Parsons School Of Design & Roblox Launch Full Course In Digital Fashion

As Web 3.0 gains steam, and more luxury brands bring their designs into the metaverse, it’s only natural fashion students are looking to 3D digital apparel as a new frontier of the industry. 

Parsons School of Design and Roblox have unveiled a new collaborative course where students will learn more about digital fashion design, focusing on creating hyper-realistic and inclusive outfits in the burgeoning space. 

The 16-week course will be available to Parsons students in the Spring 2023 semester. They’ll explore the symbiotic relationship between digital and physical fashion, and try their hands at the latest technologies to create prototypes to fit all body types. 

At the end of the course, there’s even a chance for students to create their own retail experience with physical and digital apparel to be sold at Parsons and in the Roblox Avatar Marketplace. 

Additionally, the duo released the 2022 Metaverse Fashion Trends report, highlighting how Gen Z expresses themselves through their digital identities, including how they dress their avatars on interactive platforms such as Roblox. 

Intriguing results show half of the survey respondents change their avatar’s clothing at least once a week, and two in five said their digital clothing and accessories were more important than how they dressed in the physical world. 

Furthermore, three in four users said they’d be willing to spend on digital apparel, while two-thirds are keen to don their Roblox avatars with brand-name items. Diversity is another key consideration for Gen Z, with a majority agreeing that virtual designs should be inclusive. 

“Gen Z consumers are spending more time in immersive social spaces like Roblox, where they have been expressing themselves through their creations and digital style preferences for over a decade,” explains Christina Wootton, Vice President of Global Partnerships at Roblox. 

“With their growing economic power and influence on fashion, trends from the metaverse are expected to have a profound impact on physical fashion, while trends from the physical world will continue to move into the metaverse.” 

[via The New School and Parsons School Of Design / Roblox Corporation / PR Newswire, cover image via Parsons School Of Design / Roblox Corporation / PR Newswire]