What is Decentraland’s Metaverse Fashion Week?

Fashion Weeks are a yearly staple event held in the fashion industry. The most popular of these events are hosted in the ‘Big Four’ fashion capitals twice a year- Paris, New York, London, and Milan. However, this year, a fashion week will be hosted in the metaverse’s brand new location. The Metaverse Fashion Week was Sam Hamilton’s brainchild, the Decentraland Foundation’s creative director, and Giovanna Casimiro, the head of the MVFW.

The Metaverse Fashion Week (MVFW) is an entirely virtual fashion event slated to take place from the 24th to the 27th of March, 2022. The event is being hosted in Decentraland, a 3D virtual blockchain world. Decentraland made its Metaverse debut in February 2022, and the virtual world is a project by the Decentraland Foundation, a non-profit organization. It currently has an approximated 562,000 active users monthly and has made up to $20 million in sales.

There will, of course, be more to the four days than just runway shows. Alongside daily catwalks, the event will include a virtual shopping area with NFT shopping, pop-up stores, giveaways, and more. There will also be virtual parties with musical guests throughout this four-day event.

NFTs and the Metaverse Fashion Week

The presence of NFTs will play a huge role in the Metaverse Fashion Week. Non-fungible tokens are one of the prevalent currencies in the metaverse, and multiple luxury brands will employ them to sell physical-digital products and wearables. Notably, the luxury brand Tommy Hilfiger shared in an announcement on Monday that they would be launching their Spring 2022 collection during the MVFW and launching their first line of customized Tommy Hilfiger NFTs. In addition, the brand revealed that they collaborated with Boson Portal, a metaverse marketplace, to create a virtual store on the portal. The items in this store will be sold as NFTs, which have been stated to be redeemable as “physical products delivered straight to customers’ doors”.

As the entire event will be taking place virtually, customers will be able to take their avatars to the virtual stores and make use of Mana which is the cryptocurrency currently in use by Decentraland. They will be able to view Tommy Hilfiger’s Spring 2022 collection within the metaverse as well as visit other stores and pop-ups and make purchases as NFTs, which will be recorded on the blockchain.

Tommy Hilfiger’s head designer and founder named the same as his company has been very enthusiastic about the prospect of NFT sales and virtual shows. However, while he has been stated to have never expected the fashion industry ever to reach a point where shows could be held entirely virtually, he has said on record:
“As we further explore the metaverse and all it has to offer, I’m inspired by the power of digital technology and its opportunities to engage with communities in fascinating, relevant ways.”

What you can expect at the MVFW

The Metaverse Fashion Week has already confirmed the attendance and participation of over 50 different fashion brands and companies. These include popular high fashion brands and some lesser-known ones. Just a few of these brands are Tommy Hilfiger, Dolce & Gabbana, Dundas, Jacob & Co., Cavalli, Elie Saab, Franck Muller, and many more.

Sam Hamilton and Giovanna Casimiro have stated that they worked with almost 60 different developers on this project, alongside design teams from each of the brands represented at the MVFW. While the event will be similar to regular fashion weeks in specific ways, every party involved has determined to make it memorable with futuristic designs, NFT sales, and more unorthodox styles.

As opposed to typical fashion shows where only designers are allowed to sit in the front row, at the MVFW, anyone can sit in the front row. Attendees can dress their avatars however they want, even in non-human outfits. In addition, the NFT sales from brands will be available to anyone will a virtual wallet.

NFTs and the metaverse continue to provide an avenue for traditional industries and institutions to step into more modern and even futuristic ways of operation.