Latest Trends in Digital Fashion with The Fabricant and DRESSX | Farfetch Twitter Spaces 05

Recorded live on Twitter Spaces on February 9, 2023, this episode of Farfetch Twitter Spaces asks what is trending in digital fashion. Produced and hosted by David Cash for Farfetch, with co-host Ramona Tudosescu (Farfetch), the panel brings together Amber Jae Slooten and Janey (The Fabricant), Natalia Modenova and Daria Shapovalova (DRESSX), Enara Nazarova, and Beata Wilczek (Unfolding Strategies). They discuss generative AI and co-creation with the community, the Hermès MetaBirkins case and what it means for IP, augmented reality and digital dressing, cultural intelligence for brands, and digital fashion as a space for self-expression and fluid identities.

Watch on YouTube

Chapters

1. 00:00 Opening
2. 00:18 Welcome and introductions
3. 06:22 DRESSX on wearing digital fashion
4. 14:19 Enara Nazarova and Beata Wilczek join
5. 20:39 Ramona Tudosescu on AI, IP, and hardware
6. 23:50 Amber Jae Slooten on AI and co-creation
7. 28:13 Janey on creators and the MetaBirkins case
8. 35:10 Beata Wilczek on cultural intelligence
9. 40:36 DRESSX on AI design contests and AR
10. 48:50 Enara Nazarova on positive friction
11. 56:21 Ramona Tudosescu on fluid identities

Speakers

• David Cash, producer and host
• Ramona Tudosescu, Product Lead, Web3 and Innovation, Farfetch (co-host)
• Amber Jae Slooten, Co-founder and Creative Director, The Fabricant
• Janey, Head of Marketing and Growth, The Fabricant
• Natalia Modenova, Co-founder, DRESSX
• Daria Shapovalova, Co-founder, DRESSX
• Enara Nazarova, digital fashion strategist and founder of ARMOAR
• Beata Wilczek, Founder and Director, Unfolding Strategies

Key topics

• Wearing digital fashion through apps, AR, and metaverse platforms
• Digital wardrobes, sustainability, and a generation that dresses avatars in Roblox
• Generative AI as a design tool and the first DRESSX AI design contest
• Co-creation with the community and the democratization of creativity
• The Hermès MetaBirkins case, IP, and on-chain records of who made what
• Cultural intelligence and working from a brand's own heritage
• Hardware and the interfaces that could bring digital fashion to the mainstream
• Positive friction between fashion, technology, art, and culture
• Self-expression, community, and fluid identities in digital fashion

In their words

"I don't want to have to win an auction in order to be part of a community." Enara Nazarova

"There's not going to be traditional or digital. It's just going to be fashion for fluid identities." Ramona Tudosescu, Farfetch

How to cite

APA: Cash, D. (2023). Latest trends in digital fashion [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/rtgO7SE3YB0

Chicago: Cash, David. "Latest Trends in Digital Fashion." Recorded February 9, 2023, Twitter Spaces. YouTube video, 59:38. https://youtu.be/rtgO7SE3YB0.

Recording details

Recorded: February 9, 2023, Twitter Spaces

Format: Live audio conversation on Twitter Spaces

Length: 59:38 · Language: English

Produced and hosted by David Cash for Farfetch

About the series

Farfetch Twitter Spaces was a series of live audio conversations on luxury fashion and Web3, produced and hosted by David Cash for Farfetch from 2022 to 2023. Each episode brought designers, editors, technologists, and investors together to talk through how the fashion industry was changing as it happened.

About this record

Trimmed at the start and end only, and opens with a short excerpt from later in the conversation; the conversation itself is otherwise unedited. Visuals, captions, and music were added in 2026 for this video edition. Captions were machine-transcribed and reviewed by hand, with names checked against speaker introductions. Speaker roles are as of the recording date and may have changed since.

Shared for educational, research, and archival purposes. For corrections, name spellings, or removal requests: david@cashlabs.io

Transcript

Machine-transcribed and reviewed. Timestamps link to the moment in the video.

