Hyperreal Aesthetics and the Second Metaverse Fashion Week
Metaverse Fashion Week (MMH) – Metaverse Fashion Week (MVFW) was held for the second time between 28-31 March. Metaverse Fashion Week was held for the first time last year. If we recall briefly, Metaverse Fashion Week was held in Decentraland last year, as it was this year. Alongside digital fashion companies, a number of brands that traditionally produce physical clothing attended the event.
In our new digital world, Participants from famous brands include Dolce& Gabbana, Hugo Boss, Estée Lauder, Tommy Hilfiger, Forever 21, Estée Lauder, Philipp Plein, DKNY, Hogan, Selfridges, Tommy Hilfiger, SHOW studio, DUNDAS, Karl Lagerfeld, Vogue & Hype, Fresh Couture, Placebo , Forever 21, Perry Ellis America, D-CAVE, and digital designers The Fabricant and Auroboros.
Hyperreal Aesthetics and the Second Metaverse Fashion Week
The second Metaverse Fashion Week events took place with some technical differences from the first.
Decentraland focused on the interoperability of different platforms on Web3 this year, collaborating with digital fashion company UNXD, metaverse platform Spatial and augmented reality company OVER to organize the event.
Decentraland has featured on the Metaverse Fashion Week center, as well as Spatial and OVER as satellite runways. Brands had the opportunity to reproduce their shows on each of these tracks or to exhibit them simultaneously. The events were held in the Genesis Plaza, Dragon City, Fashion Street, District X and Metatokyo areas, which are coordinated on the Decentraland virtual digital map. In Decentraland’s Luxury District, Dolce & Gabbana, DKNY and Tommy Hilfiger took part with their new collections, while Coach and Adidas participated in the virtual show for the first time.
And Model Tangpoko… The first virtual supermodel of Metaverse Fashion Week, Tangpoko, is among the novelties of this year’s organization.
Hyperreal Aesthetics of Fashion in Meta!
In fashion, which has been interacting with information and software technologies for a long time, important purchases such as development, design, production and sustainability were created with artificial intelligence and 3D software. Fashion and technology synergy continues at full speed in Metaverse, the trendy concept of the last period. Metaverse is an interdisciplinary structure that brings together important fields such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, machine computers, crypto money and NFT. When the forces of these technologies are combined with the visuality and production of fashion, we see a hyperreal aesthetic.
The concept of hyperreality was introduced by Jean Baudrillard. According to this concept, it has been argued that an object reproduced by the influence of mass culture replaces or is preferred to the existing original, so that the copy is “more real than real”. If there are those of us who have not read it, I recommend the important book “Simulacras and Simulation”.
When we look at it from this window, our culture, perceptions and preferences that change with digital constantly bring us together with new realities, and we see that fashion has its share of this. It’s a world of hyperreal aesthetics that we encounter at Metaverse Fashion Week. The design of the Metaverse environment, avatars and collectibles are components of this hyperreal aesthetic. After our fashion runway fashion shows, shows, social media posts or store experiences, it has now set sail for experiences beyond reality thanks to new technologies. The transformation of reality is evident in digital fashion show.
Digital Darwinism and the Metaverse in Fashion
We see that traditional fashion houses are now stepping into Web3, which we define as the “internet of the future”. The theme of this year’s Metaverse Fashion Week (MMH) is “The Heritage of the Future”, which was chosen to highlight the meeting point of the traditional and the future. Already in a press release, Dr. Giovanna Graziosi Casimiro, President of Metaverse Fashion Week, said, “We are watching with excitement as many luxury fashion houses engage with the fashion mindset of the future and realize what this approach means for their target audiences.”
As I have mentioned in many articles before, digital transformation brings with it the prediction of the future of the sector along with the technical infrastructure. The target audiences of brands can change and develop. Especially the new generation growing up with digital culture should be taken into consideration. Capturing the opening here is the most important mission of brand managers. But unfortunately, I can say that there are stagnations in this regard.
