It has been a mighty minute since fashion shows have made me feel a certain type of emotion. As the Fashion Weeks in New York, Milan, London and Paris have rolled on through the years, witnessing the seasonal collections, including ready-to-wear and haute couture, seemed to wane my creativity instead of injecting new life into it.
Not to say the creative directors and ateliers behind these shows lack vision and craftsmanship, but there is an overwhelming sense that the patterns, silhouettes and catty catwalk walk have all been done before. And it has.
I attended the digital fashion designer exhibition hosted by Digital Fashion Week New York (DFWNY) in February 2022. Walking (virtually) up to the individual designer booths, hitting play on the featured collections and diving into the mind’s eye of the creatives on show was the refreshing jolt of fashion appreciation I needed. Seriously.
All of the collections featured moved me in some way. But, there were a select few that got me thinking, “What the hell am I experiencing right now? Why do I feel weird about this?”. And that’s precisely what my artistic self has been craving - to feel “weird”, strange and arb about fashion again. Because it is an art form, right? It is supposed to make you feel something. Anything. Even if a little “weird”.
I decided to pull together those digital fashion designers who made me feel a sense of “something” and compile them here. With Crypto Fashion Week and Metaverse Fashion Week around the corner, fingers crossed the collections featured there are just as moving.
Edvard Neilsen
The collection by digital fashion designer Edvard Neilsen pushed the boundaries of comfort for me. The eerie music, the rotating models and apocalyptic backdrop of nature pretty much set the scene for what was to come.
The garments seemed to be the underlying layer of cloth used in fashion design software CLO 3D. The stitching was exposed which means you could have a good, raw stare at the outfit’s core. The headpiece and shoes were also an ode to how well Edvard Neilsen’s grasp of patternmaking is.
All I can say is, this collection works for me. The entire experience was disturbingly beautiful.
Anthony Murray
Anthony Murray’s collection had a neon, toxic-waste vibe about it. Not waste as in unwanted excess. More of how oil looks when spilt on the ground; a dark, rainbow of shades that are poisonous when ingested.
The models walking this collection lacked facial expression and sight. But a statement was made on their lips, which were sealed with a toothy, metallic frown. Limbs appeared elongated in some looks (like the one below) with emphasis placed on shape and texture.
The “jellyfish dress”- as I’ve dubbed it - was electrically eclectic. It offers a dichtomoy of femine and masculine, with a drop of K-pop meets Squid Game.
ALTERRAGE and FUTUR E*SHCK
This was a collab between digital fashion label ALTERRAGE and FUTUR E*SHCK. The final product was more than your typical runway show. It was more of a short film showcasing a transition between time and space with a message of environmental sustainability.
The experience in its entirety came together with the uniqueness in the garments’ structures. I appreciated the chromified shoulder pads (which were extended along the arms) on the military jacket above. Plus, the futuristic platform boots were a nice touch to the stomping and shattering of the world the model found themself in.
The message of “value of what you have” and “repair and refurbish” rather than throw away resonated in this final look. The garment appears to be constructed from wires (traditionally coated in rubber) and plastic lock pins. Powerful, indeed.
From what I’ve seen at DFWNY 2022, digital fashion has lifted my spirits into the meta realm. Let’s see how far we can push the boundaries in the future.