[0:00] For him Definitely like owning his Digital wardrobe in Roblox means so much more Than owning his physical wardrobe. Hello. Hello. Hello Thank you all for joining us. Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening fashion community here on Twitter Thank you for bearing with us through the rugs of Twitter spaces. We are here and we are all together I'm very excited for today's Twitter space. We're gonna be chatting today about the latest trends in digital fashion You know something that is very relevant to pretty much everybody up here on stage very excited to introduce today's speakers So we have a lovely panel be here before us I'm just gonna make sure we have everybody here once we start introducing folks and Please feel free to share our new link because this is a new link if if you would be so kind as we are Just getting started but to kick things off, you know, I always like to mention in these

[1:03] spaces We are here thanks to Farfetch Farfetch is hosting a number of these live spaces conversations You know trying to facilitate discourse at the intersection of luxury fashion and Web3 And you know all the people that we have up here on stage are definitely leaders in the space you know, we have folks from The Fabricant and from DRESSX, we have Enara, one of the You know leading voices in in Web3 and Beata, you know Very seasoned professional within the fashion industry who's been, you know, really pushing thought leadership in the space Especially around virtual fashion and sustainability. So really excited about the panelists that we have here today And just before we get things kicked off introducing our various panelists I would like to introduce one of my favorite panelists and one of my favorite people up here on stage My lovely co-host and the lovely lady to my immediate right that I see before me But

[1:52] Ramona., would you introduce yourself and share with people a little bit your take on? You know what we're talking about here today. Hello. Hi David. Hi everybody Super excited for the chat today with this beautiful community of change makers and disruptors. We love it I am Ramona,. I'm product lead here at Farfetch focusing mainly on Web3 and innovation and today's topic is very exciting for us because we've been obsessing about self-expression about identity about how fashion Helps us to celebrate our own individuality and everybody here on the panel. We're super excited to have you Open up some of the conversations around trends and what's happening and how You are moving the needle in this industry So yeah, very happy to be here today and have you all guys on this chat back to you, David Fabulous, thank you so much Ramona., And yes, as I mentioned before we dive in too deep into this conversation

[2:52] I'd love to pass the mic around and let each of our beautiful guests here introduce themselves First we have a surprise guest somebody I didn't know was able to join us today But I'm always happy to see her a dear friend of mine and somebody who I always admire in the space Miss Amber Jae Slooten. Thank you so much for joining us here today. I really appreciate you taking the time How are you doing and what's on your mind right now? I know you're you're in the midst of launching a very exciting collection, which we had the pleasure of Chatting about a little bit last week But uh, yeah, we'd love to pass the mic over to you if you wanted to introduce yourself to the lovely folks who are who are listening Hey everyone. Hi David. Yeah, I had time in my schedule so I really wanted to join this talk, um, because I'm so excited about this and I just um, yeah, I just feel like there's so much to talk about and so much happening

[3:35] in the space and I'm really grateful to be here And you know that Farfetch is also creating the space for us to have these conversations because I feel like We talk a lot about the trends in the traditional fashion industry like all the fashion shows But what's going on in digital fashion, right? How what are we creating here? And how can we um, yeah create a conversation around that and how can we uh get the Conversation flowing about what's going to happen in the coming year and what we are preparing for and how can we strengthen each other's narratives? So yeah, I'm really excited to be here and talk with all of you. Yay so many friends Absolutely, and always a pleasure to have you up here I'll pass it to the other lovely lady we have here from The Fabricant. just you know to to keep it Sequential I would love to pass it over to Jumpstart Janey something that I've seen often in the space

[4:25] But I'd love to pass it over to you if you wanted to Share a little bit about what you do with The Fabricant. As we I'm sure we'll chat a bunch in today's conversation about all the lovely things you guys are doing But um, yeah, I'll pass it over to you if you want to introduce yourself Hello, um, sorry I wasn't sure if I was unmuted and I was about to go hype level zero to prison real fast But um, first of all far-fetched david, um, I don't know if it's nix behind the account But I just want to say thank you so much for curating this conversation. I really enjoyed Um all the thoughtful conversations that you've really just put together across Um, you know Web2 traditional fashion and Web3 digital And just I also want to give a shout out appreciate you guys for your support For our launch with The Fabricant. Um, just brief introduction Um as david mentioned, my name is Janey.

