Fashion week after the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic has become a veritable never-ending creative battle to endure the allure and stature of the runway without sacrificing imagination.
The Fall 21 collection is an expansion and evolution of the Summer 21 PreCollection (shown digitally last October), which makes its first out-of-season appearance in December 2020. It is presented for the first time on a VR runway visible only through a sent to a limited number of guests. On December 6, it is presented to the public in Afterworld: The Age of Tomor, a video game designed for this season. The project was created in collaboration with Epic Games’ Unreal Engine in rendering models, clothes, movements and much more to create a “physical” world.
In Afterworld, each player chooses an avatar and takes him on a hero’s journey set in the year 2031. Exiting a shop leads to a busy street and further into a dark forest where a secret rave is taking place.
In today’s world, Balenciaga’s video game catwalk experience is exactly brilliant, with most of the world locked away in their homes until further notice, living life in a virtual realm outside of your own seems like the perfect method to being able to catapult into a different reality, escape. During the game, other avatars wear the Balenciaga Fall 2021 collection. Dresses and coats are made to be worn everywhere. A satin trench coat is not a coat but an evening dress. The jeans layered over the pants and sweatshirts that show a short boxer belt are actually each a single element. Since animal fur is no longer appropriate to be bought new, a down jacket is embroidered with laser-cut recycled fabric to mimic the movement of a fur jacket.
“Today’s customer is gaming. It is an important luxury customer base. They project so much onto their character. It’s a parallel world “says Gvasalia”
The uniforms of the game champions feature, among other logos, that of the PlayStation 5, launched in November 2020. A standard collegiate sweatshirt reads “Free”, alluding to an advanced state of mind and the importance of freedom in future societies. Another shirt asks that the wearer be taken to a Balenciaga store in case of loss. Other T-shirts offer information on circular fashion and closing the clothing waste cycle.
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