Fashion takes center-stage in the Metaverse at Decentraland’s Metaverse Fashion Week

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Estée Lauder, Philipp Plein, DKNY, Hogan, Selfridges, Dolce & Gabbana, AUROBOROS, Tommy Hilfiger, SHOW studio, DUNDAS, Karl Lagerfeld, Vogue & Hype, Fresh Couture, Placebo, Forever 21, Perry Ellis America, D-CAVE and others join an all-star lineup to mark the world’s biggest Metaverse Fashion Week

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LONDON, March 23, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Metaverse – Decentraland’s Metaverse Fashion Week (MVFW22) unveils to the world the future of fashion. Featuring AI & robots, luxury wearables, ‘phygital goods,’ and immersive experiences, more than 70 participating brands, artists, and designers, are coming together to be a part of MVFW22, a milestone event in the global fashion industry. A combination of legacy luxury fashion and digital-native brands will showcase their highly anticipated wearable collections, digital spaces, and breakthrough activations in Decentraland from March 24-27, 2022.

Today, the intersection of fashion and technology has birthed a new revolution, which blurs the lines between our physical and digital lives and allows us to expand our creativity beyond the limits of our tangible reality. Fashion has not only entered the metaverse, but it has also established itself as one of the pillars of the ecosystem. Diversity, decentralization, e-commerce, self-expression, sustainability, robotics, and community, are at the heart of this new era in fashion.

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“Decentraland is a virtual social world for everyone, anywhere. Metaverse Fashion Week serves as the perfect, monumental event to introduce to the world the philosophy behind everything we build. A space built by and run for by its community. Through MVFW22, we endeavor to broaden the horizon of what ‘metaverse’ means. We just leveled up the playing field for the world of fashion and decreased the limitations. Even in the metaverse, you’ll be needing a ‘fit’,” says Decentraland Foundation’s Creative Director, Sam Hamilton.

During MVFW22, Decentraland will debut several community-run neighborhoods within the newly created Fashion District. At each of these locations, brands and designers will feature their catwalks, panels, galleries, and more. The mini-districts and neighborhoods include:

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Luxury Fashion District
The Luxury Fashion District, Decentraland’s newest district is housed inside the current Fashion District owned by Metaverse Group, a Tokens.com subsidiary. The ‘Luxury Fashion District,’ presented by UNXD and Vogue Arabia, will host a tour-de-force of fashion houses, brands, designers, and fashion devotees. Some of the industry’s most iconic brands to make their Web3 debut include: Dolce & Gabbana, Etro, Elie Saab, Imitation of Christ, DUNDAS, Nicholas Kirkwood in collaboration with White Rabbit, FaithTribe, Chufy, Jacob & Co, Monnier Frères, Franck Muller, Gary McQueen, Mert Otsamo, Guo Pei, and AUROBOROS, who will be closing the MVFW22 together with the headline act and muse Grimes.

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Join Auroboros x Grimes in celebrating this historical moment at their MVFW22 closing show featuring an immersive DJ set performed by their muse and superstar Grimes. Founded by Paula Sello and Alissa Aulbekova, Auroboros is the award winning digital luxury fashion house creating a utopian premise for the near future.

Franck Muller, the high end luxury Swiss watchmaker, is leading the way in crypto and metaverse themed watches with its Encrypto collection. Labeled the world’s first functional Bitcoin watch, Encrypto allows customers to check their Bitcoin balance right on the watch face together with built-in Deep Cold Storage.

IOC GENESIS is the first digital collection for the Metaverse from Imitation of Christ. Co-created by visionary artists Tara Subkoff and Adam Teninbaum, in this collection, you will find a number of unique designs and wearables, including collaborations with Lynsey Addario, Nicole Buffett, and 2 BAYC NFTs. IOC GENESIS NFTs will enable token holders access to future IOC-NFT collections, as well as invitations to exclusive shows and events, and also endow the holder the ability to preview looks in advance of their release to the public. The team is donating a portion of the profits to the UKRAINEDAO.

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Rarible Street
Rarible Street will host a fashion street with pop-up shops with the following brands: Placebo Digital Fashion House, The Fabricant, Artcade @ Fred Segal with exclusive drops by Atari Hotels and Subnation, Perry Ellis America, Artisant in collaboration with PUMA, Miss J Collection by Crypto Couture, Macr0matic (NFT artist), Fabeeo Breen, Girls Gang Label, The Immersive Kind, the exclusive collection of digital VAULT.swiss watches, and Fresh Couture. The Fabricant will host a runway show featuring pieces selected from thousands minted as NFTs in Season 1 of The Fabricant Studio, its newly launched digital fashion co-creation platform.

