Weekly Round Up September 10th, 2021
It's fitting that my first weekly round-up of news, commentary, and outright criticism of the high fashion metaverse coincides with both NY Fashion Week and Crypto Fashion Week.
Now, this is some next-level beauty, as I'd expect from D&G. Notwithstanding their cancellation due to their "Asian video," they seem to be making waves, from the celebrity-studded Venice show to this drop.
These items will be dropped with different closing dates for each item category from September 28-30th, which is a good way to keep the momentum growing. The youtube video is worth watching. I'd certainly love to sport that tiara if another lockdown forces back to the horror of Zoom cocktails. This is metaverse fashion, crazy beautiful garments that you could, under some circumstances, "wear" in your virtual life. You could DEFINITELY Instagram yourself wearing them.
From the brand, "This is a celebration of human artistry and craftsmanship. Of what humans can do that machines simply cannot on their own. These creations, both digital and physical, are magical. They took thousands upon thousands of hours to craft. They will 100% end up in a museum one day."
On Friday, the much anticipated Karl NFT dropped. These cute little figurines are meant to be added to your Snapchat stories. Cool, I guess? They sold for 77E and 177E in limited runs of 777, Karl's lucky number. I'll keep an eye on the secondary market to see if they gain resale value, but Lukso isn't available in any marketplaces at this point, and the mini-Karls were dropped on the Dematerialised, powered by Lukso. Those terms mean nothing to you? Stay tuned for my glossary, coming early next week.
From the press release, these figurines "recreate the designer's signature look and wardrobe, which users will then be able to change through subsequent digital drops." It's not fashion as much as capitalizing on Karl's fame, but we'll see what subsequent drops hold.
Interestingly, their Instagram and website have been pretty silent, and while it supposedly started today, the 10th, there's nothing on the schedule until Monday. Reminds me a bit of my first fashion PR job and the ancient website for the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode. If looking deeper into this fashion metaverse world has revealed anything, it's that we are still a LONG way from what's going on at Hudson Yards right now, and even farther from what's being sold on Net-A-Porter and Shopbop. I firmly believe there's a revolution coming, but the seeds are just being sown.
FB and Ray-Ban launch photo glasses
Not really metaverse, but headed in that direction. The glasses play music and take pictures, which is kind of cool, but then again, with a privacy reputation like Facebook has…. Do you want them seeing everything you see. Some crazy percentage of Americans believe Facebook serves targeted ads by listening to your conversations on your phone.
When these can do Augmented Reality, AR, e.g., they can superimpose your friend's chosen digital outfits onto the body of the friend you are looking at IRL, that's when things will get (fashion) interesting.
Yahoo and Rebecca Minkoff launch an NFT
So Yahoo, which barely existed a month ago, is the "Official Innovation Partner of IMG's New York Fashion Week: The Shows 2021."
In practice, that's two partnerships, one with Christian Cowan, not exactly a name brand, and Rebecca Minkoff, much more of a name brand. For Christian, it involves an AR activation, teleporting Christian Cowan to center stage as a photoreal hologram through a series of easily accessible QR codes, allowing fans to have an up-close and personal experience with the designer. Categorically lame and narcissistic. Maybe with Karl or Halston, sure, I'd love to superimpose their hologram into my living room.
Pictured, Christian Cowan’s hologram in my office. WTF.
Rebecca Minkoff is not a bad paid PR move. There are art NFTs, basically ad campaign images, which you can buy at auction and walk around in a VR world on your computer or AR on your phone, exploring these ad images. Thank god the proceeds go to charity, or else there would be nothing redeeming about this. Supposedly, there will also be apparel/accessories dropped, not as of publishing, but the show hasn't happened yet. From the PR "as five "digital garments," or virtual, 3D renderings of her clothes that can ultimately be used on an avatar in a number of future metaverses, according to Yahoo's head of consumer Joanna Lambert. "As far as a pr stunt goes, this is kind of interesting. I'm talking about it? Points for innovating.
This partnership runs on Opensea. What's that? Again, the glossary is coming next week.
Well, thanks for tuning in. The fun has just begun, as next week holds both the Met Gala and the MetaGala, yes the fashion metaverse's answer to the, uh, first Monday in May? Sure. See you there!