Digital Darwinism
By the way, the right place to mention the concept of “Digital Darwinism”, which I have been dwelling on for a long time, in this article as well.
The concept was first introduced by digital analyst and author Brian Solis. Solis explained Digital Darwinism as “the evolution of consumer behavior in the process of society and technology evolving faster than some companies can adapt.” Therefore, consumers are adapting to technology much faster than brands and the expectation is increasing. Solis’ definition is clear. As someone who has been trained in engineering, business, communication and sociology for myself, I define this “missing the future” situation as the “signing of the extinction edict” by brands.
In order to overcome this, it is necessary to get out of the comfort zone, to overcome the fixed ideas in companies, to combine traditional approaches with the vision of the future, to protect some of them within the framework of brand identity and to adapt some of them according to the situation. Metaverse, a new dimension to which traditional fashion houses have adapted, is the indicator of the exit from this comfort zone.
Atmosphere of Experience at the Second Metaverse Fashion Week
At the event, brands hosted immersive digital experiences on the catwalk and other areas. Dolce & Gabbana, an exhibition featuring works from the Future Reward digital design competition, presented Tommy Hilfiger AI-powered products as well as wearables.
DKNY introduced its pop-up art gallery and restaurant DKNY.3 to attendees, while Adidas Into the Metaverse presented its first line of digital wearables for owners of the Metaverse non-fungible token (NFT) collection. Over, another metaverse site, joined forces with Decentraland to hold a parallel hybrid event featuring Balmain in Milan’s Duomo square.
MVFW has also hosted several conferences. Tips on the “digital-physical” future of fashion, how to become a meta-clothing designer, the role of blockchain in verifying the identity of products in the metadata store were shared.
Jewelry brand Ben Bridge has featured exclusive wearables in its first virtual store in metaverse.
Metaverse Fashion Week Competitions
Tommy Hilfiger and DRESSX launched an AI fashion contest from the Discord channel, and designers were invited to apply the looks they created to the Hilfiger brand.
French e-commerce platform Monnier Paris, also launched as part of Metaverse Fashion Week, collaborated with Decentraland and digital fashion brand Republiq in a design competition for Web3 fashion creators. The finalists’ presentations will be transformed into a real-life bag with 3D printing technology and will be sold at Monnier Paris with an accompanying NFT.
Diaa Elyaacoubi-Bouriez, CEO of Monnier Paris, said the aim of the competition is to highlight digital talent and build a bridge with the real world.
UNXD’s The Luxury Fashion District, which it sponsors, hosted virtual showcases of many global brands that debuted at last year’s event.
Dundas has partnered with DRESSX for wearables and UME for their avatars. Dolce & Gabbana showcased the winning designs of Future Reward, a digital design competition that highlights the talent unleashed by the creation of a co-branded wearable collection in the space.
Breast Cancer Awareness, Wellness and Yoga are also at Metaverse Fashion Week
On March 30, a #BRAmazing show for breast cancer awareness took place. In collaboration with Wisher Vodka and The Tyanna Foundation, the first official model of the Metaverse walked the catwalk with designs by 3D designers such as Tangpoko, Doki, Yannakis, SwivelMeta, and Soultry. The brand said that they want to evaluate this platform to bring awareness to this issue. As can be seen, metaverse is now an alternative platform for brands to announce their projects such as raising awareness and social responsibility.
On the activewear side, Alo Yoga hosted yoga and meditation sessions at DCL and introduced the concept of wellness to the metaverse. Perhaps we will talk about the “Mindful Metaverse” in the future. The brand entered the web3 space earlier this month, issuing NFTs to the owners of the Aspen Ski collection, and also launched a virtual store.
Yes, Second Metaverse Fashion Week hosted many more experiences and brands than those I’ve mentioned. All these brands will continue to work on the Metaverse at a rapid pace and let’s see what surprises will await us at the Third Metaverse Fashion Week next year. 3D digital worlds’ development maybe good for health and rescue sector but l don’t think so for social media and fashion!