[5:12] Otherwise known as Jumpstart Janey across socials Um, I'm actually a Web3 content creator and a brand strategist and I onboarded With The Fabricant as head of marketing and growth literally a week before uh, Miami Art Basel last year and had the pleasure of You know meeting many of you in Miami uh during the Art Basel period of time and so Um I've been working in the traditional Web2 beauty side. I'm sorry fashion and beauty side For about 15 years and I did uh 10 years. I served 10 years in Asia across Hong Kong, China, Macau, Korea, and covering APAC Asia markets Um and just moved back mainly because of pandemic, but I don't want to take up too much time explaining that but um Yeah, I'm just super bullish and very excited about digital fashion And all the things that are to come and there's a lot of exciting news That came out especially during this past week With Hermès as well and that's

[6:12] definitely going to change the game of how Web2 and Web3 fashion In IP, and what that actually looks like. So, um, thank you david for giving me space to introduce myself It's our pleasure. It's our pleasure. Thank you for being here I'm super excited how the stage is unfolding I would now love to pass the mic over to a couple folks from the DRESSX, side I see Natalia., is here Natalia,. How are you doing? Would you like to introduce yourself to the folks who are here today? I'm, very excited to have you join us Hi david and uh, hi everyone again super happy to see you all and get together because uh actually, Janey mentioned Miami and it feels like it happened yesterday, but honestly time runs so fast and It feels like I just saw david but again, uh good to be together But also what's amazing is to see new people here in the room uh, and uh I will introduce myself for this new people.

[7:11] First of all Natalia., um, uh founder of DRESSX, together with Daria who also joined the room Uh, I see great We are complete now and we have a jude from our team with us as well And uh, yes, we started DRESSX, two years ago with the goal to Give an opportunity to wear digital fashion because we were connecting as a society as a community so much online so much in digital spaces and fashion has always been Our field, uh, we used to run companies in traditional fashion industry, but As a society is growing into the digital realm Of course fashion should do as well and for us It's important to give this opportunity to actually wear digital fashion Not just to collect and not just to embrace love or buy But to wear and this is what DRESSX, is all about Uh, and this is what we are building through different interfaces through the mobile app Uh, which is available both on android and ios through

[8:27] the web interface Which functions just like an e-commerce something that people know how to use and kind of an onboarding and very First step for everyone to discover in digital fashion, of course, augmented reality, which is a very inclusive place as well uh sure through the enactees and webly rails because definitely Uh internet is becoming more decentralized and uh, this is something that we embrace as well uh, and of course through the metaverses, uh open metaverses, and um much largely populated metaverses, uh like Meta or Roblox or Zepeto which are not a Web3 platforms, but definitely paving the way um and kind of driving this Skill habit and the idea of embracing digital fashion for the larger audiences.

[9:31] So Uh, this is exciting and we are happy that Farfetch is also uh Jumping into the space and Was one of the first partners of DRESSX, to launch a digital fashion campaign and featuring A number of brands for that. It was brands like Dolce & Gabbana, Balenciaga, Palm Angels And a number of others and there was a first influencer marketing campaign that was done solely through the digital and uh, yeah happy to be in the room again and Drive the conversation forward all together Fabulous always a pleasure to have you here and it's you know It's always nostalgic having you me and Amber and a lot of the people up on stage here together, you know up here talking about virtual fashion You know, I feel like we've been uh, we've been on similar stages for several years now, but it's uh, it's lovely always And uh always excited to keep being able to push it further and further, uh, you know as things continue

