New Codes
By Luke Owen
Contents Page
Part 1 Introduction...................................................................................................4 Current Fashion..............................................................................................5 The New Consumer.........................................................................................7 The Metaverse.................................................................................................9
Part 2 New Codes.....................................................................................................10 The Summary................................................................................................11 References.....................................................................................................12
2
1.1
1.2
First Chapter: Introduction
Second Chapter: Current fashion
Conceptual streetwear is…
Streetwear is an entity that has existed for a long time in different forms and it has many supposed origins from what I can, but this isn’t surprising as streetwear is what? Street and wear, it’s what people wear in their everyday life, from the streets of New York or the centre of Japan’s streetwear scene Harajuku. These two culture centres seem to be the most common answers to the question and when you look through some of the designers that came through these scenes, I think it’s fair to say with Yamamoto, Nigo, Shawn Stüssy and more, that this was the birth of streetwear as we know it today.
Blending in with the crowd, or fitting in with your tribe. Streetwear is about a uniform and curating the fit to match brands and not be seen ‘clashing’. Todays society forms itself on a uniform, a way of making sure you’re not falling behind trends or you’re able to stick with the crowd, whichever crowd that may be. Whilst being able to identify with groups of people or feeling at home within a group, this can also lead to a lack of individuality or a lack of trying to strive for individuality. Even though higher end streetwear such as Craig Green and Yohji Yamamoto don’t contain logo’s, mainstream streetwear brands are currently going through a logo-manic phase of having logo heavy shoes, t-shirts accessories and even lifestyle items. Balenciaga and Gucci currently have a collaboration that heavily focuses on the branding and logo driven semiotics, and as said by Gucci themselves on the collaborations home page “Exploring ideas of authenticity and appropriation, Gucci and Balenciaga motifs merge to create new interpretations of signature pieces.” (The Hacker Project, 2021). This is something that I think we need to break off from moving in to the Metaverse especially. I think this is prevalent today because as a society, especially the younger generations, we can be too obsessed with our appearance and making sure we don’t step out of line in terms of our uniform. Generation Alpha is the group I’m looking at as I think thy will be the first generation to fully grasp the new Metaverse, with their love for technology and the fact that Alpha is the largest generation in terms of population we’ve had to date, I think it’s important to target this audience straight away. Combining this love for technology with their predicted communicational skills and global skills, I think creating a digital fashion industry will be the best way to communicate with them. With technology adapting at an exponential rate and the industry growing and changing at a rapid rate, creativity will once again hopefully take the forefront and this is something I hope to take forward in my work. Something that has always interested me is the colour black, and I think the way for me to tell this story is to accentuate this colour and use form, shape and animation to show the new stories we can tell within the new platforms that are being created, like the Metaverse etc. A quote that sums up my affiliation for the colour black would be one from Christian Dior himself, and it reads… “You can wear black at any time. You can wear it at any age. You may wear it for almost any occasion.” Christian Dior (Graham, 2014) So by combining the conceptual streetwear angle and black inspiration, I aim to conceptualise the new uniform or new form for the metaverse and digital fashion as a whole, by adapting what we already have, looking at brands and designers like Craig Green, Yohji Yamamoto and Off-White and creating a free form trend that expands possibilities and doesn’t limit us to all looking the same. Even though, by choosing black, it might sound restricting, I believe by using digital 3D visuals like Clo3D or even through filters and basic animation software, I can identify a new angle on the market and give fashion a new look to match the technology we’re delving in to.
