Contents Page
Contents Page..................................................................................................................2 Keywords........................................................................................................................3 An Intro to Digital Fashion...........................................................................................4-5 New Realities................................................................................................................6-7 NFT’s and the World of Cryptocurrency......................................................................8-11 A rethought digital fashion space..............................................................................12-15 New Codes and how this relates.................................................................................16-17 References......................................................................................................................18 Image References...........................................................................................................19
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Keywords
Here are some keywords to remember or refer back to when you’re navigating through this book: Digital – So the literal meaning of this is electronic technology that generates, stores, and processes data in terms of two states: positive and non-positive. So a TV is digital or a MP3 player, or a computer. Metaverse - a virtual-reality space in which users can interact with a computer-generated environment and other users. So we do this on digital devices and this can be in a 2D or 3D setting, on a gaming console or a mobile phone. Virtual Reality - The computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly real or physical way by a person using special electronic equipment, such as a helmet with a screen inside or gloves fitted with sensors. This is one of the more immersive ways of experiencing the metaverse. Augmented Reality – This is the technology that superimposes a digital image or filter on a user’s view whilst in the real world, a good example of this would be a filter on Instagram or the dog face filter on Snapchat as a practical example. Cryptocurrency – This a digital currency in which transactions are verified and records maintained by a decentralized system using cryptography, rather than by a centralized authority. DAO (Decentralised Autonomous Organisation) – DAO’s are kind of like clubs for crypto enthusiasts, only they typically operate under a shared goal, give each member equal say in making decisions, and can potentially have more money than most clubs would ever know what to do with. Non Fungible Token (NFT) - Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are cryptographic assets on a blockchain with unique identification codes and metadata that distinguish them from each other. Unlike cryptocurrencies, they cannot be traded or exchanged at equivalency.
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An intro to digital fashion
Digital fashion has ‘existed’ for at least a couple of years, but it’s not until recently that it has fully taken off in terms of the monetisation of it and the further development of it into the mainstream. One of the main contributors to digital fashion is ‘The Fabricant’ and to quote their website… “We waste nothing but data and exploit nothing but our imagination. Operating at the intersection of fashion and technology fabricating digital couture and fashion experiences.” (The Fabricant, 2021) The Fabricant sold their first virtual garment in 2019 for $9500, this was the first digitally block-chained dress called “Iridescence” ever to be sold. But how does virtual fashion work, and why will it be the next big wave within not just the fashion industry but the technological industry as well. Digital fashion, once understood, is a brilliant concept that has less limits and more sustainable aspects than the current fashion practices we see today. If you wanted to buy a digital piece of clothing, you’d go somewhere like ‘The Fabricant’ or ‘DressX’ and purchase a digital piece you like, and you would own the item as a digital piece in itself. After the purchase, you would take a video or photo of yourself and send it off to the producer of the garment, and they edit the garment on to you. This has been utilised by footwear companies a lot and some of the best images I’ve seen from digital fashion houses have been footwear based. Such as these images from the ‘Buffalo London’ collaboration with ‘The Fabricant’…
Figure 1: Collaboration between Buffalo and The Fabricant (Buffalo London x The Fabricant, 2021)
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There are many brands developing digital fashion and someone who I think is advancing a lot within the space is the ‘Institute of Digital Fashion’ or as I’ll refer to them in this essay ‘IoDF’ (this makes my life easier). Based in London, ‘IoDF’ are focused on changing the landscape within fashion, not just by using technology but pushing for more diversity and sustainability in the industry.