[10:30] to progress Um speaking of I have to pass the mic over to your partner in crime Um, you know, I love how you're all very matchy and aesthetic right now with your beautiful DRESSX, hats But I'd also love to pass the mic over to Daria Dari, it's lovely to have both you and Natalia., here again It's it's Denver 2 .0 But it's it's a pleasure and uh, we'd love to pass the mic over to you if you want to introduce yourself and uh Share a little bit more about your your beautiful philosophy at DRESSX, Yes. Hi david. Thank you so much. So my name is Daria and I'm the co-founder of DRESSX, And it's been a wonderful journey so far and it's always shared a lot of um Exciting moments, uh from DRESSX, History and where we are now and uh, I think the most exciting is that we all here in this room Are excited to change the way how we consume clothes and I think it definitely can impact on the sustainability numbers and

[11:23] like to help to change the course of where the fashion industry is going globally because obviously It is a certain overconsumption that is happening in our society and definitely we move some of our habits into shopping, uh new stuff in the digital reality that's actually Moves the resources like it's less water that is being used less You too that is being emitted while the produce while producing Of the digital assets and we did some studies about that and DRESSX, it's possible to go to the Sustainability page on the website and I'm sure that a lot of stakeholders in this industry are because of that, too As it's so exciting to see How people are step by step changing their? um their habits and Changing their understanding that in order to have fun with fashion not necessarily You should actually go and purchase something that you will wear twice or three times and then it will end up in you wardrobe or in a

[12:23] landfill eventually So this is kind of cool and it's important to be the agents of change here Uh, and I think that's what excites me personally So much, uh while with speaking about any digital reality because eventually like I'm looking at my 10 years old son and for him Definitely like owning his Digital wardrobe in Roblox means so much more Than owning his physical wardrobe. He doesn't think a lot about it But dressing his avatar, it's like it's a big deal for him. And I understand that this change Is happening for his entire generation So I think to be Able to kind of speak to that it's amazing and to be able to Be in this latest trends of digital fashion when entire generations see digital fashion as like the main fashion Is really groundbreaking and I'm obviously not advocating to shop less.

[13:21] I just bought another pair of divorce shoes yesterday So I constantly continue fall in love with physical products, but it's just like Selecting exactly what you want to wear in digital and what you want to wear in physical And be mindful that some of this can coexist and you can still have a choice either. It's digital or physical So that's kind of a little bit broad explanation Of the philosophy because yes, my colleague gave a very kind of Understandable view on things of what we're building currently No, I think this is fabulous. Thank you so much. And then also for a lot of the Farfetch audience listening now and Pardon I did we did we get rug momentarily? I think we're good Um, but yeah for a lot of the Farfetch audience, you know listening now after the fact I think that you know, this is a really great understanding of you know How these virtual clothing items can fit into um, you know everyday lives and

[14:16] I'd love to dive into this further In today's conversation. I'm really happy to have both you and and Natalia here and whoever's behind the DRESSX account I'll pass it over to you as well momentarily if you'd like But I'd also love to share the mic with two of our other incredible guests up here on stage We have Enara and Enara. I never pronounce your last name correctly So I'm just going to say Enara But I'm always, you know happy when we get to share a room together both IRL and URL You have incredible insights, um in the space especially in the realm of virtual fashion and art Um, you know you sit on many DAOs and uh, you know Very important collector groups and uh, I would love to pass it over to you and get um, you know Your intro from your POV?, uh as well as if you have any, you know, high level thoughts on on today's conversation Very excited to have you here, Enara.