Parcel-MetaParty Community Precinct
Parcel and MetaParty have collaborated to present the Community Precinct, which celebrates the Decentraland creator community. Fashion shows and panels, as well as mini games, DJs, music performances and parkour, feature in this amazing multi-level space. On the evening of March 26, the 10 winners of the Wearables Competition will show off their designs on the Parcel catwalk. To coincide with this activation, Parcel is launching unique glasses that can be found in and around the space at dedicated dispensers. The glasses will allow avatars to navigate more efficiently from area to area and this portable experience gives users access to an entirely different interface.

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Dragon City
Dragon City is bringing several designers and brands from Asia, and Parcel and Metaparty Community Precinct, to champion the creators who consistently push the boundaries from the design of their wearables every day in the metaverse.

MetaTokyo
The MetaTokyo community is launching the museum “SPACE by MetaTokyo” as well as its Wearable collection, available through the Decentraland marketplace. AMIAYA x STREET Fashion photography is also launching its collections of NFTs at OpenSea in this space.

Boson Protocol
Boson Protocol technology is exhibiting their metaverse marketplace, Boson Portal, which is enabling brands to sell luxury and exclusive physical products as NFTs. For MVFW, Boson has built a boulevard of metaverse stores where leading brands and NFT projects will offer their products for sale. Partners participating: Tommy Hilfiger, Hogan, Cider, IKKS, Deadfellaz, 8SIAN, The Rebels by House of Kalinkin, Christine Massarany, ANREALAGE, WLDFNGZ by Fang Gang, Chubbies @ Santa Monica Place x Macerich, Wonder and NGRAVE.

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Metaloop
Created by Kollectiff, Metaloop is a web3 innovation and venture studio, whose unique catwalk brings to life runway shows in collaboration with DRESSX, Cider, 8SIAN, The Rebels, Christine Massarany, Anrealage, and more. The MetaLoop presented by Kollectiff will be hosting continuous shows and afterparties throughout the event. The MetaLoop event space on Decentraland also features a virtual upper deck for brands to host after-parties that can be hosted for up to an hour to extend the socialization in the metaverse.

Threedium
Threedium will host a collection of branded shops featuring 3D wearables from global brands joining in on the immersive experience including, GM (General Motors), showcasing their latest electric vehicles. “Taste of the Future,” exhibited by Diageo’s test and learn space, will explore the next generation of virtual brand experiences. Nestle’s brand of Lion cereal will showcase their latest integrated media campaign featuring branded pajamas designed as virtual wearables for the fashion show. DKNY, CHARLES & KEITH, Prive’ Porter & Phygicode by Wyldflwr will also showcase their 3D products in the Threedium plaza during MVFW. Globally recognized metaverse expert, tech futurist, and top business executive, Cathy Hackl, will act as Chair during the week.

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Cash Labs
Web3 Agency Cash Labs will be launching its mixed-media art gallery during MVFW. Over 20 artists and designers, including Antoni Tudisco, Krista Kim x The Fabricant, Karl Lagerfeld x The Dematerialized, Jason Ebeyer, Botter Paris, and more, will be represented by the gallery in an exhibition titled “at the intersection of Art and Fashion.” The three floors of the gallery are filled with images and video works on the walls and fashion presented as sculptures. Presented on the rooftop of the Cash Labs Gallery, SHOWstudio will be presenting five films a day during its Fashion Film Festival, from the 24th to 27th, from the illustrious archive of Nick Knight. Featuring works ranging from established brands such as Alexander McQueen and Comme des Garçons, to emerging designers, this four day fashion film extravaganza will bring the audience through a journey into the history and future of fashion on film.

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“We’ve sought to present fashion in every form possible,” says the Decentraland Foundation’s guest curator David Cash, “from runway shows to retail experiences, fashion presented as art, film, photography, and even fashion presented in ways that extend beyond the confines of reality– as, in the metaverse, anything is possible.”

Other brands have purchased real estate in Decentraland and are debuting their flagship stores at Metaverse Fashion Week. These brands are pushing their creative boundaries and have ventured into designing bespoke digital spaces unlike anything users have seen before. The following brands will become permanent residents of Decentraland, showcasing their commitment to a new era in fashion:

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Selfridges will unveil its iconic flagship store on March 23. The Decentraland store features an immersive journey with Paco Rabanne and artist Fondation Vasarely, within a space inspired by Selfridges’ iconic Birmingham store. The building itself is a giant time capsule that has mysteriously arrived in DCL the day before fashion week begins and contains important works of art from the past.

Forever 21, which has already broken ground in the Metaverse, will be launching an all-new collection within Decentraland featuring NFT wearables during Metaverse Fashion Week. Inspired by its signature fashion items, Forever 21’s 3D virtual clothing will be on display in a branded storefront, designed in collaboration with the Forever 21 team and the virtual architects at Metaverse Group. Forever 21 will host an afterparty in its virtual store following the Decentraland Fashion Show.