Figure 2: A virtual showroom, accessible through Instagram filters (ShowStudio, 2021)
This was one of their collaborations with Machine -A which initially caught my attention. This is a virtual showroom, showcasing some of the digital fashion pieces, but the most interesting and unique part of this, is the fact it’s all accessible on Instagram. Through the filters opinion on the Instagram camera, you can ‘walk’ in to the room and inspect all the garment imagery, the accessibility of this shows how versatile and mainstream these sort of things can become. The work of these brands hasn’t gone unnoticed and the sustainability aspect of this has been noted. Selfridges have had their Project Earth program for some time now and this is all about them making sustainable steps forward in the industry and exploring all the different ways we can be more environmentally friendly. They did a report on ‘IoDF’ called ‘Exploring the future of fashion with the Institute of Digital fashion’, this article talks about the structure of the brand, and how they’re future proofing what they’re doing at the moment in terms of sustainability and diversity within the industry, I think one of the take away quotes from the article is: “The fast-fashion movement is one we need to push back against, not replicate with digital.” This is a quote from Leanne Elliot Young, CEO and Lead strategist at IoDF (Harling, 2020) I think that quote sums up what virtual fashion needs to be, something new, something that doesn’t replicate what we’ve already got, but something that shows everyone a new way to consume fashion. The idea that we can create virtual clothing, that can possibly adapt and change and doesn’t need physical production, is crucial to creating a more sustainable and long lasting industry. 5
New Realities… I’ve been a massive fan of video games since I can remember, playing Star Wars Battlefront II on my XBOX classic in my sisters room when I was 7 to then video game development in college some 10 years later. Many of my favourite games over the years have been so good because they allow you to escape reality, you can fly through space, fight aliens or relive life in the stone age, all through a screen. The excitement still gets to me to this day… Something that I’ve been excited to see evolve and develop through the pandemic was fashions ways of innovating virtual and augmented reality to reach their consumers in ways we’ve never seen and well I think about ¾ years before we were all expecting them to, but their hand was forced to do so and I think its been such a positive action to do so. Firstly, we’ll start with virtual reality, this in its simplest form is an immersive experience in which you are transported to a new reality that has no bearing on the physical world around you, good examples of this would be using an oculus rift headset that have been around for a decade now, this technology isn’t necessarily ‘new’ per say. But this has been greatly enhanced by the power our phones have, so it’s more readily available on more technologies. Brands within fashion have used this to great success, holding VR fashion shows and showing more conceptual and innovative designs through Decentraland… “The first fully decentralized world, Decentraland is controlled via the DAO, which owns the most important smart contracts and assets of Decentraland. Via the DAO, you decide and vote on how the world works.” (Decentraland, 2022) This has many aspects to it, including digital real estate (yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like), digital building and avatar creation. A re-occurring theme to virtual and digital fashion is the openness and the ability for anyone and everyone who is willing, to participate in the building blocks of the future, hence why we’re here today, to hopefully educate and let you know things you didn’t know before, because more the merrier when it comes to this digital malarky, in my opinion. Another aspect to digital reality is augmented reality (AR), this is something that we’ve all been partaking in whether know or not, have you ever used a filter that alters your face on Snapchat or Insta? Something that maybe adds funny animal ears or makes your hair grey? Sadly I’m not going to need a filter for that one soon…
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An image showing Maison Margeila’s fashion show in 2018, featuring VR headsets. (Hartmans, 2018 That is augmented reality, something digital
This image is from Clo-Z and shows an augmented reality digital outfit (McDowell, 2021)
that appears in the physical world in front of you, through a phone screen or other similar technologies. One of my favourite examples of this has been previously mentioned in this book, when we discussed the IoDF and their virtual showroom that was completely available through an Instagram filter. This technology has also been used many brands, one of the more famous brands being Gucci and their collection of clothing to try on through Snapchat specifically. This has also opened a new way of purchasing clothing, with Snapchat announcing that “Shoppers can then purchase the shoes directly from the app using Snapchat’s ‘Shop Now’ button.” (Stevens, 2020). This has a further knock-on effects that helps the likes of Gucci and other luxury brands, reaching a younger audience, gaining affiliation with younger generations whilst their current consumer loses some disposable income or moves on to other things. 7
