Metaverse Fashion Week: 70 Brands Do Their Best to Showcase Style in Decentraland

Decentraland kicked off Metaverse Fashion Week: a combination of high-end designers and wearables vendors flaunting non-fungible token (NFT) collections in the blockchain-based virtual world.

Brands such as Estée Lauder, Tommy Hilfiger, Dolce & Gabbana and Forever 21 are all participating in the virtual fashion event. Many spent weeks laying claim to metaverse-ready trademarks in what now appears to have been a preemptive brand protection strategy ahead of their NFT premiere.

With the rise of digital goods and metaverse shopping experiences, Decentraland’s Fashion Week seeks to provide a space for people to express themselves and expand the understanding of their own self through wearables on their avatars, said Sam Hamilton, Decentraland’s creative director.

“I see people being much more outrageous in the metaverse”, Hamilton told CoinDesk in a phone interview. “People will see a really great use case for NFTs” as a result of the event.

Fashion shows, galleries and brand-hosted panels will pop up across a newly-developed corner of Decentraland called Fashion District through March 27. Virtual real estate company Metaverse Group purchased the 6,000-square-foot plot last November for a record $2.4 million.

By visiting the website and connecting an Ethereum wallet, or simply playing as a guest, anyone can experience Metaverse Fashion Week. The site provides coordinates to the different corners of the neighborhood where users can experience the virtual event. There are galleries and shows, as well as places for purchasing digital wearables.

Read more: Decentraland, Luxury Marketplace UNXD to Host Metaverse Fashion Week

NFT natives are jumping in too, Hamilton said. NFT marketplace Rarible will host a pop-up shop called Rarible Street. Boson Protocol, which purchased a plot of land last June to create a metaverse shopping mall, has built a boulevard of stores for brands to sell their wearables.

According to Hamilton, for some brands it’s an opportunity for research and development; for others, it’s an opportunity to enter the crypto space by selling metaverse apparel. However, not all brands in the space are selling their items as NFTs; some are simply showcasing digital versions of their designs.