What skills should designers develop to design for the Metaverse? Is traditional fashion design education becoming obsolete? These are just two of the many questions about the role of design in virtual environments as digital fashion gains momentum. But these are not new thoughts. The creative professions are always changing.
In 1992, science fiction writer Isaac Asimov explained how new technologies, including artificial intelligence, will change the way we work: “Artificial intelligence is a term we use for any device that does things that in the past we have only associated with human intelligence. If we leave all of that to the computer, we can let the computer do the things that the computer can’t do, like imagination, creativity, fantasy and intuition.”
Are we in that phase where we can focus on creativity and imagination and let technology do the rest? Or are new jobs emerging now? We asked four stakeholders involved in fashion design and innovation how they are evolving their work with technology today and what the fashion design process will look like in the future.
This article is a collaboration between Digital Fashion Group Academy and FashionUnited, written by Dr. Lívia Pinent, Digital Professor for Research at the Digital Fashion Group Academy.
Trained and raised in digital fashion
“It’s interesting to see how the new generation of fashion designers are creating digital brands to express themselves and create inclusive spaces,” says Natalia Modenova, CEO and founder of DressX, a platform for selling digital fashion collections.
Like other new technologies, younger generations are adapting faster to digital design and for most of them this is their first opportunity to create fashion. Being able to sell your creation almost instantly via a digital platform, without the need for physical production, is an attractive prospect for young fashion designers. And the Metaverse is an appropriate place for them to experiment, find their identity as creators, and build a community that can morph into their future clientele. A shortcut compared to traditional physical brand development.
But what about fashion designers who have been traditionally trained, how can they get into digital fashion? Modenova says that many of the creatives at DressX have moved from physical to digital clothing and the platform plays an important role in this movement by helping fashion creators to digitize their collections. “Right now we have over a hundred designers and we are the largest digital fashion library with over two thousand items. Most are designing digitally first and some of the brands are exploring this new possibility,” adds Modenova.
And what does the future hold for these brands? “I believe that in a few years every brand will have digital fashion in their collections. It’s similar to streetwear, which turned the fashion industry upside down: it became a category for every single brand, including the luxury ones,” explains Modenova.
Push for digital and sustainable processes
“We’re trying to bring our in-house creatives into the digital world,” said Dale Parr, Chief Operations Officer at Fresh Couture, an independent UK streetwear label that embraces digital technology and strives for sustainable manufacturing. For Parr, digitizing the creative process starts from within by training his designers, who often use 2D software, with the expertise of 3D design software. “We’re building on that, and it’s been a long road. We need to give them the time and space to embrace these technologies and not feel pressured or stressed during the learning process,” adds Parr.
Leading a physical fashion brand towards a sustainable system has allowed Parr to understand the challenges of production. He is clear about his reasoning: “The physical world of fashion needs to be decarbonized as soon as possible”. And the way to get there is the rapid introduction of digital products. But Parr also raises other questions about the acceptance and use of digital items: “The utility of these assets will be important to ensure that owning NFTs is not just about collecting. There needs to be real value from it and people need to be able to use their items as if they were wearing fashion, only in a digital context.”
Collaboration to promote creativity in digital fashion
Is it possible to boost creativity through technology? That’s the question asked by Mauro Mastronicola, creative technologist and founder of TwinOne, a tech startup researching and developing digital twins, i.e. virtual replicas of physical products. For Mastronicola, the Metaverse is where we can combine creativity and technology to enhance the experience and the quality of the creative process.
“We assembled a team of digital designers working with 3D software and paired them with talent from the gaming industry and the visual effects world. Together these teams are the visual side of 3D design, coming from different disciplines and working together. Maybe that’s how we can innovate in fashion by collaborating with other areas, skills and talents.
This combined expertise leads to new perspectives and also new technologies that are more focused on helping the creators with or without experience in 3D design, as Mastronicola said: “We started to develop software that allows the designers to do it to work directly with 3D design, showing their creative perspective, designing independently and in real time, creating realistic objects”. His conclusion: “The biggest opportunity I see in the Metaverse is the opportunity to advance creativity in different disciplines and in different ways.”
Developing a digital mindset for fashion
“Creatives have to deal with your mindset first. They have to think about how they approach design in a digital context,” explains Sean Chiles, co-founder of The Digital Fashion Group. For the educator, this means understanding the possibilities that the digital world offers and how they influence the creative process.
“With design, everything starts with research, with the zeitgeist. Everything you feel – art, fashion, the world, politics – you put those things together to form a vision,” adds Chiles. “It is important for all designers entering the digital world to understand the basics of what it means to create. Why you want to design and what. Who you interact with, who buys it, who looks at it, who gets inspired, these are important considerations.”
Knowing your goals and understanding why and for whom you are designing fashion is the foundation for developing the skills you need. These insights lead creatives and designers to the means of expression, the tools to explore, and the mediums through which they will communicate. Chiles concludes, “Education is about self-improvement. Education and skill development is about learning how to deliver. And when you work as a digital designer in the Metaverse, you need to master technical skills, but you also need to combine them with research, the zeitgeist, and the creativity to bring your vision to life in the Metaverse.”
This article is based on the webinar, Fashion design skills for the metaverse: transitioning the physical to digital, hosted by TDFGA in partnership with Parsons N Ventures. You can watch a snippet of the discussion below and the full webinar on TDFGA’s website.
This article was previously published on FashionUnited.uk. Translation and editing: Barbara Russ.