The glitz and glam of Fashion Week are headed into the metaverse. Today kicks off the inaugural Metaverse Fashion Week in Decentraland, where luxury brands will look to connect with younger audiences and test their appetite for virtual fashion.

Metaverse Fashion Week, which runs from March 24 to March 27, will have the same elements of a real-life fashion week, including runway shows, pop-ups and panels, art installations, and musical performances. The event will also have a dedicated shopping area, the Boson Portal - Fashion District, where brands will be able to sell both digital and physical pieces as NFTs, and where customers can buy physical versions of garments. (The area is modeled off of Paris’ Avenue Montaigne, a street with stores from some of the biggest names in luxury fashion.) For many, the virtual catwalks will be a proving ground for future collections, and for what resonates with customers.

The event will be the first Web3 show for several designers, such as Dolce & Gabbana and Fred Segal. But for others, like Tommy Hilfiger and Perry Ellis America, this will be the next step in testing luxury in the metaverse. 

Metaverse and Web3 glossary—key words and terms brands need to know

Metaverse Fashion Week (MVFW) is free and open to anyone with a Decentraland account, but customers will need an Ethereum wallet in order to buy any virtual goods. Other brands presenting during MVFW include: Etro, Elie Saab, Imitation of Christ, Dundas, Nicholas Kirkwood, Faith Tribe, Chufy, Monnier Frères, Franck Muller, Gary McQueen, and Guo Pei.

Read on for how brands are approaching their Decentraland shows.

Perry Ellis America

This will be Perry Ellis America’s first metaverse fashion show. The brand partnered with 3D studio Kinestry to showcase six outifts from its spring/summer 2022 collection. Eight of the garments will be available as virtual wearables, but Perry Ellis America won’t be selling them. Instead, it is minting a limited quantity and giving them out on a first-come, first-served basis to interested customers who have joined its virtual store in Decentraland, with the goal of targeting younger customers.

Looking ahead, the brand sees the metaverse as a new secondary market to play in. “Brands have to think about this new level of engagement,” said Isaac Korn, director of innovation and automation at Perry Ellis International. “I think we could have two collections [in the future]—a virtual and a physical.”

Thomas Harvey, VP of design for Perry Ellis America, agrees. “The luxury consumer is reactive to trends, so I think the physical and the digital will intertwine and there will be buying on both sides.”

Fred Segal

MVFW will also be Fred Segal’s first show with Web3 elements. The brand worked with Subnation, a media tech holding company that does metaverse activations, to produce two collections for the show. In total, there will be eight virtual goods, including jackets, pants, shoes, a helmet, sweater and a fanny pack. Each item can be purchased as an NFT or as a physical garment.

The brand is looking to connect with its younger customers, but going forward thinks virtual shows could be a tool for testing new designs. Brands can try out different designs or colors on a virtual good and see who buys it before making samples, thus saving on costs and resources. Seeing how popular virtual sales are could help determine how large the market is for the real thing.

“Anyone in fashion wants to be up on what's going on and showcase what’s new,” said Jeff Lotman, CEO of Fred Segal. “The ability to let designers think bigger too is exciting. We’re all waiting to see where this will go.”

Tommy Hilfiger

Tommy Hilfger will show virtual items from its spring 2022 collection. Pieces will include a varsity jacket, madras shirt, and a hoodie, which will be shown as floating 3D renderings in the brand’s metaverse store. These items will also be available for purchase as NFTs, and customers can buy the physical version while in Decentraland.

“The metaverse is impacting so many aspects of life at lightning speed, whether it’s how people interact with brands, social behaviors, how they spend money,” Avery Baker, president and chief brand officer at Tommy Hilfiger Global, wrote in an email. “Consumers are always on the look-out for ‘what’s next’, and we are listening to them.”

The American designer brand has done other virtual activations through augmented and virtual reality and games. In 2018, the brand used AR to bring its runway shows into stores for customers to experience, as well as an app that allowed them to snap a photo of a piece on the runway to buy it. In 2020, “Tommy Island” opened in the video game Animal Crossing and let users purchase items from the fall 2020 collection. Just last year, the brand selected eight Roblox designers to create 30 items for sale on the Roblox Avatar Marketplace.

Dolce & Gabbana

Dolce & Gabbana has created 20 digital-only looks for MFVW. After the show, the pieces will be on display in the brand's Decentraland showroom. Dolce & Gabbana will also be launching DGFamily, an exclusive NFT community created with UNXD, an NFT platform. DGFamily NFT holders will get access to both physical and virtual benefits, starting with the pieces shown in Decentraland. Only customers who are part of DGFamily will be able to purchase the NFTs of the 20 outfits.

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