than 62 facial expressions.
On social media, Decentraland encourages users to spot and show off Sophia. This gives users the opportunity to get NFT giveaways. The closing show was led by fashion brand Dundas World, which also showcased a range of digital dresses at its pop-up store.
If novelty and imagination are the main characteristics of fashion, then the metacosm is the most fashionable place in town. Sam Hamiliton, creative director of the Decentraland Foundation, said Metafile Fashion Week could become an annual tradition. But according to participants, the fashion week experience wasn't all that rosy — technical difficulties, overheating hard drives and low-precision visual imaging all made the first Metaverse Fashion Week seem a bit overwhelming.
While Decentraland says it's the first inclusive fashion week, it's all free and open. But users are better off using a gaming-specific desktop, otherwise Virtual Fashion Week may be as inaccessible as real Fashion Week. CNN reporter Leah Dolan complained, "It took me two Macs and a Dell laptop to finally get into Decentraland — and even so, I was online for 15 minutes at a time and then collapsed." ”
It can be seen that virtual fashion weeks can limit air travel and reduce the waste of fashion show construction, but the cost of virtual field environments that rely heavily on complex computer systems is not low.