Tam’s latest NYFW show, both in IRL and virtual, features her “futuristic utopian vision of a new Hong Kong” that blends history, fashion and Web 3.0.
Vivienne Tam’s fascination with virtual fashion is alive and well, as the designer and CFDA member put forth dual shows in New York’s Spring Studios on Monday alongside a virtual show in the metaverse for her fall 2023 collection and NFTs.
“Weaving Into the Metaverse” arrives as a continuation of her spring 2022 theme to bridge the physical and digital realms. Notable guests in attendance or wardrobed by the fashion house included Christine Ko, Zoë Chao, Tati Gabrielle, Laufey, Ari Abdul, Vika Abbyaeva and Richard Chang.
The new line takes cues from the earlier collection, which heavily featured fashion’s new lexicon of NFT iconography expressed as Bored Apes and Cyberkongs embroidered into physical clothing.
According to the brand, Tam was “inspired by the futuristic utopian vision of a new Hong Kong, a place where Web 3.0, blockchain, gaming worlds and immersive experiences cohabitate and collaborate.” Here, she blended elements of the real world — its history and fashion — with the design language of digital collectibles, connecting ancient pictograms of China’s earliest language, Jiaguwen or Oracle Bone Script, of 12 zodiac symbols featured with various bluechip NFTs.
From Vivienne Tam’s fall 2023 NYFW show COURTESY PHOTO/ISIDORE MONTAG/GORUNWAY
Those roots may go deep, but Tam’s vision is also very of-the-moment, as fashion explores the interplay of physical and digital art, business and technologies. In her mind’s eye, the realms of Web 3.0 and the natural world are interoperable, with the blockchain tokens allowing access to special events and other features.
The dual shows furthered the concept, with the virtual version mirroring the real-life event from the red carpet to backstage access to the after party. Live portals allowed guests to move between both worlds.
“From the beginning of civilization humanity has used pictures to communicate and document our history, now humanity uses pictures to create new currencies, communities, environment and even worlds,” the designer said in a statement.
Tam’s virtual red carpet. COURTESY IMAGE
A portal between the real world and the metaverse. COURTESY IMAGE
Her affinity for NFTs should be no surprise, given her view of fashion and technology as a natural yin and yang. The virtual show, which was conceptualized and created by Swan Sit and Wond3r, was produced in collaboration with CyberPort, a Web3 technology incubator in Hong Kong that Tam is a member of, and an international team including Luby, Animoca Brands, Hepha, Propy and Vatom.
“As the metaverse evolves so too must the virtual worlds evolve by learning how to work, live and play together in the metaverse,” Tam added.