NFT’s and the world of Cryptocurrency We’ve discussed the basic idea of digital fashion and how it has been shaped in recent years through a more direct transfer from physical to digital, but how does it revolutionise fashion? How does digital fashion differ from the physical world? Well, one of the biggest worldwide trends of the past 2 years has been cryptocurrency and NFT’s, but what are they exactly and what does this have to do with fashion? Something that seems to be a priority for everything and every brand is money, as well, it does make the world go round. The use of Crypto and NFT’s add a new way of monetising digital fashion assets, this is because NFTs’a re essentially a digital piece of art that can fluctuate in price and has a watermark built in to it to stop it from being simply copied or duplicated. A good comparison would be a trading card for example, like a Pokémon or Match Attax card, each one has a unique image/ code that makes it unique to its owner and only they can truly own that certain card. Some cards are more expensive than others because of their rarity, and also their appearance, a more unique looking NFT will be more expensive and finally the quality of the NFT is important, that the art is of the highest quality in terms of pixelation etc. Cryptocurrency comes into this because using a certain currency (Ethereum) you can buy these NFT’s as their currency is one of the most refined and also has a public blockchain history available, this basically means it’s very easy to see history of transactions and ownership of their NFT’s. This has in very recent news been changed, for more mainstream participation, a company based in Crypto trading called Moonpay has made strides forward to aid non crypto funded NFT purchases. Ceo of Moonpay, Ivan Soto-Wright had this to say on the breakthrough “Right now, the NFT market is limited to the hundreds of millions of people who own cryptocurrency. MoonPay’s NFT Checkout has just opened the door to billions more who own credit cards by making ownership both simple and fast.” (CNBCTV18, 2022). This shows the step towards NFT’s becoming a more accessible and well known commodity amongst not just tech-savvy kids but people who enjoy art in more traditional forms and maybe we’ll see NFT’s in sports or TV somehow. I think this is the exciting aspect of NFT’s and crypto, the ideas are new, and new can be scary but it can also yield so many more possibilities and angles to industries and creativity that we haven’t seen before, which is very exciting. This has been a subject that has had me read and re-read a lot of articles/ podcasts and reports to understand the idea of NFT’s and Cryptocurrency. It’s a new world for a lot of people and ever the optimist, I’m always looking to try and make it easier for people to understand and grasp for themselves because I think it has an amazing potential and could be something that truly see the fashion industry boom again in a totally different way to ever before.
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Let’s bring this back to fashion real quick… Brands like Nike and Adidas have had a massive impact on how we as a fashion industry are viewing this trend, as I believe these brands wouldn’t have invested in buying digital creative studios and collaborating with NFT companies if they didn’t believe this was here to stay. For example, Nike bought RTFKT studios and this was the statement that Nike made during this purchase… “NIKE, Inc. today announced the acquisition of RTFKT, a leading brand that leverages cutting edge innovation to deliver next generation collectibles that merge culture and gaming.” (Nike, 2021). Wider evidence of the investment towards cryptocurrency and the Metaverse in general is Facebook, should I say ‘Meta’. Facebook has officially changed it’s name as of the 1st December 2021.Whilst this move was seemingly more materialistic than business orientated, it shows an intention and a preview as to what’s to come. Adidas have taken a different approach to the digital fashion world with a collaboration with one of the biggest NFT creators in the world, Bored Ape Yacht Club. This brand is the one that we’re probably most familiar with in terms of popularity as they have the iconic Ape avatars taking spotlight in their NFT designs. “It’s a flip of the normal business model where we make stuff and hope people will buy it,” says Adidas senior director of digital growth Tareq Nazlawy. “You’re not just buying the product. You’re becoming a member of this community.” (D & Chitrakon, 2021) On the left page, you can see a mixture of different NFTs/ digital fashion assets... From top to bottom, we have the adidas collaboration, the team that worked on it and a Bored Ape NFT image in the top right. The sneakers beneath show an example of Nike’s collaboration with RTFKT on pairs of futuristic sneakers as well as classic silhuoettes like the Nike Dunks. The row of images at the bottom show 4 different Bored Ape NFT’s and what they can look like....
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A rethought digital fashion space After this research, looking at the different angles in which digital fashion is going, I think digital fashion needs to be more human and needs to be more relatable to us as not just creatives but human beings. But what do I mean by this?
