Have you ever seen a runway show and thought, “Who would actually wear that in real life?” Well, with digital fashion, augmented reality, and NFTs expanding into the Metaverse, that’s the point.
Brands like Balenciaga and Louis Vuitton are currently selling out dresses nobody can wear. And not just because they’re impossible to sit in.
Here’s the latest on what Metaverse fashion is, and how you can get into virtual shopping sprees.
What Is the Metaverse?
For a quick overview, the Metaverse is a confluence of the physical, augmented, and virtual reality in a synergistic online space. Think of it as a 4D version of the Internet. Or the kind of Internet you’re inside of, instead of just staring at.
The future of NFTs, social media, video games, and more, is morphing into a world where people can connect through digital realities. Essentially, Mark Zuckerberg put $10B into ensuring that we can dine and mate with aliens from space.
And of course you need to look good for the extraterrestrials! Which is where digital fashion comes into play.
What Is Digital Fashion?
Digital fashion is a visual representation of fashion concepts with computer technologies and 3D software. These items aren’t made of fabric, leather, wool, or a cheap polyester that makes you sweat buckets in the summer. Instead, they’re made from pixels.
Virtual dressing rooms and runway shows enable a user’s avatar to change, fit, and show off clothing. But digital fashion pieces can only be composited and fitted into pictures. So you’ll never be able to wear these items in real life.
But the upside is that you don’t have to deal with the terrible lighting that’s always looming in dressing rooms.
Beauty and cosmetics retailers have even joined the party. Sephora and ModiFace (an augmented reality virtual makeover provider) announced the launch of a 3D Augmented Reality Mirror.
This mirror simulates cosmetics on a user’s face in real-time and in 3D. Now you can have the perfect Instagram makeup in your photos and your Reels.
Because you are doing Reels, right? We’re not the only slave to the algorithm?
NFTs And Digital Fashion
Since the fashion industry bloomed in the Metaverse, several brands have been creating and selling items as NFTs. Clothing designs for avatars in video games are turned into files and sold as non-fungible tokens.
The first digital clothing, “Iridescence,” was actually sold in 2019. Three parties collaborated to create this pioneer digital dress, including artist Johanna Jaskowska, Dutch company The Fabricant, and NFT company Dapper Labs.
It sold for a whopping $9,500 at the Ethereal Summit in New York. Which is way more successful than any group project we’ve been a part of.
Since then, digital jackets have sold for over $100,000 and digital sneakers for up to $10,000 a pair. Brands can promote these items through virtual billboards or host virtual sponsored events like fashion weeks and runway shows.
They can also provide virtual malls where consumers will hopefully never fight for car parking spaces again.
The Future of Fashion in the Metaverse
In the Metaverse, we will not only be able to interact with content through sight and hearing. Interactions through touch, taste and smell are expected, as well. This is because the Metaverse is an extension of our sensory experiences on the Internet.
As our digital identities evolve and the use of our sensory experiences expand inside the Metaverse, fashion could very well dominate a large aspect of it.
The world now seeks to enhance sustainability, and digital fashion takes away the need for brands to produce physical items. This makes them appealing to an environmentally-conscious audience and saves them from spending $30M on a two-piece bikini.
3 Digital Fashion Trends in the Metaverse That Did It For Us
1. Gucci Dionysus Bag with Bee
This limited accessory was published in the avatar shop by Roblox for gamers to purchase and dress their avatars with. It was made for the Gucci Garden event and is worth about 80 Robux.
Sure, the bee stings a little. But it hurts way less in 4D.
2. DressX Corrupted File Dress
This dress was released by DressX as a part of the Matrix series collection ahead of its forthcoming premiere. It makes a statement with its alphanumeric symbols matching the virtual reality of The Matrix.
And if a virtual reality-themed dress that exists in a virtual reality for virtual people makes your head hurt, you’re not alone.
3. The Balenciaga Winter Look
This asymmetrical dress with laser cuts and silver sequins was released as a part of the Balenciaga video game collection. It made Vogue’s list of “five video game trends that we already want to wear.” And it definitely makes ours.
Wear this as your avatar struts through a virtual food court in a Metaverse mall, and watch the jaws drop. Hopefully not while they’re full of 4D soft pretzels.
You’re probably planning to create a digital version of yourself to join the Metaverse — we are too. Like you, we also have too much hope on Zuckerberg’s invested $10B.
So, be sure to include one of these three picks and show the Metaverse how a baddie slays.
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