Metaverse

The metaverse is a digital existence that connects aspects of social media, online gaming, augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR), allowing users to interact virtually. Augmented reality overlays visual elements, sound, and other sensory input onto real-world settings to enhance the user experience. In contrast, virtual reality is entirely virtual and enhances fictional realities. The ever-growing metaverse allows more multidimensional user interactions than current technology permits. Users in the metaverse will be able to immerse themselves in an environment where the digital and physical worlds collide, rather than only watching digital material. It all began in 1838 when scientist Sir Charles Wheatstone proposed the concept of “binocular vision,” Two images — one for each eye — are combined to create a single three-dimensional view. Stereoscopes, a technology that uses the illusion of depth to create an image, were developed due to this principle. This is the same notion employed in today’s virtual reality headsets. Fast forward to 1956 when The Sensorama Machine was built by Morton Heilig in 1956, was the first VR machine. This contraption used 3D video, music, fragrances, and a vibrating chair to immerse the spectator in the feeling of riding a motorcycle in Brooklyn. “Metaverse” was coined in Neil Stevenson’s novel Snow Crash, published in 1982. The metaverse in Neil’s work was a virtual world where characters may go to escape a bleak authoritarian reality. The Oculus Rift VR headgear prototype was invented in 2010 by Palmer Luckey, an 18-year-old entrepreneur and inventor.

The groundbreaking headset rekindled interest in virtual reality with its 90-degree field of vision and utilization of computer processing power. In 2011, Ernest Cline published Ready Player One, which gave us another glimpse into a fully immersive world into which we could escape reality. The novel was an instant success, and filmmaker Steven Spielberg adapted it into a film in 2018. Oculus VR was purchased by Facebook for $2 billion in 2014. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg claimed that the two companies would collaborate to expand the Oculus platform and seek partnerships to enable new games. In 2016, Microsoft’s HoloLens headsets were released, bringing mixed reality (AR and VR) to the masses for the first time. In late 2021, Mark Zuckerberg introduced the new Meta name and its new website branding during Facebook’s Connect 2021 conference. “It’s a social technology firm,” says the narrator.

“You can watch the complete Connect speech and learn more about how the metaverse will unlock new opportunities at Meta.com,” according to the press release. In his 2021 Founder’s Letter, Mark Zuckerberg wrote: “On our design blog, you can discover By Nirayl Grech more about our work developing the Meta brand over the last few months”. “In the metaverse, you’ll be able to do practically anything you can imagine— get together with friends and family, work, learn, play, shop, create—as well as wholly new experiences that don’t really match how we think about computers or phones today.” He further stated: “You’ll be able to teleport as a hologram to the office without having to commute, to a concert with pals, or to your parents’ living room to catch up in the future.” The global metaverse market was expected to be worth USD 38.85 billion in 2021. The global metaverse market will reach $47.48 billion US dollars in 2022. “In the future, rather than doing this over the phone, you’ll be able to sit as a hologram on my sofa, or I’ll be able to sit as a hologram on your couch, and it’ll seem like we’re in the same room, even if we’re in different states or hundreds miles apart”, Mark Zuckerberg stated.

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Left: Steve Madden 11

“The metaverse has arrived, and it’s changing not only how we see the world, but also how we interact with it - from the factory floor to the boardroom.” - Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

People have been using social media filters for years to put on digital accessories. Still, the gaming skins market—in which players of games like Fortnite purchase unique costumes, or “skins,” for their avatars—is projected to be a multi-billion-dollar industry.

There’s also Facebook’s recent revelation regarding its metaverse aspirations. Though it may appear weird and futuristic, the digital and physical worlds are colliding right now. Dhanush Shetty, a 22-year-old San Francisco-based product manager, said buying digital fashion was unusual at first, but it was easier, cheaper, and felt more ethical than buying new physical garments. He said that he got his first few digital fashion pieces from DressX.