4
the
“Hypebeast defines streetwear as “fashionable, casual clothes”, but explains that this definition undermines the “multi-billion dollar” industry that streetwear has become.” (Streetwear: Fashion x Culture with insight from London, Paris, and Milan, n.d.) But we’re looking at the higher end of streetwear, the conceptual aspect that challenges what streetwear means and challenges the ‘uniform’ in which we abide by. Designers like Yamamoto and Craig Green are the front-runners in this for me currently, with their attention to shape and form throughout their work which I think has not only created a very specific signature to their work individually but has also made me think about what we do creatively to bring these to life in a digital space. When I talk about this signature, I look at Green’s work with Moncler and how this has created a look in which we see Moncler recreating a lot now within their ready to wear garments. The original pieces, in my opinion, look at creating new shapes and silhouettes that could inspire new looks for the metaverse. Creating this pieces that are maybe inanimate in the physical world but then can be animated or have their own conscience in the metaverse. Also whilst looking at Craig Green’s work, I found a big comparison between what his work looked like and how it could translate in to 3D visuals, it reminded me of 3D modelling programs and I think it would be interesting to see the end product. As taken from an interview with Craig Green in June 2021, he’s described as “Craig Green loves to challenge forms, arriving at unexpected silhouettes halfway between portable architectures and functional clothes.” (Cantaro, 2021). Which I think is something that suits well into what I want to create or reimagine which is using some inspiration from his work to help create my new uniform.
new
5
Yohji Yamamoto has also had an impact on the aesthetic I want to go for, by utilising his cultural knowledge and creativity and creating something that showcases his stories in his unique way. After reading and watching articles about him and what his process is about, it’s interesting to find his love, indirectly in my opinion, for minimalism and this comes across in his works. His work in 2016 has been quoted “Yamamoto proves that being free from extravagance is the most understated way of staying elegant in a modernistic manner.” (Yohji Yamamoto epitomises modern minimalism for Fall 2016, 2016) Which I think in terms of creating minimalistic but bold pieces. With many collaborations or collections nowadays, the storytelling aspect has been replaced with the ‘hype’ of the clothing itself, with the likes of Dior or Gucci, we see them working with the likes of Travis Scott or viral movie stars to push their agenda’s and sell a lifestyle that really isn’t attainable for the majority. What I want to delve in to is providing a trend that is obtainable for everyone and doesn’t necessarily commit to a certain brand or group of people, but offers something completely new that people can gravitate and move towards. An interesting brand and someone who I think has really unique and interesting visuals also, is Matthew Williams and artistic creative streetwear brand, 10197 ALYX 9SM. This brand is known for its unisex approach as well as their subcultural references. As well as this, the versatility of the clothing also helps with MMW’s sustainability beliefs. MMW described his way of work as followed “There’s something I think about too: How much of what I’m making is necessary? Am I making things in a ethical way? I’ looking a lot into sustainable fabrics and sustainable supply chains” and he continues to talk about the amount of bad quality clothing that is being made over and over, which has a terrible impact on the environment. (DeLeon, 2021). Another quality which I appreciated was the fact he talks about the brand being a representation of the person wearing it, it doesn’t tell the story of the brand, but the story of the brand is the story of the person wearing it.
6
1.3
Third Chapter: The new consumer The consumer is very important, as they dictate what the products look like in production, what the marketing strategies are, how we communicate with them, be it through the internet, physical marketing, social media, or something new? Who is the consumer and how do I aim to curate this new trend to them? I’m looking at generation Alpha, and as I said before, this is because I believe, with their affiliation with technology and even just the size of the generation itself, my trend will have the biggest impact on Alpha’s. Something I found interesting is how the name ‘Generation Alpha’ came about, the creator of this label was supposedly Mark McCrindle, a generational researcher from Australia and this is what he had to say about the name Generation Alpha… “One popular option from the survey was “Generation A,” but, McCrindle told me in an email, he thought the name for a cohort that would shape the future shouldn’t “be labelled by going back to the beginning.” So once the Latin alphabet was exhausted, he hopped over to the Greek one—“the start of something new.” (Pinsker, 2020) This to me, was encouragement enough to want to create something new, it seemed too apt to come across this whilst researching and not use it, as this is extremely applicable to what I want to portray. From reading about this new generation, in my opinion, we’re seeing a generation that has being brewing for a while in previous generations, in multiple sources online they talk about this generation being more involved in technology, more likely to be surrounded by college educated adults and even more racially and culturally diverse than the generations before them (Casey, 2020). Another aspect to look at, is what technology we’re going to advance with and what we’re going to leave behind. For example. I think we can all agree that sadly, CD’s and DVD’s are going to be left behind and Alpha’s definitely aren’t going to HMV to pickup a Blu-Ray. According to an in-depth report on generation Alpha by McCrindle Research, the technology which they’ll take forward is Siri, Artificial intelligence and 5G, amongst others. I chose these because I believe these are part of the future everyday technologies they’ll be using. Speaking on new technologies, this all ties in to the new Metaverse trend and how Alpha’s will be the pioneers of this. (Research, 2021) Another point that is important to note is the sustainable aspect and how important it will be to Alpha’s due to their parents being Gen Xer’s and having this awareness of sustainably when they were growing up and making decisions that effected the world we live in today. As quoted from a Gen Alpha profile breakdown “Like their elders, they care about issues such as sustainability and social equality — but unlike previous generations, they have embraced activism from a very young age and expect brand change as a result.” (Kingson, 2021). Which gives the need to have a more environmentally approach because that is something that will inspire loyalty and returnability with Alpha’s.
