MVFW23 Recap
By Decentraland, , in Announcements
Decentraland’s second annual Metaverse Fashion Week came to a close last Friday after four days splitting at the seams with parties, trailblazing fashion, thought-provoking panel talks, giveaways worth working & waiting for, and so much more.
The event created opportunities for the DCL community to feel empowered and shine in the spotlight with DCL natives taking some of the top spots in MVFW23 metrics. It also created a fabulous opportunity to introduce new users to Decentraland—out of the event’s 26K attendees, over 50% were visiting Decentraland for the first time! Built for the occasion, the new Neo Plaza and veteran Luxury District presented visitors new and familiar with plenty to keep them occupied—some of the structures built for the event were especially beautiful and innovative, serving as an experience in themselves (plus as a great photo op) while others offered fun and challenging gamified experiences.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/0zL4Nct6J3w
A decentralized affair, MVFW23’s schedule was packed with 120+ events contributed by DCL citizens & big fashion brands alike. The event’s program was diverse and exciting enough to keep people coming back on each of MVFW23’s four days with over 72K sessions logged in Decentraland. While some events were completely new for MVFW, such as Alastair White’s groundbreaking fashion-opera and Alo’s morning yoga sessions, daily fashion shows remained a classic favorite with the event’s Main Runway and DCL native Nikki Fuego’s fashion show taking the place of some of the event’s most visited experiences.
Also a popular attraction were big fashion brands, such as adidas, Tommy Hilfiger, Coach, and jeweler Ben Bridges, that designed interactive, fun, and sometimes even challenging experiences that kept people coming back. And to wrap it all up, despite full days of interesting attractions, shows, and panel talks, you’d still find a party (or 6 or 7!) bumping away into the night full of fabulously and eccentrically dressed Decentraland citizens. The good times had during MVFW23 definitely won’t be forgotten anytime soon!
Decentraland Community Wins
2023 is the Year of the Creator in Decentraland and DCL’s creators truly did shine during MVFW23. DCL-native creators Doki & Nikki Fuego were some of the top-selling designers of MVFW23 with Fuego’s creations selling out before the event even started! The in-world experiences they created were also some of the most visited during the event. The show was so popular that even when some technical difficulties caused the designer to set up their experience in a separate World, attendees kept pouring in to see the show. Meanwhile, hair and face Wearables specialist Doki brought her beauty salon to MVFW23 where attendees could complete their runway-ready look with her popular full-lipped faces and glamorous hairstyles.
https://twitter.com/NikkiFuego92/status/1643816123412934657?s=20
Another bestselling MVFW23 community designer comes with their own touching Decentraland success story. CK Bubbles only first visited Decentraland at last year’s MVFW but by this year’s edition they were already a successful designer with a passion for nail art Wearables. They had their own build in Neo Plaza that took visitors through a brief history of nail art as well as through their personal journey of becoming a Decentraland citizen and creator. CK Bubbles even claimed the spot of bestselling Emote during MVFW23—that’s what we call a DCL glow up!
https://twitter.com/iamckbubbles/status/1641516308037509120?s=20
In addition to securing some of the top-selling Marketplace spots, the DCL community was at the heart of MVFW23. For the first time, MVFW had an official supermodel, Decentraland’s very own Tangpoko. Always looking fabulous with her signature pumpkin buns, she could be found on the runway at all the hottest fashion shows and served as the face of the four day event. To celebrate the online fashion event of the year, the Decentraland Foundation also held an Emote contest to find the best runway-ready moves. The winner, ‘Check out my Digital Assets’ from well-known Emote designer, Canessa was featured in the Main Runway Community fashion show and was a frequent sight on the event’s red carpets
Tangpoko at a Vogue rooftop event wearing collaborative works from Vogue Singapore with Camellia Bride and Chanterelle with hair from Doki Edolenable Pink sunglasses and Soul Shine & Solstice jewlery from Soultry Dubs.
Another community win worth highlighting was the Dear Vivienne experience put together by art collective Vueltta, in tribute to the late Dame Vivienne Westwood for fifty years of fashion inspiration. The immersive installation presented visitors with the challenge of a code-breaking game during which they would learn more about Vivienne’s life, campaigns and iconic collections. The plaid-covered structure also hosted an Anti-Fashion show that celebrated the spirit of the designer’s work and was open for anyone to participate in. Photos from the event will be shown off in an irl exhibit later this year.
