Paris, Milan, New York, London, and now Decentraland. Metaverse Fashion Week, or MVFW22, a five-day event which ran between 23rd and 27th March comprising runway shows, fashion experiences, pop-up shops and afterparties.
Hosted by Decentraland, the virtual fashion event features a mix of luxury labels, including Paco Rabanne, Dolce & Gabbana and Etro, and digital brands, including Forever 21, DKNY and Estée Lauder.
Head of Metaverse Fashion Week and Decentraland Community & Events Producer Giovanna Graziosi Casimiro said the event: “enables major fashion brands to explore this new space alongside the decentralized artists and designers who created this space. MVFW22 will be a moment in time when the fashion world will witness the future of fashion, and how this world will enable them to meet new audiences, advance fashion sustainability, and reevaluate diversity and accessibility in fashion.”
High-end department store Selfridges kicked off Metaverse Fashion Week with the opening of its flagship metaverse store, which recreates the look of its Birmingham store. In collaboration with contemporary fashion label Paco Rabanne and Hungarian-French artist Victor Vasarely, Selfridges said its virtual store allows visitors to immerse themselves in “the fascinating world of Victor Vasarely and his hypnotic optical-art works, including original pieces and exclusive collaborations, and enjoy the feel-good colors and textures of the Paco Rabanne collections.” The Selfridges store will also feature 12 “unwearable” Paco Rabanne NFTs (non-fungible tokens – non-replicable one-of-a-kind digital assets that represent a real-life object such as a piece of art, music, in-game items and, of course, fashion collections).
Selfridges aren’t the only ones opening virtual stores. Metaverse marketplace Renovi and immersive shopping experience company Threedium have teamed up develop and build bespoke pop-up stores and will be design and showcase digital wearables, enabling fashion brands to promote their new products to the Decentraland audience. New York City-based fashion house DKNY’s store will offer an immersive experience, Singaporean fashion house and luxury goods company Charles & Keith will display digital wearables, and luxury reseller Privé Porter will be offering authenticated NFTs of exclusive handbags that can be used in the metaverse.
Digital-native luxury fashion house Auroboros will close the event with a virtual performance by Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer Grimes. Grimes has previously sold around $6 million worth of digital art and recently announced the launch of an “intergalactic children’s metaverse book” at this year’s Avalanche Summit.
Metaverse Fashion Week represents the next stage in fashion’s foray into the Metaverse – luxury fashion house Balenciaga’s 2021 collaboration with online video game Fortnite included both physical and digital collections, and the 2021 British Fashion Council’s annual Fashion Awards, which could be experienced via online game platform Roblox.
As the Metaverse becomes more integrated into our lives, digital fashion, how people dress their avatar (the graphical representation of the user or the user's character or persona) and we choose to express ourselves, will become as important as fashion in the physical world.
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