7
1.4
Fourth Chapter: The Metaverse
New technologies are important, but the technologies and ways of communication we have now are important, such as looking at the hot social medias right now. These such ones are Tiktok and Instagram mainly, with these having a big hold on multiple generations, especially with influencers and now more and more brands joining the informality and more personal Tiktok content. This sort of content appears to show more transparency and forms more of a relationship with their consumers. Something that has boomed in especially fast fashion, is featuring consumers on website images, Tiktok’s and Instagram posts/ stories. “As an industry, influencer marketing has expanded exponentially over the past two years. Worth just $1.7 billion in 2016, the industry is set to reach $13.8 billion by 2022 as the industry witnesses more growth and becomes a more effective marketplace.” This taken from an article talking about influencer marketing and the subtle but growing effect it’s having on our society and the way we market to consumers (Institute, 2021) The article in which the previous quote is from, goes on to talk about how the trust within younger audiences, isn’t with celebrities as much nowadays and this is a shift that has, I believe, stemmed from earlier platforms such as YouTube and Vine. This has caused a sort of rift in generations where Alpha’s and Z’s are contributing to people with millions of followers on these platforms but these influencers are still unknown to their parents or elders. For example, KSI is one of the UK’s largest influencers/ Youtuber’s and has over 20 million Instagram followers, but when he appeared on Jonathan Ross, he talked about his career and how it all started, (KSI, 2020). This shows the clear discrepancy between the younger and older generations and possibly a shift in who prioritises what platforms, and what I mean by this is the lack of representation of the younger generation on something like tv talk shows or tv in general. Even speaking for myself, I’d say I watch 10x more Youtube and Netflix than traditional television. Something that Fashion brands in particular have been doing is looking at this viral Netflix shows in particular, such as Squid Game, and taking stars from these shows and making them the faces of their brands, a perfect example is the Korean actor Lee JungJae being appointed as Gucci’s global brand ambassador and his co-star Jung Ho-Yeon being named as brand ambassador for Louis Vuitton in the space of weeks after these shows came out, (Chow, 2021). I believe, that no matter the marketing strategy, without the right people as the face, it could never be as effective as possible, so I think looking at getting the right representation, not just in terms of diversity but relevance in the right field is also super important and could give the trend or campaign, exponential growth.