The Potential of Brands in the Metaverse
This year saw the return and premier of many popular, classic fashion brands in Decentraland. Many of them had very successful activations during MVFW23 showing the potential of what brands can do in the metaverse when they do everything just right.
The most visited brand experience during MVFW23 was adidas’ Lounge. Their build looked amazing and was worth visiting just to look at and take photos with. To add to that, they also hosted a daily giveaway of one of their very cool streetwear Wearables, the adidas DCL Wallrunner which was the second most claimed free Wearable during the event. In addition to all this, they showed off their whole collection at a Main Runway fashion show.
https://twitter.com/indigo_herz/status/1641113466986536961?s=46&t=P9Wcq-hMUmXLJteGrZC8Pw
The brand to claim the spot of ‘most claimed free Wearable’ during MVFW23 was Tommy Hilfiger with their AI Puffer. Visitors were able to claim this sleek jacket after completing some challenges inside the brand’s giant TM monolith towering over the Luxury District. Hilfiger even took things a step further by organizing MVFW23 activities in other metaverse platforms to which you could jump to using teleporters located in their build. During MVFW23 the brand was also very active on social media, sharing lots of posts about their events which saw an uptick in visitors to their build.
https://twitter.com/TommyHilfiger/status/1641394912917594114?s=20
A discussion of successful brand activations during MVFW23 would not be complete without mentioning the giant pink Tabby Bag in the room—or should we say in Neo Plaza! For the fashion occasion, Coach built a mini pink city in Neo Plaza above which floated a giant Coach Tabby Bag. Visitors could walk under the bag to get pulled up inside via a pink tornado. Once inside, rather than 4 pink walls, attendees would find themselves transported to a giant orb-shaped world with different levels each populated with different NPCs. By completing some somewhat challenging tasks, participants could claim a free Emote and Pink Tabby Swirl Wearable. As if that wasn’t enough, the experience also hosted daily parties, and the entire design of the interior would change with each day of MVFW23 to reflect the work of different designers Coach was collaborating with. It was definitely one for the Decentraland history books!
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7046829676836597762/
See a video of Coach's Tabby Bag experience built by metaverse studio Gira.
Interoperability Highlights
A major innovation in this year’s Metaverse Fashion Week was that the four day event took place across the metaverse. Decentraland has always been a platform with a strong spirit of collaboration and so this year, it welcomed anyone to join in the online fashion extravaganza. MVFW23 events were held in many virtual worlds, with the main metaverse partners being the Spatial & OVER platforms. Additionally, all of MVFW23’s various events, whether in Decentraland or otherwise, could be browsed collectively on the open metaverse navigation engine, Lighthouse.
In Decentraland, portals to the other worlds could be found throughout the event venue and some participants, such as Tommy Hilfiger and adidas created experiences that bridged multiple platforms. These two brands especially took interoperability to the next level with Wearables that could be used in other metaverses besides Decentraland. adidas even brought their preexisting NFT collection, Virtual Gear, into Decentraland as Linked Wearables creating an opportunity for their community to wear their NFTs, interact with each other, and attend events together.
https://twitter.com/OVRtheReality/status/1643685711147859969?s=20
In a truly innovative move that brought MVFW23 out of the metaverse and into the real world, OVER designed a site-specific fashion show through Augmented Reality. Anyone at Milan’s Piazza del Duomo could watch giant models walk across the piazza from their smartphones, showcasing a variety of new looks.
Gigi Graziosi Casimiro, Head of MVFW23 had this to say on interoperability at the event:
“Metaverse Fashion Week 2023 pushed the envelope of what is possible for digital fashion and interoperability in the metaverse. For the first time, we witnessed real cooperation between fashion brands and the community, which resulted in incredible feedback from participating brands.”
Official MVFW23 supermodel, Tangpoko strikes a pose in the Meta Fashion House x HEISEL 3DMetaDress with hair from Doki Edolenable Pink sunglasses and Soul Shine & Solstice jewlery from Soultry Dubs.
This year’s Metaverse Fashion Week came with both wins and learnings, yet overall was a huge glow up from the first edition. The metaverse is still a work in progress, but it is on a track of forward evolution. MVFW23 showcased the amazing work of the Decentraland community, the power of collaboration, and the potential of classic fashion brands with a strong innovative energy. We can’t wait to see what MVFW24 will bring!