[15:03] Thank you so much. David Well, I'm actually considering going the Zendaya route and just going by Enara because I've given up on that You've been pronouncing my last name. I mean share right? I mean, why not? There's so many good examples to follow. So yes, um, I'll follow your lead and just also stick to my first name But thank you so much for having me It's also like you said very nostalgic to be in a room of people that kind of were at the very early beginning of these conversations starting to Matter I got into digital fashion through the route of AR/VR art because When that tech started to kind of seep into the creative ecosystems where people were thinking about future of art future of fashion Future of interior design. There was very little innovation on the fashion end because it was So committed being a physical craft committed to preservation almost so fault where it saw Technology

[15:49] as an intervention and not necessarily as an additive And so this beautiful conversation started to unfold in the sidelines of what is the future of? E-commerce even like now that we've gotten used to the fact that Perfumes can be sold online even without needing to be smelt and that clothing can also be smart It got me really excited about how the circularity movement as it collides with technology is going to kind of Meet at this really beautiful intersection of how can we make our clothes smarter? How can it be more exciting? How can they feel more personal? Is there ways of wearing clothes that feel more luxurious without necessarily using more luxurious materials, but having a perfect fit for example So super excited to dive into this topic. I currently work at a Marketing agency. So my my work is focused a lot on helping either individuals or brands figure out their Strategy for the space I've consulted

[16:40] a lot of brands from Christian Dior to Iris van Herpen. So there's a lot of people that are thinking about this that have started pretty impressive. Um Just set a precedent for what it means to actually be a future forward fashion brand Farfetch being one of them Thinking about technology as a companion rather than as something that needs to be combated So super excited to dive into this and talk about what we all see as the next frontier for the space Fabulous, so happy to have you here, Enara, and you know It's always a pleasure having you as part of one of these types of conversations. So I'm excited to get your insights today Last but most certainly not least. Um, we have another one of my favorite voices in the space whose last name I will not try to pronounce. Um Beata I'm so happy to have you, you know, we've had some fabulous conversations IRL again and URL we've gotten to meet up a few times at various

[17:31] events and I always love your takes on the space Um, you know, you have an incredible POV?, about integrating sustainability into what we do And yeah I would love to pass the mic over to you and let you introduce yourself And all the fabulous work that you do got to hit the mic is yours Yeah, thank you so much for a little but lovely intro david pleasure to be here and uh, yeah, thank you for creating this opportunity also happy to Uh chat to some of you again. Some of you I spoke to a year ago. So just I don't know two days ago Uh, so it's also a fun You know little loop in time. Uh I think I entered the space of digital Fashion one part of me via academia and teaching as I've been teaching in design education about fashion studies and digital cultures uh for 10 years Uh, but before that I also worked as a stylist and art director and I was one of those people that felt Oh, no, the system doesn't work.

[18:28] Well, therefore we need to fix it So my recipe was to enter education to start with young designers, but after a decade uh where also the digital accelerations are happening and digital fashion became a big part of conversation about sustainability and Change management and fashion. I thought okay, maybe this is a time for me not only to you know, work with very woke Um and interesting and active students, but also go back to the industry and I started Unfolding Strategies We are a consultancy and education lab based in Berlin Which means that we consult with different uh partners on different projects Ideally that have to do what is called twin transition or in more sophisticated or post-human convergence basically where discussions about how climate is changing are coupled with digital transition So thinking how those two entities not happen separately but all together and how we can approach them It's

[19:24] a pretty wholesome way to look at them But I think it's necessary and I think some of us here share this perspective in our work And I think this is what motivates some of us um, that being said I'm not Hyper optimistic by everything that's happening in digital fashion. I think it's a very interesting trajectory that uh Is happening. It's like expanding of an industry and there are many many possibilities That's why we need to be very wise and very smart about them That's why we need to research and a lot of deep thinking Uh, and we need to you know, do a lot of testing and see what will work and what not uh to be able, you know to support those claims the claims of Uh being responsible the claims of inclusion and so on uh currently at Unfolding Strategies We're working on one report where we are sharing, you know different best practices About how digital assets either on-chain or off-chain can support

[20:15] cultural heritage Or and cultural sustainability in fashion, and I think that's very important And I would love to talk about this aspect today, but I'm sure we're going to be touching on IP, and AI?, entering digital fashion pretty pretty those topics. I think pretty hot and fast. So yeah, um super super excited to chat today Absolutely, this is fabulous and so excited to have you here We should also probably have you back to another chat. We're discussing with DRESSX, about doing another talk about uh Sustainability in the near future and I had to do a little bit of shifting around um to get both Natalia., and Daria up on stage Natalia., hopefully you can join now. I think I had to move the DRESSX, account down because I think we were at nine or Ten, uh people in capacity.