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Further research into the digital fashion houses like ‘The Fabricant’ and ‘Clo3D’ shows a perfection, a finish and polish that doesn’t show a realness or an organic outcome, and I think this has a tendency to alienate people who don’t understand the concept of it straight away. The images on the previous pages shows a couple of images from both The Fabricant (top three images) and a 3D modelling program Clo3D (bottom half images), these are some examples of the polished and over perfected work which I think is quite hard to comprehend for non-digital natives. A big part of my thinking is not just creating a new and exciting aspect to digital fashion, but to create an inclusive space that helps people and brands navigate their way into the metaverse. Moving forward, I’m very aware of what my digital content will look like, in terms of creating something that is digestible for multiple people and generations, whilst focusing on the younger consumer in Generation Alpha. But one of the ways you capture a younger generation, coming from experience is through their older siblings and parents. I believe this because I was influenced by video games my older cousins played that I didn’t have access to or films that I didn’t have access to, in terms of age rating or money wise. “When you look at GTA IV in the broader sense, it was more interested in immersing players into the atmosphere of Liberty City. With a larger cast of characters, along with several new systems to learn while exploring a more dense city, the new setting offered the most dynamic space in a GTA game at the time.” A quote taken from a new article looking GTA IV and whether it has stood the test of time. (Fillari, 2018) Examples of this would be Grand Theft Auto IV, a game that had a big virtual world full of different aspects, people and assets. One of the reasons I was so into these was the immersive in to a new and fictional world we couldn’t experience anywhere else, but going back to my first point, this game wasn’t made for my demographic as I was only 9 years old when it was released and wouldn’t have played it if I hadn’t heard or seen the older people in my life playing and experiencing it.
This is testament to how when creating content at any time, there should be a consideration as to the extended audience of the work. I think one of the main points I’ve taken from this research is creating content that is and can be consumed by primarily Alpha’s but also other generations to allow this gateway into the digital world. Moving this forward, I’m going to look at contextualising my work in real locations, thus supporting the idea that my work will be a tool for understanding digital fashion as well as consuming it. Something that has caught my attention during research and into film digital effects in particular, is green screen animations and effects and how this can be utilised in different ways for adding digital assets and getting rid of digital assets as well. As some of the examples on the right will show how green screening has been used in film and media to create content in a mostly fictional setting. But what and how do green screens work? “Green screens are used as backdrops in chroma key filming, which is basically a process that replaces a solid-colored background from behind the subject of a video with a new video or static background of your choice. When you watch the weather forecaster on TV standing in front of a map, or Spiderman climbing down a building, you are seeing chroma key filming at work. They are standing in front of a Green Screen.” (GREEN SCREEN HIRE, n.d.). This is a standard definition of what green screen technology is and has been utilised in many different ways and does include some examples of how its used in our daily lives, like the weather programs for example.
With this information, I’m going to try and tangibly make some clothing that mimics that of digital fashion, so whilst wearing a green suit, I’ll style outfits and create the illusion of ‘floating’ clothing that recreates fashion similar to that of Clo3D and the Fabricant. Above is an example of what I mean when I talk about mimicking digital fashion and what this could look like, creating just clothing assets without the model. 14
New Codes and how this relates
Virtual fashion is one of the most exciting prospects in fashion at the moment, with the endless creative possibilities suggesting that a shift in how we communicate, market and consume fashion will change forever. With New Codes, I want to use the multitude of the digital fashion avenues we’ve discussed to create a curated range of digital fashion items to market streetwear brands at a high end market level. Through this, I want to take advantage of NFT like creations as well as digital content creation depending on who and what brand I’m working on/ with. An example of this would be Supreme, so with Supreme I would create a collection of NFT’s based upon their previous box logo designs, adding animated elements that elevate their purpose, this would be something that I believe would work for Supreme as I believe they’re always trying to market to younger generations, who are taking up the majority of the NFT space at the moment. As well as this, it also lends towards Supreme’s collectability factor, with their consumers able to purchase limited digital collectables to change how they consume streetwear forever. A different example would be marketing Craig Green, as I don’t believe the same method would necessarily work, based off the brand values and their presentation. For Craig Green, I would create a virtual experience in which we could consume a world of his designs, featuring organic fully animated outfits, that extend his storytelling beyond just an outfit, but into a full experience. I think these assets will be created via the green screen edits as I think it creates something unique in digital fashion that I would think is relatively different to what we’ve seen in the industry so far. As well as this, I believe this is good marketing point for myself in the industry, as I’m recreating what is quite an expensive/ complex technology into something that is more tangible and easier for smaller brands with less budget to work with. This is what New Codes is about, taking already present streetwear brands and transcribing them in to the metaverse, showing brands how there’s space and a place for everyone in the digital worlds that need exploring and populating. It is important to not just create a brand that has a copy and paste methodology but a plan that can be catered to worked and moulded to fit any aspect it may need to work with.