This company debuted in August 2020 and now sells its creations and collaborations with other digital designers. Customers of DressX can experiment with digital attire using augmented reality. Then, if customers opt to buy, they submit a photo of themselves to the website or app. Within one to two days, they receive a snapshot of themselves with their digital fashion piece professionally edited onto their body, ready to share on social media.

The fashion industry’s digital revolution and adaptation of fashion in the digital era now allow brands to employ NFTs and blockchain technology to attract, authenticate, and interact with consumers worldwide. Gucci’s NFT trial began in May 2021, when the Italian fashion giant debuted its first NFTrelated product. Surprisingly, the centennial celebrations were not primarily about fashion.

Aria is a four-minute film that Gucci’s creative director Alessandro Michele and director Floria Sigismondi co-created to accompany the former’s runway presentation. Christie’s auctioned the film for USD 25,000 as part of the “Proof of Sovereignty” sale organized by Lady PheOnix, a digital artist.

The art collage, created in conjunction with NFT artist Beeple, was valued at USD 69.3 million. The NFTs utilized, on the other hand, are exclusively part of the game’s collection and are not for sale. This isn’t the first time an LV game has been released. With the release of Endless Runner in 2019, the fashion house made its gaming debut. The game was inspired by Virgil Abloh’s FW19 Runway collection and features retro 16-bit style gameplay.

The new Nike pieces can be tried on, but they cannot be worn in real life. On December 14, 2021, the shoe behemoth Demna Gvasalia, the creative director of fashion house Balenciaga, always has something fresh to give. This time, he has created a digital avatar dubbed ‘Doggo,’ who wears Balenciaga ensembles on the Fortnite battlefield, blurring the borders between real and digital along with three other characters.

Users who spend a lot of money on Balenciaga can upload images of their avatars to be shown on billboards in the game’s town square and enter a Balenciaga store to do a bespoke dance. Imagine being able to scan your hoodie to show your own NFTs while on the fly. Overpriced.TM, a fashion business, has created a line of NFT sweatshirts with codes that are only available to the buyer.

entered the virtual NFT market by acquiring the digital sneaker company RTKFT formed in 2020 by Benoit Pagotto, Chris Le, and Steven Vasilev, blurring the barriers between sports, gaming, and sportswear. In early 2021, RTFKT teamed up with “Fewocious,” a famous crypto artist, and sold 600 pairs of shoes in under seven minutes, grossing USD 3.1 million.

Balenciaga proposed selling four trademark items from its collection as skin and accessories for avatars in the game, making it the first fashion brand to partner with the online game Fortnite.

12 “The technology will be so advanced that it will be difficult for anyone to view or consume something that has not been designed for them in some way.” - Chairman of Google, Eric Schmidt

This interest, shared by an increasing number of designers, entails the navigation between the worlds of virtual design and physical manufacture. “Right now, digital fashion is mostly being utilized as a marketing tool by fashion businesses to redirect attention to actual items,” says Lavinia Fasano, a foresight analyst at the Future Laboratory, a London-based strategic foresight company. She does, however, see the gaming industry’s emergence as an illustration of virtual fashion’s potential profitability. “Many young creators from all around the world will blossom in this environment,” Marjorie Hernandez predicted.

“I feel we are entering a new period of art and a new generation of creators.” Leslie Holden, the co-founder of the Digital Fashion Group, argues, “Fashion is in such a bad state.” “This industry is a complete disaster.” Leslie Holden, the former head of fashion and design at the Amsterdam Fashion Institute, points to the industry’s myriad issues, including graduate employment. But, she continues, “We truly feel that a digital strategy is a sensible answer to the industry’s sustainability concerns.”

Brands may establish digital showrooms and shopfronts where customers order what they want from hyperrealistic representations of items in an expanded version of Metaverse Fashion Week. This means that the garments are only produced after they have been purchased. Thus there is no guesswork or squandered inventory.

Left: Raw Pixel Right: Puma x The Fabricant, Raw Pixel 13

MCAST Fashion students, Enya and Martha, provided an insight on how the metaverse can be interacted with different concepts and creative imagery. Both highlighted aspects on how certain movements or traditional celebratory festivals can be interpreted in a modern way, especially through digital implications.

