InvestigationDressing a video game character, undressing to parade on social networks… virtual clothes are shaking up the fashion world. A new outlet with almost endless stylistic possibilities.
At the start of 2020, Alexander Knight, a fashion student at Ravensbourne University in London, plowed on his graduation collection, nourished by Catholic iconography and pop art winks. “I was in the sketches and models when the pandemic broke out, says the 22-year-old Englishman. Physically producing the clothes was then impossible. And our teachers pushed my class to create our silhouettes on a video game. ” Thus were born asymmetrical dresses, high-waisted pants and voluminous top devoured with lace, without fabric or seams, fashioned in… pixels. “I liked the process, the speed of execution. “
Alexander Knight has since convinced DressX, a virtual fashion platform, to distribute it. For around thirty euros, you can enter a photo of yourself before receiving it when you see it dressed in a brocade jacket or a floral dress. A mirage since these pieces only exist online. ” As a matter of fact, confides the young man who uses the CLO3D software, I believe that I am a better designer for a virtual garment than for a physical garment… ”
What if tomorrow becomes a creator who matters? The hypothesis is no longer so crazy since this spring when virtual fashion begins to panic the community. Made visible by the confinements that made screens our main interlocutors, and possible by the start of technological maturity, virtual clothes are gaining in credibility, thanks to the pioneers who imagine them, DressX, but also The Manufacturer, Carlings, Tribute Brand, Wanna … There are many uses: to dress a video game character, an avatar, to dress up to parade on social networks (by posting, for example, wearing smoking sneakers), or even to afford an item of clothing as an NFT, certificate authenticity of a virtual object,
Fashion trends? “Our customers don’t really care. But they grew up being tech-savvy and want to heal their online presence. Clothing offers them a field of expression “, assures the Croatian Gala Marija Vrbanic, co-founder of Tribute Brand. Kerry Murphy, founder of The Manufacturer, 25 employees in Amsterdam, details: “Our audience is young, sensitive to novelty, geek and mostly male”, while the main buyers of physical fashion today remain women.
In addition to a touch of snobbery, composed of “Pleasure to be at the forefront of this movement”, remarks Kerry Murphy, the followers who call themselves “digi-sapiens” taste the benefits. Starting with the absence of any concern for size and any prejudice from the outside social world (it’s not every day that you can wear armor without being looked down upon). Another argument: a lower carbon impact than for the textile industry – 6.5 kg of CO2 issued on average for the manufacture of a white t-shirt, against 0.3 for that of a digital garment, ensures DressX.
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