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New Codes Intention 17
References
(2021). Retrieved from The Fabricant: https://www.thefabricant.com/ Buffalo London x The Fabricant. (2021, January). Retrieved from The Fabricant: https://www.thefabricant.com/buffalo CNBCTV18. (2022, February 07). You can now buy NFT without crypto; here’s how. Retrieved from CNBCTV18: https://www.cnbctv18.com/cryptocurrency/you-can-now-buy-nft-without-crypto-heres-how-12395322.htm D, M. M., & Chitrakon, K. (2021, December 17). Adidas reveals new NFT project with Bored Ape Yacht Club. Retrieved from Vogue Business: https://www. voguebusiness.com/technology/adidas-reveals-new-nft-project-with-boredape-yacht-club Decentraland. (2022, April 04). About us. Retrieved from Decentraland: https://decentraland.org/ Harling, C. (2020, September). Exploring the future of Fashion with the Institute of Digital fashion. Retrieved from Selfridges: https://www.selfridges. com/GB/en/features/moodboard/institute-of-digital-fashion/ Nike. (2021, December 13). NIKE, Inc. Acquires RTFKT. Retrieved from News.Nike: https://news.nike.com/news/nike-acquires-rtfkt Stevens, B. (2020, June 29). Gucci launches AR Snapchat lens allowing users to virtually try on its shoes. Retrieved from Charged Retail: https://www. chargedretail.co.uk/2020/06/29/gucci-launches-ar-snapchat-lens-allowing-users-to-virtually-try-on-its-shoes/
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Images References BoredApeYachtClub. (2022, April 26). 9381. OpenSea. Cheung, A. (2022, April 23). The Dunk-Inspired RTFKT x Nike Cryptokicks NFT Has Been Unveiled. Retrieved from The Sole Supplier: https://thesolesupplier.co.uk/news/the-dunk-inspired-rtfkt-x-nike-cryptokicks-nft-has-been-unveiled/ Dunne, B. (2021, December 16). Adidas, With Bored Ape Yacht Club and Gmoney, Steps Into the Metaverse. Retrieved from Complex: https://www.complex.com/sneakers/bored-ape-yachtclub-adidas-nft-hoodie-tracksuit Fabricant (2022) https://www.thefabricant.com/ Graham, M. (2021, December 15). Nike x RTFKT: A turning Point for the Apparel Metaverse. Retrieved from Boardroom: https://boardroom.tv/nike-rtfkt-sneaker-metaverse/ Hartmans, A. (2018, July 5). iPhone holsters for your ankle and colorful VR headsets were worn by models at a recent fashion show in Paris. Retrieved from BusinessInsider: https://www. businessinsider.com/maison-margiela-paris-couture-week-runway-show-2018-photos-vr-iphone2018-7?r=US&IR=T McDowell, M. (2021, October 19). Shaping Online Avatars: Why our digital identities differ. Retrieved from Vogue Business: https://www.voguebusiness.com/technology/shaping-online-avatars-why-our-digital-identities-differ McDowell, M. (2021, July 26). Why AR clothing try-on is nearly here. Retrieved from Vogue Business: https://www.voguebusiness.com/technology/why-ar-clothing-try-on-is-nearly-here Nesi, C. (2021, September 21). Millions Expected to Change Hands as Sotheby’s ‘Bored Ape Yacht Club’ NFT Auction Kicks Off. Retrieved from WithVincent: https://www.withvincent. com/articles/millions-expected-to-change-hands-as-sothebys-bored-ape-yacht-club-nft PR, T. (2022, March 18). TIME Releases First-Ever Full Magazine Issue as an NFT on the Blockchain Featuring a Cover Story on Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin. Retrieved from Time: https://time.com/6158525/time-releases-first-ever-nft-magazine-issue/ What Is Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC)? (2021, November 16). Retrieved from Academy.Binance: https://academy.binance.com/en/articles/what-is-bored-ape-yacht-club-bayc Wilson, S. (2020, July 16). Pandemic pop and the rise of the digital avatar. Retrieved from TheFortyFive: https://thefortyfive.com/opinion/post-pandemic-pop-and-the-rise-of-the-digital-avatar/ Wright, M. N. (2022, April Tuesday). The First issue of Bitcoin Magazine goes to print. Retrieved from Prweb: https://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9463303.htm How CLO Has Integrated V-Ray in the Fabric of its Software. (2018, May 25). Retrieved from Chaos: https://www.chaos.com/blog/how-clo-has-integrated-v-ray-in-the-fabric-of-its-software 19
