Of course, those with their finger on the pulse may have seen this coming. Mere moments after ‘Facebook’ rebranded and changed its name to ‘Meta’ last October, the official brand account Tweeted Balenciaga, asking: “Hey @Balenciaga, what’s the dress code in the metaverse?”.
“When Meta tweeted, we were instantly into it. Web3 and Meta are bringing unprecedented opportunities for Balenciaga, our audience and our products, opening up new territories for luxury” said Cédric Charbit, CEO at Balenciaga, of the news.
“We want to create a marketplace so creators, over time, can design clothing and sell it,” said Zuckerberg. “A lot of the dream is to make it accessible to anyone. If you want to design fashion today, you need the physical materials and equipment, but in the future, anyone with a computer and an imagination will be able to come up with ideas for this.”
“It does take a certain confidence to wear shoulders-to-toes Prada,” Zuckerberg admitted, “I think in the metaverse I may just have that confidence.”
Balenciaga, Prada and Thom Browne are among the first brands to sign on to sell digital fashion in the new Meta-created avatar store where, according to Vogue Business, items will range from $2.99 to $8.99 to start.
Meta’s avatar shop is expected to launch soon and will include everything from free-to-use creator-designed items to purchasable looks from global fashion brands.
For more from Glamour UK’s Fashion Editor Charlie Teather, follow her on Instagram @charlieteather.