In March 2022, Decentraland – a virtual social world powered by Ethereum – launched the very first Metaverse Fashion Week, with ‘attendees’ able to take part in a packed roster of digital events on the platform.
These spanned presentations from Etro, Dolce & Gabbana, Tommy Hilfiger and more, a space by British department store Selfridges in which NFTs could be viewed in a gallery-like setting (a collaboration with Paco Rabanne), and various ‘parties‘, opportunities to purchase NFTs and wearable outfits, and even a musical performance by Grimes.
All traversed using the platform’s customisable digital avatars and open to anyone with an internet browser (in all, 108,000 people logged into the four-day event, which was run in association with UNXD, which creates ‘crypto-narratives’ for luxury fashion houses).
This morning (6 December 2022), Decentraland revealed the plans for the second Metaverse Fashion Week, which will return next spring. Running from 18-23 March, the expanded programme sees Decentraland collaborate with Spatial and OVER metaverses promising ‘the global community [a chance] to experience the latest advancements in metaversal interoperability and digital fashion’.
Running with the theme ‘Future Heritage’, the organisers task designers and brands to explore the ‘potential of fashion to bridge realities and worlds’ and weave together digital and material innovations.
‘I cannot wait to show the world what has developed since the last time we showcased the fashion revolution in the metaverse on a grand stage,’ says Dr Giovanna Graziosi Casimiro, head of Metaverse Fashion Week. ’Within one year, we have shown the world one of the strongest and most obvious use cases for the metaverse yet – digital fashion. After all, we don’t all want to look like dull copies of the same avatar in our digital lives. Just like in the real world, we all want to individualise and curate the personal aesthetics that we are recognised for.’