MIAMI – Miami Fashion Week® (MIAFW) announced its Metaverse debut – introducing “L’ATELIER BY Miami Fashion Week.” A revolutionary digital retail and educational concept that allows fashion enthusiasts from around the world to gather in the metaverse, learn about sustainability, attend events and participate in raffles, discover the latest fashion styles, and build a creative community to promote the industry.
Held from May 31st through June 5th, MIAFW hosted a series of in-person and digital events that simultaneously took place at some of Miami’s most iconic venues and in the Metaverse, a first for a global fashion week. Helping to bridge the gap between these in-person and digital experiences is Crypto and Blockchain investor Megan Kaspar, who was also newly appointed as lead of the Digital Fashion Council to Miami Fashion Week. Kaspar is a founding member of Red DAO, the world’s first digital fashion focused DAO investing and participating in the vastly emerging blockchain-based fashion trends. Earlier this year, in January 2022, Kaspar was also the first person to be on an editorial cover featured in a digital wardrobe by Fendi and the first to ever wear NFT digital fashion on live broadcast television in 2021.
“MIAFW is the first global fashion week to bridge the physical-first fashion industry to digital-first web3 designers and brands together by launching several metaverse activations and experiences congruent with the week’s events,” said Megan Kaspar. “MIAFW is truly pioneering a spectacular future ahead with the L’Atelier and The Key exclusive membership. There is no better city than Miami to lead the digital-first fashion industry revolution. Mayor Suarez and his team have already made impactful strides to cultivate Miami as the most technologically innovative city in the world, and MIAFW further contributes to the Mayor’s initiative, while pioneering and paving the way for other city fashion weeks to follow in their footsteps to implement environmentally and socially sustainable practices for the fashion industry as a whole.”
Missoni and Naeem Khan were some of the brands that showcased their collections in physical runway shows, while a Decentraland based metaverse runway show took place on June 3rd featuring digital fashion from a DRESSX and MTA Kollectiff collaboration. Hosted within “L’ATELIER by MIAFW”, these activations included AR looks from DRESSX for guests of the week’s physical events. Guests were also able to explore the virtual building and discover the world of AR fashion.
Furthermore, the activations that took place as well as the execution of “L’ATELIER BY MIAFW” were carried out by The Metaverse Group, a Tokens.com affiliated company. The Metaverse Group is a leading virtual real estate company offering exposure to this burgeoning industry via the Metaverses.
“We are thrilled to launch L’ATELIER BY MIAFW and partner with the crypto industry leader herself, Megan Kaspar,” said Lourdes Fernandez-Velasco, MIAFW Creative Director. “MIAFW has always been at the forefront of sustainability and technology. The future of fashion is digital, and with this year’s introduction of L’ATELIER BY MIAFW we were able to bring this experience to fashion lovers around the world.”
On Sunday June 5th a Sustainability + Tech Panel focused on the future of fashion and the metaverse was held at Seaspice in Miami and livestreamed to “L’ATELIER BY MIAFW” allowing guests from around the world to join on the rooftop of this unique space in Decentraland. Gabriela Smith (Upcycle Project) moderated a panel, with Leanne Elliott Young, Founder of the Institute of Digital Fashion, Natalia Modenova and Daria Shapovalova from DressX. The program concluded with a Q&A by Marta Corbí and Derek Stinson from Ontier who talked about inserting brands into the metaverse.
Taking the MIAFW commitment to sustainability a step further, this year MIAFW will be rolling out modern technology to advocate for the Secondhand market, which is currently valued at $130 Billion.
Source: Miami Fashion Week
