Dolce & Gabbana Takes Virtual World To Catwalk With Metaverse-Inspired Tailoring
The metaverse is infiltrating the catwalk at Milan Fashion Week, and it’s thanks to Dolce & Gabbana’s futuristic visions.
Sicilian cues and the brand’s iconic black tones aren’t left behind on this foray into what the future could be, with looks designed to represent “new heroines who reinterpret the concept of DNA 3.0.”
Video games’ visual language was a source of inspiration here, with the designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana explaining to British Vogue that tailoring was used to evoke a graphic silhouette that’s often associated with virtual reality; think broad shoulders and jagged shapes.
“The challenge is to do something with tailoring that’s like a cartoon, challenging proportion and volume,” Dolce explains to the publication.
At the show itself, the metaverse concept came to life even more with models seemingly strutting out of a screen. Avatars wearing the collection parading down an onscreen runway kicked things off, and when they reached the beginning of the catwalk, they disappeared and real models took their place.
“Because of our age, we are outsiders,” Dolce tells The Guardian, referring to the metaverse. Gabbana describes it as being “for a different generation,” but admits that “we are curious about it. You have to try and understand what is new.”
Despite this concept, the designers stand firm that the metaverse doesn’t truly exist, because it’s intangible. In contrast, tactile tailoring and craftsmanship is well and truly there. “Instagram only exists if you have a life outside of it,” Dolce states to British Vogue.
The traditional tailoring “can make the impossible possible,” as explained by Gabbana to The Guardian. The brand may be rooted in Sicilian tailoring, but this can be turned digital. Through this, he says, “we can show tailoring to a new generation.”
Catapulting women into worlds of seemingly far-reaching fantasy is what the brand has been known to do throughout their time in the fashion industry, the news outlet points out. In the 20th century, we had the silver screen bombshell; in the 21st, we have the metaverse avatar.
View this post on Instagram
[via The Guardian and British Vogue, images courtesy of Dolce & Gabbana]
