Decentraland Metaverse Fashion Week to Launch Next Month

Decentraland is gearing up for its Metaverse Fashion Week – set to take place between 24 March and 27 March. Dozens of global brands are already on board for what looks like the start of a trend.

Visitors and brands alike have the opportunity to experience virtual fashion shows, attend after-parties and concerts, and buy and wear digital clothing. In addition, there will be shops, talks, showrooms and events – promising an immersive experience like no other. Hugo Boss was the first brand to announce its participation in the Metaverse Fashion Week. Other big names are expected to follow suit.

The event is free to attend. However, attendees need to have an Ethereum wallet to purchase digital wearables. Moreover, while most events will be open to everyone, there will be some exclusive events that are only accessible to the owners of a brand’s NFTs. In addition to digital wearables, several fashion houses will enable guests to purchase real-life pieces from their metaverse collections.

The future of fashion

Digital fashion has proven to be a lucrative venture for fashion houses. Brands such as Gucci and Ralph Lauren already have virtual pop-up shops on Roblox and Zepeto; while Balmain and Adidas are some of the brands that have dropped NFT collections. Therefore, the metaverse is quickly becoming an important part of fashion houses’ marketing strategy.

Metaverse Fashion Week is not the first virtual fashion week. The Covid-19 pandemic forced many traditional fashion weeks to go digital. Animal Crossing hosted a successful fashion week in 2020, and many fashion weeks followed suit. Helsinki Fashion Week 2020 was a fully digital event, as well as Hanifa’s digital runway and Balenciaga’s “Afterworld”.

In an interview with Vogue Business, Justin Banon, CEO and co-founder of Boson Protocol, an MVFW partner, explained the metaverse’s importance to brands: “We have gone from brands saying eight months ago, ‘What is it?’ to now, when brands have to have it, and it’s become an essential part of a luxury brand strategy. Brands have to have a metaverse strategy. It’s like a switch has been switched.”

Beyond Metaverse Fashion Week 2022

In addition to Metaverse Fashion Week, there’s currently a fashion district being built within Decentraland. Last year, the Toronto-based Token.com bought the 6,090 square feet district for $2.4 million. Therefore, Metaverse Fashion Week could very well serve as a way to test the waters for fashion houses, before investing in Decentraland’s emerging fashion district.

Sam Hamilton, Decentraland Foundation’s Creative Director, confirmed this strategy: “We want to help the onboarding process and push creativity and show everyone what is possible. We do this to show the community and other brands, ‘Hey, Decentraland is a place for shopping, everyone is wearing cool clothes and brands can release on the platform.’ It’s a way of bringing more people to the platform and making it more compelling for users.”

Decentraland is quickly establishing itself as the hottest virtual world. Its digital real estate prices are skyrocketing, since more and more brands are seeing the value of investing in the metaverse before it’s too late.