The fashion and luxury industries persist in their aim to make the metaverse an integral part of their future. While the craze for these new virtual worlds has tended to fade, these two sectors seem determined to take advantage of their infinite possibilities.
As such, a second virtual fashion week will officially be held in the metaverse in the spring of 2023.
One year after a first experiment – with mixed results – Metaverse Fashion Week is set to return for a second edition. And it's once again Decentraland that will have the honour of hosting some of the biggest fashion houses in one of its parallel worlds.
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The event will take place after the real-world fashion weeks, spanning the globe from New York to Paris in February and March, and is scheduled for March 28-31, 2023.
It will even host Miami Fashion Week, the first fashion week recognised by the esteemed Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) to participate in the event, reflecting the growing interest of the fashion and luxury industries in virtual worlds.
Fashion's mission to conquer the metaverse
Contrary to what some may think, the Web3 revolution could very well be underway, or at least in its early stages.
The latest news from the fashion industry suggests that the industry's main players believe in the metaverse and intend to take advantage of it in their various experiments.
Beyond virtual clothing collections, NFTs and forays into gaming, the metaverse is also proving to be an incredible showcase for brands and retailers, who use it to present their collections – whether real or virtual – but also to show off specific products, from limited editions to collaborations.
And this will undoubtedly be spotlighted during the upcoming Metaverse Fashion Week.
Developed in partnership with UNXD, as well as the Spatial and OVER metaverses, this new kind of fashion week will have the theme "future heritage", with the aim of connecting the next generation of designers – undoubtedly more digitally minded – with what we might now call traditional designers.
And like last year, users will be able to attend fashion shows, move between a runway and a luxury shopping mall, and of course buy physical and digital clothes, sometimes in the form of NFTs.
The event can also count on its partnership with DressX, a specialist in digital clothing.
More than 108,000 people for the first edition
"I am incredibly honored to be leading the second annual Metaverse Fashion Week and 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," said 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.
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"Just like in the real world, we all want to individualise and curate the personal aesthetics that we are recognised for,"
Decentraland has not yet released the names of the brands that will be taking part in this second metaverse event.
In the first edition, Dolce & Gabbana, Tommy Hilfiger, Selfridges, Guo Pei and Paco Rabanne were among the big names present. In total, more than 108,000 people were curious enough to attend the event – a figure that remains relatively low compared to the hopes and expectations that some may have for these new virtual worlds. – AFP Relaxnews