Rooms, catwalks, models, events, VIP access are virtual.

The new haute‐couture collections “land” on the beautiful world of metaverse on the growing platform of 3D virtual reality Decentraland that in November 2021 had already hit the headlines for the highest crypto sale of a virtual plot of land ever done before. The debut is scheduled from 24 to 27 March when the very first edition of Metaverse Fashion Week is taking place and is involving global brands such as Hugo Boss, Etro e Paco Rabanne.

An authentic quantum leap if we think about the “hybrid” tendency characterizing the major haute‐couture fashion brands in 2020 and 2021 in terms of public participation to the shows which had been concretely organized, but could be available online only, due to pandemic circumstances.
Enthusiasm is sky‐high just as public and personnel expectations. Perhaps they think that Metaverse Fashion Week can become one of the fixed appointments on the annual fashion show program after the legendary Paris Fashion Week.

According to the Morgan Stanley investment bank, metaverse could represent up to 10% of the luxury market in 2030, in the amount of $50 billion dollars.

The first signs of this direction had been recently provided by fashion brands during Milano Fashion Week when some of them promoted an increasing interest in terms of interaction between virtual and real world (and vice versa). For example, Benetton Group temporarily rearranged its shop in Corso Vittorio Emanuele (Milan) according to the style of its own store in metaverse. What’s more, Dolce & Gabbana created a futuristic catwalk event with avatar models and cyberspace setting packed with screens.

Is it the tendency of the moment or the launch of a brand‐new (and profitable) market area?

We’re sure, debate has just been opened.