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D-CAVE, the lifestyle metaverse marketplace for the digitally minded community, has recently partnered with Bulova Watch to bring wearable luxury watches to the metaverse. “D-CAVE’s mission is to define Digital Culture, that is why we are excited to be part of the Decentraland Fashion Week. In our space, we will engage users in a unique way, generating fun experiences on our event rooftop, showcasing our wearables and releasing our limited edition collaborations,” says Stefano Rosso, co-founder and CEO of D-CAVE. “We want to be the Colette of the Metaverse.”

PHILIPP PLEIN is debuting Plein Plaza, a prime district covering 65 Decentraland parcels, developed by NFT Auction House and Metaverse Development Studio Portion. Within Plein Plaza, users will be able to visit Philipp Plein’s founded Museum of NFT Arts (M.O.N.A). Additionally, Plein will launch his first-ever collection originating in the metaverse, featuring a fashion show in collaboration with 3D artist Antoni Tudisco. The NFT collections will drop on Portion and the exclusive wearables are available to shop in Decentraland or on plein.com.

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Estée Lauder will be the exclusive beauty brand participating in MVFW. In partnership with Decentraland, Estée Lauder has engaged Alex Box to create a signature wearable look that MVFW attendees can wear virtually on their avatars.

“We are thrilled to be the exclusive beauty brand participating in Metaverse Fashion Week. It marks a pivotal point for Estée Lauder in how we reach and engage new and existing consumers in the metaverse,” said Stephane de La Faverie, Global Brand President, Estée Lauder & AERIN Beauty and Group President, The Estée Lauder Companies.

Hogan will be debuting a metaverse pop up store within Decentraland that will unveil the brand’s first-ever NFT drop: the “Hogan Untraditional” collection, re-edition of the brand’s iconic sneakers. Hogan, in collaboration with Exclusible, will host the “HoganX” Untraditional afterparty on March 26th. The event will present the first-ever dance competition in the virtual world and will be hosted by acclaimed DJ superstar Bob Sinclar.

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After Parties  
One of Fashion Week’s most popular staples, the after-party, takes on a new meaning at MVFW. After parties are happening across Decentraland every day after the catwalks and panels. Among the confirmed names are the following: Bob Sinclar is playing in the Vegas City, powered by Hogan and Exclusible; Nicki Nicole is performing and launching her wearable collection in the Metaloop district hosted by Kollectiff; Tribute Brand launches their newest collection with ICYKOF DJ playing in the Metajuku Mall; Blond:ish will perform in Vegas City powered by the Faith Tribe brand, and the automotive brand, Acura, that recently launched an experience in DCL, will host The Acura of Decentraland After Party on the first day of MVFW. The final after party at MVFW held on March 27th will be headlined by Grimes.

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Decentraland’s vision for MVFW22 is to provide a space for a new era in fashion, showing the world the power of decentralization and the developing Web3 ecosystem. The platform’s guiding philosophy is meant to build an alternate reality that improves upon the failures of Web2 and democratizes access to all facets of our modern economy. By building in diversity, inclusion, and accessibility, Decentraland is creating the place for the next generation of commerce and adventure.

“The blockchain revolution that is powering metaverse adoption is the perfect moment for fashion to evolve. For years the fashion industry has talked about innovating in the digital space. Decentraland’s Metaverse Fashion Week enables major fashion brands to explore this new space alongside the decentralized artists and designers who created this space. MVFW22 will be a moment in time when the fashion world will witness the future of fashion, and how this world will enable them to meet new audiences, advance fashion sustainability, and reevaluate diversity and accessibility in fashion,” says Giovanna Graziosi Casimiro, Head of Metaverse Fashion Week.

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Anyone in the world with an internet connection is able to attend MVFW in Decentraland – there are no tickets, all are welcome. To learn more about how to access Decentraland and the schedule of events, please visit MVFW.

About Decentraland
Decentraland is a decentralized virtual social platform powered by the Ethereum blockchain. Within the Decentraland platform, users can create, experience, and monetize content and applications. Decentraland is unique in that it is owned and governed by the people who use the platform every day. Through the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), users can submit proposals for owners of MANA (Decentraland currency) and LAND (Decentraland property) to vote on.

About the Decentraland Foundation
Decentralization in Decentraland is supported by the Decentraland Foundation. The Foundation is a non-profit organization that owns the intellectual property, reports on third-party activities and developments, and works alongside companies, contributors, players, users, and community members for the benefit of the platform.

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A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a1b8da89-f164-4504-a2b9-aa35f3dae74f