Enya Curmi explores her passion in Maltese carnival costume through her collection and predicts its future and potential value in the digital world. She mentions the Maltese carnival as being a part of the metaverse in the future, combining both traditional and digital realities. The below rendition, created by Enis Trabelsi, and Nicole Anne Mifsud is an early render of an avatar wearing a digital version of Enya’s past Carnival costume. Martha Camilleri has elaborated her designs into the metaverse through ‘cos-play’. This activity or performance art where individuals wear costumes to represent a specific character, emerged Martha’s inner imagination to create such looks. Her collection intersects with the metaverse as both deliver the same concept: having an alter ago of game or story characters and showcasing your inner self through colour, design, and confidence within a different mindset. The following images showcase Martha’s illustrations with an indication of where the ‘smocking’ techniqiue implicated will be.

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B

ack to the future

By Christopher Lawrence Francalanza

Globalisation has totally transformed the clothing industry and our approach to new fashion trends. Gone are the days when each person had a unique garment made of a particular technique distinguished by a specific society or tailor. The appreciation for knitwear is being abandoned as most people do not purchase clothing that holds any sentimental value to the artisan or the consumer. Fast-changing trends and a focus on synthetic fabric have led society to abandon the old customary techniques such as shibori and eco-print.

Furthermore, the industrial revolution has led customers worldwide to purchase more clothing made out of inexpensive, synthetic fabric normalising every piece of clothing and skyrocketing the fashion industry to the third most unsustainable market. People bought 60% more garments in 2014 than in 2000, resulting in 10% of humanity’s carbon emissions. What’s more, 85% of all textiles go to the dump each year, but this is beside the point. Fashion is no longer an artisanal industry but a capitalist retail exercise. We have thousands of garments printed for retail to be engulfed by the public globally in a mall near you.

The existing ‘fast fashion’ business model encourages over-consumption and induces excessive waste. According to the Clothing Sustainability Research Group at Nottingham Trent University, it demands a high throughput of garments based on a linear economy. Such clothes are relatively cheap and aimed at customers who want to revise their wardrobe regularly on a trend-driven basis. Clothes are put to retail at pocket money prices. Short lead times mean that wash tests and wearer trials are often not feasible, such has considerable implications on garment quality.

In addition, many fashion outlets are producing clothes not made from single fibre materials. Such practices are copied by luxury retailers like Louis Vuitton, which offers small collections every two weeks. ‘Fast luxury’ collections are often stitched in the same factories producing cheap fast fashion.

When purchasing your typical Ralph Lauren t-shirt or a Gucci dress, you have been saving so long and finally turn up for that particular event; remember, what you have bought is equally out

Left: PNG Wing Right: Isabel Ruivivar

“it takes a while for any designer or artist to find their voice”

-Maryanne Mathias,

founder of Osei-Duro

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there for many other people to purchase. Hence whatever is trending commercially in retail nowadays does not have the typical uniqueness. On the flip side, wearing a shibori or eco-printed garment will render you totally unique as this clothing is simply one of a kind. Shibori is a traditional Japanese dyeing technique.

Such a procedure produces various patterns on fabric with indigo powdered dye, whilst eco-print is a type of residue that leaves a mark on fabric when leaves and flowers are pressed and steamed (as seen on Christian Dior’s Spring 2020 collection). These techniques cannot be replicated two times. Moreover, one must note that these techniques are handmade and take time to be prepared. Although some methods such as eco-print and shibori are quickly done within the comfort of a person’s home, it takes a remarkable amount of dedication and patience to create such unique garments.

Given the fast-paced globalised, and commercial society we live in today, with influencers and celebrities marketing popular brands, an artisan’s life has become an uphill battle. So the question pops up: Are handmade garments produced with artisanal techniques still a trend, or are they dying a slow and painful death? One can also ask whether or not these are sustainable anymore. Many fashion studies assert that artisanal craft is a sunset industry. Soon rather than later, mass production would take over as a quick and easy replacement, but this article is out there to hold a strong belief in these techniques. Hope is the last to die! So, here are some tips that can help readers give artisanal support to bring these unique trends back to the future.

