Trend-setting fashion design - avatars present virtual fashion

Bild: Hypewear

First impressions count - even in the digital world. Fashion designer Paola Olaguivel is convinced of this. No wonder. Her final project at Trier University of Applied Sciences in the fashion design department exists only virtually and is entitled "Emotions in the meta-universe". Her designs "only" flickered across video walls in the Europahalle for the audience at the university's big fashion show in August. Paola Olaguivel received a spontaneously donated special prize for them. Because while the collections of her fellow students were presented by real models on the catwalk, as always, it became clear: with "Emotions in the Metauniverse", the digital age had entered the traditional fashion shows of the university that evening.

Users themselves have long been able to playfully dress their own avatars in the so-called metaverse*, virtual in-between worlds - regardless of whether the styling corresponds to their own personalities or their desire to be one or another. Avatars can do anything. They go shopping, dancing, buy land, build houses, go to museums and fairs, they party and do business. More and more companies, including major fashion manufacturers, are discovering this parallel universe and offering interested people many ways to participate.

Billions in sales are made with the 3-D world
Paola Olaguivel wanted to be a game designer when she was a child. But that world was ultimately very far from hers, says the 34-year-old. She studied fashion design at Trier University of Applied Sciences, graduated with a bachelor's degree. This was followed by various permanent positions and work as a freelancer. Then she studied and worked again. She chose Trier again for her Master's degree because her mentor, Professor Christian Bruns, was open to her idea of designing digital fashion. Now she has come full circle, she says. Because the meta-universe has a lot to do with play. At first glance. "What I could not have imagined some time ago has become reality," she says. Because an economy has formed around the digital world. More and more companies are linking up with their customers in the 3-D world. Billions in sales are made there, she says. The pandemic has been an accelerator and new technologies are making it possible, Olaguivel says.

Fashion NFT: Each model is unique
The fact that she has stuck to her vision of digital fashion has to do with a day in May 2019: The digital fashion house "The Fabricant" managed to sell the first fashion NFT for the equivalent of 8400 euros. NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token. This translates to non-exchangeable digital token. It means that each digital good created is unique and only one owner has ownership rights and proof of authenticity. "The connection between the artist and the buyer of the NFT is inseparable," says the fashion designer. If she sells a digital design, for example, she always knows who has it and she also profits from a resale.

Paola Olaguivel: Digital fashion and emotions
But fashion is more than a commodity with which one can earn money - in the real and now in the virtual world. It is part of a person's identity. A piece of clothing helps to express oneself and one's emotions, for example. But avatars limit their users in the metaverse. For example, they have no facial expressions. In order to breathe more emotion into them, Paola Olaguivel dealt with the topic of fashion and emotions in her master's thesis. Because the more people discover the new social 3-D world for themselves, the more the communication of emotions plays a role for the members of the different communities, she says.

The fashion designer's first NFT is called Emma, a raver outfit, a black bustier designed with print, plus black trousers with appliqués and writings. With her NFT "Stella" she wants to catch attention in the parallel universe. "A dramatic tulle dress with endless ruffles and gold embellishments makes it almost impossible to go down," says the fashion designer. Through her avatar's clothes, users are supposed to see what mood she is in at the moment - and buy her fashion to be able to express themselves more in the metaverse.

Can NFTs make the fashion world more sustainable?
But digital fashion does have an impact on reality. Toxic chemicals, high water consumption, inhumane working conditions, the fashion industry is always in the negative headlines. Digital progress will be able to solve many problems in the coming decades to make the fashion world more sustainable, says Olaguivel.

One goal of the new digital developers, for example, is to considerably reduce the patterning process through 3-D visualisation. This means that there are far fewer patterns and thus less paper waste, and less fabric is cut. According to Olaguivel, productions can be optimised because programmes can precisely calculate fabric consumption and order quantities. With new programmes, patterns could be created to fit exactly. "Then only one pattern is needed and the waste that would otherwise be generated is a thing of the past."

She has been working as a product developer at Marc Cain for a few weeks. She sees herself there as a mediator between the physical and digital worlds of fashion, which you have to familiarise yourself with, like a new language. In her vocabulary, she says, are terms like avatar, DAPPS, DAO, Gatekkeper, blockchain, cryptocurrencies (digital currency that works independently of banks and is used to pay in the meta-universe). She applied to Marc Cain, she says, because after spending a lot of time alone in front of a screen, she realised she needed to apply to a physical company to be around "real" people more.

The market for digital fashion
Where do things go from here? The market for digital fashion is unstoppable, she says. And it is developing rapidly. Today she is going to a fashion fair. Going means turning on the computer and being in the metaverse with her avatar, listening to lectures, attending round tables and having fun at a rave party until the early hours of the morning. What outfit will her avatar wear? "I'm wearing a costume with white wings, reminiscent of Roman times," she says. She's in the mood for something feminine, and wings are something she likes to wear at the moment. Especially in grey weather, she likes to choose clothes she wouldn't normally wear.

* "A metaverse or metaverse is a digital platform where you stay as an avatar, a virtual character created with a special programme. The term is composed of the prefix meta and universe.

Bild: Hypewear

Bild: Paola Olaguivel

Bild: Paola Olaguivel