Young French label Egonlab has launched the upcoming season with a utopian first catwalk show and a range of digital ventures, including a collaboration with Crocs for an NFT (non-fungible token) collection.
Designer duo Florentin Glemarec and Kevin Nompeiz presented the AW22 collection called “Egonimati” on the Paris Fashion Week catwalk. The name alludes to the utopian vision of a secret society that created a new world order around universal happiness, based on the freedom to be and think as one is.
According to the label, the vision is “embodied in around 30 silhouettes with telluric power”, which are kept in dark colors but punctuated with bright flashes of colour. If the multi-layered and often oversized creations are reminiscent of protective clothing or even armor, this is intentional.
“In this community united in the face of adversity, the time has come for a spiritually tinged introspection: the looks are riddled with esoteric symbols, as are many reconstituting signs. Dressed in imposing quilted shirts, as thick as armor, wrapped in XXL scarves, the models move forward with a light heart, as if protected from the outside world,” explains the label.
This season, Egonlab has also entered into several partnerships and is pushing ahead with its dematerialization with the Fall/Winter 2022 collection. That is, the brand uses its virtual lab called “Egonlab Tech,” created in collaboration with digital creative studio Cosmic Shelter. This interactive space offers a unique aesthetic and sensory experience through fully animated 3D navigation accompanied by an immersive website designed like a metaverse.
Digitization is also evident in the form of a collaboration with the supplier of leisure shoes Crocs. Egonlab and Crocs have collaborated to create five exclusive crystal-encrusted designs to be auctioned off in the form of NFTs to push the boundaries of digital innovation.
The unique project is also a social and charitable initiative, with part of the profits from sales being donated to associations that provide disadvantaged young people with access to digital technologies.
In addition, the label invites visitors to its showroom to dress up virtually with an AR headset and experience parts of the collection in the same way. “By merging the Metaverse, NFT and Augmented Reality, Egonlab establishes itself as a pioneer and alternative brand that believes it can multiply its impact by pushing the boundaries of the physical world,” the label concludes.