The thrill is the same. A contemplative yet decisive scroll through page after page of a fashion e-commerce site. Looking for something for a special occasion, I settled on Beyoncé’s favorite Dundas shimmering fringed amethyst two-set. I think.

There is a dopamine release that accompanies “making an offer” and intensifies as soon as it is accepted. Looks are mine. What’s the only difference? No need to tear tracked packages, no need to touch or try on textiles. Rather than being physical, this look is a matter of pixels, fashion non-fungible tokens (NFTs) designed to be worn exclusively in the digital space.

Like Birkin and Waitlist, Fashion and the Metaverse are perfect and inevitable partners. Both jump on the zeitgeist, monopolize monopolies, and confuse the public. Major fashion houses have jumped into the movement. In 2021, users transferred over his $44.2 billion through his NFT marketplace, up from $106 million in 2020.

Gucci was one of the first luxury brands to delve into the world of NFTs. His NFT for the Italian fashion house, in the form of his four-minute film inspired by the Aria collection, sold at Christie’s auction in June 2021 for $25,000. We have collaborated with digital artists on the release of further NFT collections. Burberry has launched a wearable NFT of his NFT character Sharky B (featured in the virtual currency video game Blankos Block Party) that has sold over $375,000.

Dolce & Gabbana unveiled a nine-piece NFT collection during Venice Fashion Week with a total of $5.7 million, setting a record. In January, Balmain released her NFT collaboration with Barbie, which includes three different digital dolls of her wearing monochromatic pink looks finished with the Maison’s signature monogram he print. Phygital” product. It started with a co-branded physical collection of dresses, T-shirts, jackets, and shoes.

Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, which runs Paris Fashion Week and Haute Couture Week, recently joined the leading NFT platform for the luxury and fashion industry to create NFTs that can be redeemed for Spring/Spring of Paris Fashion Week. We partnered with an Arianee. Summer 2022 menswear shows and other high fashion exhibitions.

Meanwhile, Prada, Richemont and LVMH have teamed up to create the Aura Blockchain Consortium to provide customers with a tracking solution.

Like perfumes, cosmetics and accessories, NFTs enable entry-level access to the world of high fashion, offering customers new ways to try out exclusive domains.

balenciaga/fortnite

Crypto and Metaverse Fashion Weeks partnering with brands such as Dolce & Gabbana, Tommy Hilfiger and Etro, as well as major fashion stores such as Gucci and Off-White, now accept crypto payments. Everyone seems to be in the action. But if you’re like me, you might feel that people are busy with NFTs and don’t quite understand why or how.

So what are non-fungible tokens? Like Bitcoin, NFTs are considered a type of cryptocurrency. Unlike Bitcoin, it is not “fungible” (can be exchanged for other commodities of equal value). NFTs are one-of-a-kind, cannot be duplicated, and can only be reclaimed if purchased from their current owner. An application called Blockchain will analyze and track the activities of all NFT buyers and sellers according to NFT logistics and movement.

“At the moment, only a few people [about 360,000 globally] Owning an NFT, brands entering this space are looking to either connect with consumers who are already playing the game or highlight their position as innovators to the broader market.” Melbourne-based luxury business commentator Petah Marian said.

“Trend lines suggest that we are likely to spend more time in metaverse-style spaces in the future. [indicates] Increased relevance of digital goods like NFTs. As the industry progresses, digital goods will become more connected to the real world, and thus potentially have deeper intrinsic value. “

Australian startup and digital platform Neuno encourages viewers to buy, sell, collect and trade NFTs from collaborating designers such as Glenn Martens and Diesel. She has also worked with organizations such as the Australian Fashion Council to help eight designers bring her NFTs to the Metaverse, and shoe designer Giuseppe Zanotti at her Metaverse fashion week in Decentraland. doing.

On the platform, consumers can use fashion NFTs in many ways. For example, if you buy a dress, you can try it on virtually or dress your game avatar in the same outfit.

“The transformation from traditional fashion to its metaverse counterpart, which we call ‘metafashion’, has occurred and continues to occur quite naturally, changing the way we live and the world around us. We support a holistic change in how we explore the world,” explains co-founder Natalia Modenova. (with Daria Shapovalova) of digital fashion platform DressX.

“We are already ‘avatars of ourselves’ across multiple social media channels, messaging and streaming services. Digital fashion is designed to dress our digital selves. In the future, we believe that every fashion brand (luxury, haute couture, streetwear, etc.) will have a digital fashion line and everyone will have a digital fashion wardrobe. We call it the Metacloset. “

Gucci/Antoni Tudisco

With a goal of “digitally dressing 1 billion people”, DressX had to respond to rapidly growing user interest in NFTs in the first few months of its mid-2020 launch. Since then, the company has launched multiple collaborations in the NFT space, including his Jason Wu and crypto.com.

Demand was so high that we launched the first and only NFT marketplace for wearable digital fashion. It’s like a Net-a-Porter for NFTs, a space where you can buy, resell and “wear” NFTs. The holistic aim of the platform is to provide an “infinite digital closet” to anyone seeking a digital presence, allowing 3D and fashion designers to grow professionally.

Currently, the platform’s consumers are international, mainly from the United States, Europe and Eastern European countries, and the main age groups are 18-24 and 25-34, but Shapovalova believes that digital fashion is everywhere. I carefully point out that it is used by people of all ages. , gender, nationality. They mostly come from her social media outlets such as Instagram, TikTok and Twitter, as well as games, video calls and XR (augmented and virtual reality), a group she says is “growing rapidly.”

“freedom [the] What the digital fashion industry will produce will undoubtedly impact the way people consume and use fashion,” Shapovalova said.

“Some people use digital clothing simply to experiment with their looks or to enhance old photos, while others use it as an opportunity to become the person they’ve always dreamed of. [of]”

According to former marketing executive Sasha Wallinger, who specializes in translating fashion into different modalities and worked on the Gucci x Superplastic “Super Gucci” NFT collaboration last year to mark Gucci’s 100th anniversary, this new consumer group is simply trying to express itself and how. They live in the world by what they wear in the digital space. Like stylists, they are interested in developing “digital twinnings” and creating characters.

“At Fortnite, Balenciaga’s hoodies were huge,” says Wallinger of Balenciaga’s digital-to-physical collaboration with online video game Fortnite. This allowed the platform to bring high fashion brands into its universe for the first time. Players will be able to wear their avatars in new Balenciaga collections or purchase the collections in physical Balenciaga stores. “Like fashion, there’s still that urge to show and share, and that’s that we show and share in different ways,” she says.

Balmain/Barbie

Too often a woman in a male-dominated field, Wallinger emphasizes how important it is for many of us to “lean” into the metaverse.

“I am a big advocate for women being informed about just one element of the Web3: augmented reality, virtual reality, graphic design, etc. There are so many amazing women in the NFT space. Artists are leaving a legacy.”

In fact, smart contracts allow artists to be truly rewarded for their work for the first time in the decades-long culture of copy/paste and uncredited work shared on social channels. The Web3 space is also very inclusive, he explains Wallinger.

“LGBTQ+ and gender fluidity occur freely in these spaces. It’s a big part of how women and non-binary individuals feel free to participate in these ecosystems and be themselves in different ways.” she says.

So for those of us who have been hesitant to step into NFT pools so far, what’s the right way to go?

“Choose a project that resonates with you. Look for aesthetics and how it relates to who you are as an individual, just like you would when buying clothes and accessories in real life. Please push ahead.”

This story was originally published in the September issue of Marie Claire.