Today we’re reporting on the recent news that the world’s largest cosmetics company, L’Oréal, has partnered with Ready Player Me, an avatar creation platform that allows users to maintain a consistent identity across more than 4,000 games and Metaverse environments, such as Spatial, HiberWorld, VRChat, and Animaze.
According to L’Oréal’s press release, which was issued last week, and the company’s Chief Metaverse Officer, Camille Kroely, L’Oréal’s partnership with Ready Player One is designed to “better understand the appetite for virtual beauty amongst consumers and elevate beauty experiences.” Adding “With more than three billion global gamers, our approach is to explore new beauty codes, while making the experience more accessible and inclusive. Through creativity, technology and L’Oréal’s beauty expertise, we aim to offer a space for self-expression that reflects the diversity of our world beyond physical.”
Two of the L’Oréal’s leading brands, Maybelline New York and L’Oréal Professionnel, have, respectively, created makeup looks and hairstyles for addition to the Ready Player Me platform. This will allow users to personalise their Ready Player Me avatars with exclusive L’Oréal styles. Ready Player Me CEO & Co-Founder Timmu Tõke responded to the announcement by saying: “We couldn't be more excited to partner with L’Oréal and bring their avatar customization options to our avatar creator and all apps and games compatible with Ready Player Me.” We had the opportunity to hear Timmu talk at this year’s Web Summit Opening night. Unfortunately, Timmu’s elevator pitch for Ready Player One was cut short by a rigging / Skycam snafu, which put an immediate hold on opening night presentations.
Here at the metabite we’re excited by L’Oréal’s ambition to make the Metaverse experience more accessible and inclusive. We have previously looked at how the Metaverse might leave behind the baggage of today’s internet in order to create a diverse and inclusive digital world free from hate and bigotry. Back in August of this year we reported on Mark Zuckerberg’s plans for a mixed reality drag show. Titled ‘Queens of the Metaverse’, the show will feature the following iconic drag acts: Blu Hydrangea (recent winner of RuPaul's Drag Race UK spin-off RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs the World), Tia Kofi (pop artist and Season 2 star of RuPaul’s Drag Race) and Adam All (performer, host, and one of the world’s most well-known drag kings). Like L’Oréal, Meta’s aim is to use the virtual realm of the Metaverse to create looks that are either difficult, or downright impossible to realise in the physical world.
By working with makeup, hairstylists, and 3-D artists, L’Oréal and Ready Player One will enable people to better express themselves in the virtual world. For L’Oréal this provides a route to new business opportunities, where users in the virtual world influence styles int eh physical world. Who knows, perhaps you too might soon be sporting a Metaverse-inspired look!
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