Paris Fashion Week supports the metaverse

Paris Fashion Week supports the metaverse

Recognising the potential of digitalisation in Fashion, Paris Fashion Week is supporting the metaverse and Web 3.0, through a collaboration between Paris-based immersive tech startup Stage 11 and Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode. It is an exciting time in fashion as metaverse components are going to be introduced to Paris Fashion Week year-end or early 2023, as a consequence of this alliance.

 

“Paris Fashion Week has been at the forefront of digitalisation with its platform created and continuously developed with Launchmetrics. It is natural to explore the Web 3.0 potential and integrate the metaverse,” Pascal Morand, executive president of the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode told Vogue Business. “The partnership with Stage 11 marks a new step in our virtualisation process.”

What’s more, the ongoing Paris Fashion Week which opened with a showing by students completing their master’s degrees in fashion design and knitwear at the  Institut Français de la Mode, featured thirteen students from the accessory major, mentored by Stage11 chief technology officer Olivier Ozoux, complementing the physical collection with one digital shoe or bag design. These fashion students were promised complete ownership of their digital accessory and the opportunity to mint it as NFTs on a digital marketplace.

“The students of the Institut Français de la Mode, the future players in the industry, must be at the heart of this revolution,” Institut Français de la Mode dean Xavier Romatet told Vogue.

Stage 11 — which has reportedly raised €6 million through a seed round led by European venture capital fund Otium Capital — was founded in 2021 by Jonathan Belolo with Jean-Philippe Braud, Gregory Dhonner and Mani Nordine with the intention to “bring cultural experiences, branding and digital retail into a virtual world”. The company intends to launch its own metaverse platform later this year. 

“The goal is not to replace traditional physical shows,” Jonathan Belolo explained to Vogue. “It’s to augment them, to put the audience at the centre not just as passive spectators but as active participants.”