New Fashion In The Metaverse
The combination of the metaverse and the fashion world is beyond imagination.
In the metaverse and on major social media platforms, the demand for digital identities is extremely high: about 70% of U.S. consumers from Generation Z to Generation X rate their digital identity as “somewhat important” or “very important”. In China, 70% of luxury consumers have purchased or will consider purchasing virtual assets.
As a result, high fashion and brands are increasingly turning to digital technology and creating virtual clothing.
In March 2022, Gucci partnered with digital accessories store 10KTF to create 11 custom PFP NFTs, called 10KTF Gucci Grail. In March, Dior leveraged cutting-edge metaverse technology to launch the world’s first metaverse exhibition “On the Road” in the new metaverse space MetaZiwu. In January, Dior launched the world’s first metaverse exhibition “On the Road” in MetaZiwu, a new metaverse space with cutting-edge metaverse technology.
In April, virtual fashion brand RTFKT Studios launched a line of virtual sneakers called Nike CryptoKicks. This is the first RTFKT sneaker release since Nike acquired RTFKT in 2021.
Digital fashion startup DressX, which sells virtual clothing that can be added to photos and posted on social media, has partnered with brands such as H&M to launch digital collections.
Major fashion and design schools are also taking note of the change, with training in skills such as 3D design becoming increasingly mainstream.
One of Milan’s top fashion schools, founded in 1935 and controlled by the prestigious Galileo Global Education Italia, the Istituto Marangoni is home to many graduates such as Alessandro Sartori, Franco Moschino and Domenico Dolce.
On June 24, the Marangoni Institute unveiled its metaverse space, The Talent District.Also, the theoretical and practical Fashion courses starting in September 2022 will deal with the themes of the Metaverse to train fashion professionals capable of rising to the challenges of a profoundly evolving market.
With the help of technology, fashion in the metaverse has entered a whole new phase.
Metaverse Fashion Week
In March, Decentraland, UNXD and Vogue Arabia co-hosted the first Metaverse Fashion Week.
As the world’s largest fully digital fashion week, it attracted more than 60 international brands including Dolce & Gabbana, Hugo Boss, Dundas, The Fabricant, Jacob & Co and NFT mega-star FEWOCiOUS. Luxury brands such as Dolce & Gabbana and Etro opened stores that debuted at Fashion Week, and luxury retailer Selfridges also launched its flagship store during Fashion Week, which included an exclusive NFT art gallery for visitors to see. Many Chinese independent designers and brands also joined the celebration, such as Guo Pei, Kingwen, Yaping Chen, and DAZZLE.
According to data published by Decentraland, the platform attracted more than 108,000 visitors to the platform during Fashion Week and the wearable content generated nearly $80,000 in sales.
Many brands are allowing visitors to purchase digital and physical goods and NFTs from the virtual store and link directly to the platform’s cryptocurrency via digital wallets. 2022 will see the upcoming launch of new features on the platform that will allow users to personalize their avatar (virtual avatar), such as using Bored Ape as an avatar, or even customizing emojis.
In addition to Fashion Week, Decentraland will also hold occasional large social events such as Metaverse Festival and Art Week, covering a wide range of areas such as music, culture and hipster fun. Visitors can visit gallery exhibitions, engage in discussions with special guests, attend music parties, and more. In these large events, invited guests and hosts need dresses that are both recognizable, ceremonial and stylized.
Metaverse Celebration: Projection and Panning of Real Life
In fact, many virtual events, large and small, have been held in the Meta-Universe long before the Meta-Universe Fashion Week was held. On February 15, 2022 (February 14, 2022 US time), the Yuan Universe Lantern Festival was successfully held on the Xspaces platform, and the Global Corporate Social Responsibility Foundation (GCSRF) and Boston Media Consulting International were invited as co-hosts of the US leg, along with co-organizers from around the world, to host this world-renowned audiovisual event.
The design team designed and decorated nearly 20,000 square meters of virtual space in the Yuan Universe, including the Golden Maze maze, the main Lantern Carnival venue, the Lantern Gallery, the Chinese New Year Photo Exhibition, the VIP Lounge, and the Yuan Universe International Forum.
In addition to the aforementioned large-scale events, more and more important moments and celebrations in real life are projected into the Meta Universe as more and more users flock to it.
People can celebrate the New Year, worship the Buddha, listen to concerts, and hold metaverse weddings, graduation ceremonies, and even funerals.