[21:02] So just fyi's I'd love to have both of you up here um, so With all these incredible voices up on stage. You can all see that we're going to have an incredible conversation today We may need to carry this on to another chat It's likely, um, but in the spirit of you know What's trending in the spirit of what's happening in fashion? Um, I would love to pass the mic around potentially in the same order that we just shared it And hear each of your perspectives in terms of um, what's wondered what are one or two things from your perspective each of you? That are trending right now in digital fashion. What's relevant to you? I know that a lot of your brands have projects right now that are, you know, hyper specific. Um, you know Amber We had a beautiful chat last week about um, you know wearables for for the face As we spend so much time in Zoom calls and digital spaces. Um DRESSX, I know you also have a

[21:44] You know a section of your business, which is very much in a similar model I'd love to discuss some of these Um, you know really important aspects of how virtual fashion integrates into our lives And to kick that off I would actually love to pass it over to Ramona., as we also had a chat earlier today And I think you know, there's a lot that's trending right now in the space. Um, beyond they touched on it You know AI?, and and you know tech is now really coming to the forefront again of art fashion and culture So Ramona., to kick us off I'd love to pass the mic over to you If you'd share with us your POV?, on today's topic. I sure So we we like like everybody else trending fashion topics digital fashion topic is definitely AI?, For us like I see we see a lot in terms of AI?, co-creation participation and engagement So that's definitely and I'm sure it's going to come up in a lot of the The discussions

[22:29] I'm very curious for everybody here how they've explored with it the limitations where it can go further But that's definitely some of the trending topic right now and then the the second and the third one that really captures our interest is of course everything related to legal and IP, ownership and we've been all watching The Hermès case and it's fundamental for how can we play with digital fashion with the codes? With what Beata was saying about cultural heritage and how can it be reinterpreted by communities? So the IP, topics are really trending In my opinion and lastly is hardware tech Because as Farfetch were a fashion tech company and digital fashion to reach mainstream.

[23:18] We need to have the right interfaces to actually See perceive it. What are the interfaces of the future? How is hardware evolving so that we can Look at digital fashion not through a phone or through virtual glasses that are very hard to wear So that's also about like what are the experiences of the future and we're seeing some very interesting investment from some of the The big tech companies looking at the future of hardware in this space Fabulous a lot of uh important insights. I think brought up there I'd love to keep the conversation past the mic over to Amber Um, I know I brought up a couple things that you are already doing But I'm sure you have some thoughts on what Ramona., said and also your POV?, on what's relevant in the space Um in our last chat, we had the pleasure of chatting about your history But I'd love to chat about the now and uh, yeah Maybe you can touch on your project and some of the

[24:12] beautiful work you're doing Um in the in the front of uh, yeah AR, wearables I'd love to pass it over to you Amber Yeah, amazing. Thanks. David and thanks Ramona., for the wonderful, you know insights in the trends that are going on because I think honestly this year with AI?, like it's been the most incredible developments. I've seen until now like Obviously, um I've always been fascinated with AI?, but now that it's been really taking this uptake Like anybody that is able to you know, write something in the chat has this fantasy No longer needs to have the skills in order to bring that fancy to life and I think That is such a massive game changer. Like obviously there's still going to be people who can do Craftsmanship and can create very beautiful intricate digital fashion Um 3d files But like how long is it going to take before?

