by Lydia Ludmila 
Adding another first to its history, popular metaverse Decentraland announced first-ever metaverse fashion week. Many major designers and digital collections already announced their participation, as well as details on the events and public competitions.
After hosting the first metaverse festival, Decentraland announced that they’d be hosting the first metaverse fashion week (MVFW) between March 24 and 27.
MVFW is designed by Decentraland Foundation’s creative director Sam Hamilton and MVFW head Giovanna Casimiro. Unlike traditional fashion shows, which are not accessible to everyday citizens, Decentraland MVFW will be accessible to everyone who can log in to the metaverse. Anyone will be able to showcase their designs and sit in the front row.
Hamilton mentioned that fashion became a significant part of the metaverse during an interview last year. However, he stressed that their primary focus in MVFW is to provide an open-source event equally available to everyone. He said:
“But ultimately what we do is for the community, so it’s very user-focused. It’s free, everything is available to everyone. There will be some spectacular shows. There will be wearables available for our top users, they want to see that kind of content.”
Four weeks of fashion events
Over these four days, Decentraland will host runway shows, fashion experiences, pop-up shops, panels, exhibitions, and after-parties.
The four-week event will be set in Decentraland’s new Luxury Fashion District, which already houses numerous shops of notable brands such as Tommy Hilfiger. The kick-off will be made by Selfridges‘ reveal of their new metaverse store located in the fashion district.
Participating brands will be exhibiting digital garments on avatars walking on virtual catwalks. There will be a central catwalk where most luxury brands will have their shows. This catwalk will be custom-designed for each brand’s theme. In addition, there will be a secondary catwalk to host mainstream brands and the third one for community designers.
During this event, users will be able to purchase the exhibited items as NFTs to dress their avatars. Some NFTs will also be tradable for the physical version of the article. There will also be different types of commerce and free NFT giveaways.
Art and film will also have an essential role throughout the event. Housed in CashLabs’ Art Gallery and Screening Room, notable fashion movies like Chanel and House of Lanvin will be viewed.
In addition to MVFW events, all other Decentraland features will be accessible during these dates.
High-End Fashion Brands
Until now, Paco Rabanne, Dolce & Gabanna, Etro, Tommy Hilfiger, Dundas, Cavalli, Nicholas Kirkwood, and Elie Saab announced that they’d be joining the MVFW. According to Graziosi, participating brands will showcase a new collection or new interpretations of existing pieces.
Evangelo Bousis was one of the brands that shared their ideas for the new metaverse collection. The band hinted that they’d focus on experimental replicas of their famous pieces that don’t necessarily follow the rules of physics. Sharing their enthusiasm for designing unorthodox pieces, the founder of Evangelo Bousis stated:
“The point of the metaverse is to dream and do these fantastical looks that you can’t wear in real life. I tell [designer Peter Dundas] that you need to jump on the train or you will miss the train. We think this is the future.”
In addition to designer brands, many famous digital fashion collections like The Fabricant,
Auroboros, and DressX will also join the week and host runway shows. In addition, brands like Coach, Axel Arigato, Ester Manas, Wandler, Eytys, and Osoi will also exhibit their digital accessories in a virtual store.
The Fabricant also invites participants to submit their reworked designs of the brand’s season 1 range in open-source access to fashion. Six winning re-designs will be selected through a public vote and show up on the runway.
The fashion week will close with digital haute couture brand Auroboros’ collection Biomimicry, auctioned as a series of NFTs.