Similar to real life, these special occasions in the metaverse require elegant dresses that are recognizable, ceremonial, and stylized, and DigiFun’s collaboration with YaPing Chen’s Original Source collection is a digital ritual fashion collection designed for these important occasions.
DigiFun X YaPing Chen " Original Source" Virtual Dress Series
Design Concept
The “Source” in Original Source collection is diverse, multidimensional and multifaceted. The series of digital ritual fashion “Original Source” combines the structure of traditional ritual clothing, the structure of artifacts, and the internal and external relationship between the five emotions, the five elements, and the five organs in traditional Chinese culture to build a connection between the virtual world and reality, allowing the real and the virtual to merge in the digital fashion.
Through the exploration and application of digital fashion, we express the multiple possibilities of traditional culture in the new context, and at the same time propose a new perspective on the continuation of cultural lineage.
Source of Inspiration
The ancients categorized everything in the universe into five elements: earth, gold, water, wood and fire, and the human body is also composed of a small universe.
Among them, the five organs of the human body are the five elements that correspond to the five elements, namely, the spleen is earth, the lung is gold, the kidney is water, the liver is wood, and the heart is fire, and these inner life activities, which are reflected in human emotions, are the five wills of thought, grief, fear, anger, and joy, as described in the Su Wen.（The Su Wen, the earliest extant work on the theory of Chinese medicine, was written around 475 BC/403 BC-221 BC.）
Clothing is the expression of human emotions. In designer Chen Yaping’s view, clothing, as the second skin of the human body, can also be used as a carrier of emotions, and people’s happiness, anger, sadness and preference will be revealed through clothing. Therefore, she believes that each piece of clothing is a unique living organism.
Artist Introduction: Yaping Chen
Yaping Chen was admitted to the Central Academy of Fine Arts with the first place, and then guaranteed to the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts with a postgraduate degree.
The main designer of the award dress for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games “Rui Xue Xiang Yun”
Designed the helmet for the national team of short track speed skating, China’s first gold medal in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics
Awarded as one of the top 100 young designers in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei
Invited to participate in the “2022 International Youth Sports and Health Education Series” as a guest of honor
Finalist for the People’s Republic of China Vocational Skills Competition logo
Gold Award of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition of Central Academy of Fine Arts and Hubei Academy of Fine Arts
Works selected for the “Art in the Long March Theme Series” exhibition at the National Art Museum of China
2017 China International Student Fashion Week Women’s Fashion Design Award
Third Prize of the Fashion Group of the Fourth Beijing University Student Character Design Competition
Award of Excellence in the 2017 Wuhan World Famous Fashion School Design Competition
The work “Extension” was exhibited in the “China-Korea Fashion Art Exchange Exhibition”.
Collection of “Form Foundation” and “Material Test
Designer of the logo of “2020 Young Actor Selection Program” of Star Ocean/Film Channel
Participated in the creation of “Sound Search” costume by renowned artist Geng Xue
“Outstanding individual in the “Social Practice, Art Study and Sketching Course
“Participated in the exhibition “Translation - Image: Dimensions of Influence Generation
Organized and planned the exhibition “Tribute to 20 years of China International Fashion Week - 2017 China Fashion Creative Modeling Technology Exhibition”.
Writing art teaching materials for general high school
Received “National Scholarship” during her school years
etc.
Chen Yaping has always been committed to the discovery and innovation of traditional cultural elements, and in November 2020, when the design of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics award dresses was open to the public, Chen Yaping’s “RuiXueXiangYun” design finally became one of the three sets of Winter Olympics award dresses, and was used in the award ceremonies of all snow venues. For more than a year, she was personally involved in all the design and production.
By chance, Chen Yaping was invited to participate in Decentralan, the world’s largest virtual fashion week. With the mindset of experimentation, she released her first design in the meta-universe and received a design award from Dragon City.
Summary
The emergence of metaverse not only breaks the distance between people and space, but also enables designers and consumers around the world to participate. Clothing in the metaverse is no longer bound by flesh, material and gravity, and the diverse social interactions and expressions and the expanding user groups undoubtedly provide new possibilities for the spread of traditional culture.
Clothing is a comprehensive expression of personality, emotion and aesthetics, which is particularly important in a meta-universe focused on identity construction. DigiFun’s digital dresses in collaboration with designer Chen Yaping not only bring traditional culture into the lives of the Z generation, but also provide a diverse perspective on people’s self-expression in the metaverse.