8
What is it exactly? Well the metaverse isn’t an online platform like we’ve seen before, its more of a space or word for technology that will faze out the technology we’ve currently got. For example, now we watch movies at a cinema with a screen and a darken room with rows and rows of seats, but the metaverse could change this whole experience and we could be in our own living rooms, putting a headset on and living through a superhero film, flying around a city watching good vs bad and really ‘living’ through a film. The main technologies being used at the moment is virtual reality, which is the creation and existence of completely virtual worlds/ universes, and the other is augmented reality which we see a lot already which is the combination of real world and virtual world aspects, such as the Institute of Digital Fashion’s sustainability filter. This is a big step out of the box for a lot of people and I think targeting the younger generations is important because they will be the ones to innovate and evolve this platforms as they come to power and influence in years to come, plus, I think new technology is getting harder and harder to understand for the older generations as the leaps and bounds we make are growing year on year. “24% of internet users in 2019 say they don’t understand computers and new technology, rising from 15% in 2013.” Tech angst is growing (Malik, 2019) Whilst I don’t think it’s a case of there’s no place for anyone above the age of 40 in the Metaverse and believe me I’ll be there soon enough, I don’t think the priority is helping people understand a technology that they’re not particularly bothered about, younger generations will have to use this for education, socialising, and experiencing art galleries, museums etc. So naturally the target audience is those who’ll be impacted the most by the metaverse, but those who’ll have the biggest impact on it as well.
9
2.2
2.1
First Chapter
Final Chapter - - -
We’ve looked at consumer, we’ve looked at the market today and possible avenues to go down and explore, but what is the New Codes going to look like and what is the gap in the market? I think there’s a gap for a new type of fashion within the Metaverse, something that really combines virtual reality and fashion, not putting fashion in to virtual reality, but properly combining the two. What I mean by this is using the animatronic effects in VR to create living clothing that can change and adapt and create silhouettes that we couldn’t have seen in the real world, because in a world where there are no boundaries, why should we have any?
New Codes: Meaning – noun: - A dark figure, accentuating the silhouette and emphasizes minimalism Meaning – Verb: - To create or actively dress in black/ monotonal colours in aim for minimalism and shape When creating the logo for my trend, creating and choosing the font was important as it’s going to be a campaign about minimalism and shape. So the font will be highlighted throughout the campaign. On Microsoft’s website, Bernard MT Condensed (the font I’m using) has been described as “Although both bold and condensed, Bernard MT Condensed maintains a pleasant period charm due to its balanced chunky serifs and rounded strokes. Use it in situations where you want to get attention while maintaining a casual tone.” (Bernard MT Condensed Font Family, 2021). So after choosing a font, I thought an apt name was something that was based off my research and looking at codes we currently abide by, hence the ‘Codes’ and the ‘New’ comes from the fact that well, I hope it’s new and hasn’t been seen before. The colon at the end of the name is taken from the meaning of words, as a colon is usually put after a word and precedes the definition. As shown with the New Codes definition breakdown. I thought as a title for a collection or a video, the colon would add a little different dynamic at the beginning of them or at the start of a lookbook, showing that the definition of New Codes is all in the work and the visuals. But what exactly will this look like? This campaign is all about elevating current fashion, taking inspiration from Craig Green, Yamamoto, Off-White and 1017 ALYX 9SM, Wtaps and so on. Looking at utilitarianism/ minimalism within fashion and how I can revolutionise how we utilise our clothing and what potentially what our virtual wardrobe could look like.
