NYFW is less than a month away, and it has been almost a whole year since the last in-person New York Fashion Week. Luckily this year the show will be in-person, but has the pandemic opened a new approach to fashion events? From hybrid shows to purely virtual events. NYFW FW/21 showed the world that the industry has what it takes to re-evaluate old-school systems and structures. We know from a historical standpoint; innovation is needed to survive our ever-changing world.
Fashion Weeks from all around the world have been notoriously known to be exclusive to society’s most stylish, wealthiest, and most attractive elites. In the wake of the pandemic, the mass society, aka ‘regular people, now have a chance to attend the parties and shows of the elites, thanks to social media. Social media has made it easier than ever to view fashion shows, get added to A-list parties, and more. This year, brands, fashion houses and labels must let go of the traditional approaches of fashion week in favour of joining the train of online popularity.
Last year’s NYFW had multiple designers who innovated their shows, a great example of this is Taiwanese-Canadian designer Jason Wu, who is 2021 had a socially distanced F/W fashion show with a limited by-appointment audience. Wu’s show was live-streamed on NYFW.com.
Some other designers include Rebecca Minkoff, who partnered with Yahoo to create an immersive NFT gallery and sale to raise funds to support female-run businesses. The AR museum gave consumers an experience to purchase the NFT images, digital garments, and much more. With designers changing their approach to NYFW, pre-recorded or live streamed shows give designers more room for creativity. In 2020 fashion brand Jacquemus’s SS/2020 show was set in one of the beautiful lavender farms of Provençal, France. Picture blue skies, bees buzzing and a shit ton of purple. It was beautiful, and thousands have credited the show as one of the best runways they have seen in a long time.
With the rise of digital NYFW, and other fashion weeks, that only leaves the question; what about digital clothes?
You probably thinking, “Digital clothes, what’s the point?”
And I wouldn’t know what to tell you really, digital fashion makes sense for video games, and virtual metaverse worlds, but they probably won’t replace real clothes. However, digital metaverses aren’t so out of a touch with our reality, with the Metaverse becoming more popular than ever, buying digital clothes for our avatars wouldn’t be too crazy. Digital fashion, however, isn’t only limited to avatars, it’s a growing subculture within the fashion industry. These digital garments can be sold as NFTs, just like Minkoff, or they can be rendered onto real people.
Daniella Loftus, the founder of the fashion blog This Outfit Does Not Exist, places digital fashion on a spectrum of physical and digital properties. “My prediction is that retailers are going to start investing in better software and technology,” Loftus said. “The first step will be ‘phygital.”. “Phygital”, a combination of physical and digital to describe real-world events of fashion shows and retail stores.
May of 2020, Hanifa designer Anifa Mvuemba gained the world’s attention for her 3D modelled spring runway which was broadcasted on Instagram Live. Mvuemba used Instagram as her platform of choice to give everyone access to a front-row seat to the details of the clothes. In addition to changing the fashion industry and gifting a blueprint to future shows, the 3D models offered a different way for consumers to access clothing. In an article by Teen Vogue Mvuemba stated “With a digital model you’re determining the measurements and what would cause the model to look most realistic. Without real women to draw inspiration from, there could be no 3D models to emulate our beautiful skin tones, curves, and walking patterns. For me, the biggest challenge is making sure that the beauty we display in real life is well represented on the screen.”.
As the fashion industry continues to navigate through the pandemic (we might be coming to an end😊), digital shows and fashion are starting to become more popular, not just in terms of social media handling, but also in consumers. Allowing anyone with a phone to be apart.
Soon, NYFW will also be in the Metaverse, and as more brands claim to be investing in more sustainable technologies, while still maintaining their production speeds, it will be very soon.
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