Notwithstanding the odds, some fashion designers took the plunge and decided to invest in handcrafted artisanal techniques, poised to win the world’s admiration. These artisanal works vary from intricately beaded clothing to Asian shibori art and African dye. The world is your oyster, and designers recreated and invested in these techniques by reminiscing their culture or falling in love with methods in their travels or studies. Designers like Julia Heuer and Maryanne Mathias. The following chased their artisanal dreams and promoted sustainable unique fashion trends.

Originally Julia Heuer trained as a textile designer; however, she discovered the Japanese dyeing technique of Arashi Shibori during a student exchange in Copenhagen. The simplicity in creating something so beautiful out of nothing with nearly instant gratification amazed her.

“It’s exactly how I like to work,” Heuer stated. It also affords Heuer and her crew to operate in a satisfyingly scaled-back manner. “You just need a tube for wrapping the fabric, and you can dye it in hot water,” she describes. No expensive industrial-sized equipment is needed. Moreover, such a method does not rely on suppliers giving Julia Heuer the upper hand in these difficult times where logistics have become a nightmare due to the pandemic and the current Russia-Ukraine crisis.

Maryanne Mathias is another designer who took the plunge into artisanal work. She was frustrated with the design industry and wanted a break. So she travelled around the world and designed capsule collections in textile-rich countries where she went to various regions of Africa and India. Upon her return to Canada, Maryanne Mathias recruited Molly Keogh to assist her in launching Osei-Duro.

The label mainly produces hand-printed batik attire. These pieces are made by local craftspeople in Accra. Maryanne Mathias resides in her native Vancouver, and Molly Keogh lives in Ghana. Batik is an ancient wax dyeing technique that cultures across Africa, India, and Asia have been employing to create artful garments and accessories. She documented her journey full of trials and errors that helped her choose batik. She stated, “We have experimented with so many different techniques over the years – natural indigo, plain dye, hand-weaving, factory-dyed fabrics, knits and more – and through feedback and experience, we found that batik was the aesthetic that shone through.”

Examples like Julia Heuer and Maryanne Mathias show us how crucial it is that designers and brands these designers shed light on artisanal garments and give them back life projecting them back to the future. Unfortunately, the sector was hit drastically by the pandemic with job loss and loss of identity.

However, one looks into the future with optimism. The genius and creativity of artisanship must not be lost. On the contrary, it may bring sustainability in the tourism sector and connections to heritage and history. Nowadays, with the help of digitalisation and a rising interest in handmade craft objects, such techniques may be projected once again back into the future, making these artefacts more sustainable and appealing to the general public.

Left: Christian Dior Right: Osei-Duro x Cantamanto

All three of these fashion students applied traditional practices into their work and provided hand artisan techniques that have been used since the early days. These techniques are known locally and internationally and are still used and seen on the runway. Dhalia, Lourdes, and Jazmyn have accomplished the application of traditional techniques into modern garments and re-defined practices that were pushed aside.

Dhalia Grech’s collection, ‘Fjuretti’, is inspired by her admiration towards nature especially flowers, and plants. She looks at fashion designer, Iris van Herpen and incorporated different techniques such as two locally known practices3D printing, and Ganutell, aapplied into modern three-dimensional garments.

Lourdes Giordmaina’s collection reflects nature and the two traditional crafts, Maltese lace and gold embroidery. Her research investigates the influence on both hand-made techniques and why they are not being used enough by local fashion designers. In contrast, she applied both crafts on her garments and adapted them in a contemporary manner.

20 Jazmyn El-Gadi Pace has designed these garments to commemorate her heritage. After months of research and looking back through her history these three garments have a mixture of both Malta and Africa. By this, she included beading to finish her garments and used Libyan coins as an accessory referencing the craft as inspiration from both ethnic backgrounds.

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