10
Summarising the research What platforms to utilise, website/ Instagram/ Metaverse How this is future proofed and can be adapted
New Codes will consist of a short fashion film, exploring and discovering new fashion forms in virtual reality. Looking at collaborating with Craig Green, Yohji Yamamoto or styles similar. Mostly consisting of black and white clothing, imagery, and inspiration. Following will be an Instagram, gathering aesthetic and providing context for the film and short videos. The Instagram will also show lookbook imagery and give people a hub or place to follow New Codes. Instagram filters will be utilised to create augmented reality and give more people an easy way to share New Codes and what it’ll be about with a cool filter that shows what it’s about. New Codes is going to be targeted at the Alpha Generation, focusing on the technological trend and partnering this with sustainability reinforcement. I think this is what the research has backed, showing many brands going in a technological direction with the metaverse, and the youngers being really in to video games and their online platforms. Like I’ve said, Instagram and Tiktok will be the main providers as they cover video and imagery content the best. Giving so many options on creation and format. In terms of promoting my work and the page itself, I can use Instagram ads to show to a broader and more international audience, or I can go to LinkedIn to look at a more specific audience within the fashion industry. This gives a good coverage in terms of showing how a more commercial and then a more critical audience reacts to my work. Other ways of promoting it will also come with the launch evening and the exhibition in Chester. These are good ways of showing physically what my work could look like, using large prints and making a QR code or something that gives access to the filter on Instagram that people can access in person. What will I need to make this happen? I think most importantly. Its about getting the aesthetic and quality where I want it to be, so over the past couple of months I’ve been looking at Instagram pages and accounts I really appreciate and think have particular aspects I want to apply to my own brand campaign. So I will engage with some of these accounts and look how they go about creating their ‘vibes’ in essence. As for the filming and photography side of my project, I think I want to be heavily involved in direction and overseeing but technically, I want to hire or collaborate with a photographer and hire a model who can give me a high quality end product. As for clothing and providing this, I have items within my own wardrobe and access to websites such as ASOS, Zara or shops on the high street that have certain pieces that can also provide the garments I’ll need. I already have access to photoshop, premier pro, 3DS max and Clo3d which between them, can produce 2D,3D and video content so that’s covered within my own skill set I believe.
References Bernard MT Condensed Font Family. (2021, November 13). Retrieved from Microsoft: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/font-list/bernard-mt-condensed Cantaro, G. (2021, June 27). An Outlook on Future by Craig Green. Retrieved from Paris Fashion Week: https://parisfashionweek.fhcm.paris/en/48026-2/ Casey, A. E. (2020, November 4). What is generation Alpha? Retrieved from Aecf: https://www.aecf.org/ blog/what-is-generation-alpha Chow, A. (2021, November 11). ‘Squid Game’s’ Lee Jung-jae Appointed as Gucci Global Brand Ambassador. Retrieved from HypeBeast: https://hypebeast.com/2021/11/squid-games-lee-jung-jae-appointedas-gucci-global-brand-ambassador DeLeon, J. (2021). The . In Highsnobiety, The Complete Highsnobiety Guide to Street Fashion and Culture (p. 40). Berlin: Gestalten. Graham, M. (2014, October 24). Black in Fashion: AnOther’s Top Ten Quotes. Retrieved from Another Mag: https://www.anothermag.com/fashion-beauty/4056/black-in-fashion-anothers-top-ten-quotes Institute, D. M. (2021, October 19). 20 Surprising Influencer Marketing Statistics. Retrieved from Digital Marketing Institute: https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/20-influencer-marketing-statistics-that-will-surprise-you Kingson, J. A. (2021, October 18). Marketing to Generation Alpha. Retrieved from Axios: https://www. axios.com/marketing-to-generation-alpha-2c8eade6-6475-47b3-9fff-527ead07b385.html KSI. (2020, October 31). KSI on the Jonathan Ross Show. (J. Ross, Interviewer) Malik, D. (2019, November 26). 24 Percent of global users say they just don’t understand computers and new technology. Retrieved from Digital Information World: https://www.digitalinformationworld. com/2019/11/tech-angst-is-growing-just-like-the-trends.html Pinsker, J. (2020, February 21). Oh No, They’ve Come Up With Another Generation Label. Retrieved from The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/02/generation-after-gen-z-named-alpha/606862/ Research, M. (2021). Understanding Generation Alpha. Norwest: McCrindle Research Pty Ltd. Streetwear: Fashion x Culture with insight from London, Paris, and Milan. (n.d.). Retrieved from VoCast: https://vocast.com/streetwear-fashion-x-culture-with-insight-from-london-paris-and-milan The Hacker Project. (2021, November). Retrieved from Gucci: https://www.gucci.com/us/en/st/capsule/ gucci-and-balenciaga Yohji Yamamoto epitomises modern minimalism for Fall 2016. (2016). Retrieved from The Fashion Hub: https://www.the-fashion-hub.com/single-post/2016/03/05/Yohji-Yamamoto-epitomises-modern-minimalism-for-Fall-2016
12