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America’s biggest fashion designers are headed into the metaverse with the CFDA.
As part of its 60th-anniversary celebration, the Council of Fashion Designers of America is setting up a retrospective exhibition on metaverse real estate platform The Sandbox. “Fashioning the Shades of American Design” will feature 60 American fashion looks from the last 60 years, along with NFTs for purchase. Seven designer brands — Coach, Michael Kors, Carolina Herrera, Diane von Furstenberg, Tommy Hilfiger, Vivienne Tam and Willy Chavarria — will each create one-of-one NFTs with associated utility, available from 12 December, one week before the exhibition opens.
Each NFT comes with a host of perks that go beyond the typical. Diane von Furstenberg is offering a customised physical wrap dress, an invitation to the April 2023 opening of a DVF exhibition in Brussels, an invitation to preview upcoming collections and a meet-and-greet with Diane von Furstenberg herself, all of which can be unlocked with the NFT. Michael Kors and Vivienne Tam are granting show access and backstage meet-and-greets, while Tommy Hilfiger is offering an all-expenses-paid trip to his next show and Hilfiger-signed items. Coach is offering a tour of its archives, holiday event access and a physical handbag.
The NFTs were created in collaboration with fashion NFT platform Brand New Vision (BNV) and are available in a private auction from 12 to 16 December. Opening bids reflect the extensive utility, ranging from $15,000 to $25,000.
It’s a bold move from the CFDA, says Akbar Hamid, founder and CEO of The 5th Column, who coordinated the project. Up until this point, European fashion brands like Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Burberry have been actively experimenting in metaverse and Web3 spaces. While some American brands have gotten in on the action (Tommy Hilfiger is a standout), “they haven’t taken a full-fledged approach like the Guccis of the world,” Hamid says.
The goal was to place American fashion at the forefront of innovation — and the CFDA’s 60th anniversary was a fitting moment for this future-forward retrospective. “You’re taking 60 years of archives, iconic moments in American fashion, and are allowing them to be brought to life [digitally],” says Hamid. It’s an indicator of a juncture in the fashion world and shows how brands can pay homage to their history while innovating and pushing forward.
“Bringing to life iconic American fashion moments as digital assets and reimagining their surroundings to amplify core brand values and showcase timeless design is building a great use case for the global fashion industry as a whole,” says BNV founder and CEO Richard Hobbs. “BNV is building the framework for fashion brands to navigate their way into the metaverse and all the possibilities that Web3 can offer them.”
This approach also builds on prior brand attempts to use blockchain technology to offer exclusive access to fashion’s traditionally walled-off spaces. At New York Fashion Week, Keys to NYFW granted fans access to five brands’ physical fashion week experiences, from shows to afterparties. This innovative approach promised a new type of relationship between consumers and brands. “Fashion week has always been a walled garden that is difficult to access, and Web3 can be a democratising force,” Web3 advisor Jenny Wang told Vogue Business at the time. Granted, it wasn’t all smooth sailing; holders eligible to attend Kim Shui’s show were turned away at the door. That said, at a price point of $15,000 plus (versus $100 keys) and a more personalised and curated experience (these are one-of-one compared to 50 keys per designer), utility fulfilment ought to be a non-issue.
It’s a notable time for American fashion to delve further into the space amidst heightened Web3 scepticism off the back of last month’s FTX fallout. Yet even with the current crypto market madness, the CFDA’s push into the space is another statement that innovation is going to continue and that fashion can lead the way in driving metaverse and Web3 projects, Hamid says.
In The Sandbox, users enter as avatars and have the chance to meet a Thom Browne-clad CFDA CEO Steven Kolb in avatar form. The exhibition was curated by fashion historian and assistant curator of fashion at the Cleveland Museum of Art, Darnell-Jamal Lisby. “When you are curating contemporary fashion exhibitions physically, you are dealing with conservation issues left and right,” Lisby told Vogue. “In the metaverse, I had a little more creativity, and if I could dream it, it could happen.” The exhibition offers an avenue for fashion fans who might not otherwise have access to design curations, he added.
The decision to open in The Sandbox is also a notable one. Fashion is already a huge pillar for the platform (Gucci is a mainstay) and will be going forward, Hamid says. It’s also got a distinctly “metaverse” look. It’s not trying to look real, Hamid says; it’s about being fun and imaginative. “[The CFDA] is making a statement that gamified experiences, gaming worlds, are here and are going to become an integral part of fashion. It allows Web3 audiences, younger audiences, to come and learn about [fashion] history.”
Having worked with a host of European brands, this was a chance for The Sandbox to make its mark in the American fashion community. "We have seen many European luxury brands playing in the metaverse, so The Sandbox is thrilled to see some of the biggest names in American fashion enter the metaverse through a unique exhibit game experience in partnership with CFDA that takes our players through an iconic American fashion journey through the last 60 years,” says CEO and co-founder Arthur Madrid.
A big part of the goal is also to educate American designers and creators on the possibilities that exist within this technology. It’s a move to introduce more high fashion players to metaverse and Web3 tech: not by looking at Web3 from a “fandom” community angle, but by offering experiences and assets that luxury fans would actually want to invest in. Here, the price point was intentional. The goal isn’t to hit the $1.3 million Dolce and Gabbana Dodge Crown sale, Hamid says. Instead, the CFDA is aiming to reach true collectors who will value the in-person experiences and NFTs.
In addition to onboarding the fashion community, it’s also a way to expand the CFDA’s own reach, Kolb told Vogue. “We wanted to innovate and tell the story of 60 designers and reflect the history of the CFDA in a new way. We are reaching a more global audience, but the audience that we are engaged with can be very centred on fashion or style,” he said. “But now that we are in this technology space, people who are not fashion people, but maybe tech people, NFT collectors, or gamers, can be exposed to the CFDA, which is an important moment for us.”
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