[25:05] An AI?, can generate 3d files and can actually create this fashion for you without having to do All of the work because I can remember sitting behind the computer waiting hours and hours and hours before I could finally see this garment coming to life Um, obviously it's faster even than in real life But still it's quite slow, you know with all of the computing power. I couldn't really do it so, um This is is going to be a massive game changer And I think also what I would love to bring in is the idea of co-creation with the community So I think this is such a massive part Where I really see in the past, you know year or so That more and more brands are starting to collaborate with their community. Like we've seen it with Um a lot of the people in the space opening up the avenues to really start collaborating and to create things together because You know there is no longer this one source of truth that's saying

[25:59] what we should wear you know, you are in control of what you should wear and Um, you can influence what you're wearing you can create this co-create this with anybody that is designing that for you You see that with you know .SWOOSH, but you know also with all the other, you know big players in the space who are really opening up for people to co-create with them, you know I saw this Mugler experience as well where people were able to really co-create and influence things and Um, I saw this wonderful collaboration with DRESSX, and Mugler where you can download the patterns from SHOWstudio I mean these kind of things like um, you know, it reminds me a lot of um What we did it back in the days with giving away our files for free for the community to co-create with us It was such an amazing experience to see how people actually took our files and made it better than I ever imagined.

[26:50] So That is I think um a little bit of stepping aside from our ego saying like we know how to make it look best No, there's so many more people who can make it look So much more interesting than you think you can and I think um That to me is also a big trend that I'm seeing and that I'm extremely excited about because this means like This means just democratization of of creativity, right? anybody can tell their story and anybody can be able to share that and you know can get featured on these major platforms and Can suddenly change the course of what we feel like fashion is so Yeah, I'm really excited about that. So that's what I wanted to bring in to the discussion as well You know fabulous fabulous insights. Um, love a lot of what you mentioned I think you know, it's come up somehow in a lot of conversations recently, you know AI?, is this, you know increased computing power I think because as you briefly

[27:43] touched on which is really Encouraging, you know, I think most of us up on stage even remember when like searching something on the internet could take, you know Half an hour of like just loading and processing. Um, so, you know, this is bringing us to a whole new level of of capability In terms of you know iteration and and conceptualization So I think it's really exciting to consider that and then you know I always love your your POV?, on co-creation. I think very few people in the space have done Um, you know have have, you know walked the walk Let's say as much as as you have in terms of you know, pushing, you know, these boundaries of co-creation via collection So, um really beautiful and really encouraging as a as a trend to bring up Um, I would love to pass the mic over to to the other lovely lady that we have here from The Fabricant. Um, It's Janey I know that you mentioned a couple ideas

[28:27] before that that Ramona., echoed and I'd love to pass the mic over to you In terms of what's trending? I know it is a big issue right now But if you have any other ideas Maybe based on what The Fabricant. is working on right now in the drop that you currently have in the works Would love to pass the mic over to you if you have any insights you would like to share on What's trending right now in digital fashion? David sorry, I was chuckling to myself because every time you said lovely lady I'm like, oh my gosh I love you even more david Um, but yeah, thank you for that I mean I was typing in the the chat bubble and I mean if you haven't done so already I'm gonna hype up Farfetch Ramona., and David make sure to like and retweet the room and feel free to drop some comments in the speech bubble below Honestly, I'm I'm being a nerd right now and I'm literally typing out some like points I wanted to make but

[29:14] I feel like what we're trying to cover right now is about like 50 conversations in one So definitely would love to come back and shed light and um, I will first touch on whole land Which is the drop that we have coming up next week Um, and thank you for allowing us to speak on that. I don't want to to be a shill and I'm not really that type of person Um, but I think what we're trying to build with The Fabricant as I said, I only joined in november and I've been tracking Digital fashion and I've been working in the fashion and beauty industry Shoot, I feel very old saying this but I'm an elder millennial So david when you were talking about the olden days Of Web1 and we didn't even know it was called Web1 back in the day and just having static pages to Then being in Web2 where we can engage with creators and you know go on youtube lives or tiktok lives or people can You know create content in a really impactful way

[30:09] I want to talk about actually just the aspect of democratization and creators and so, um You know one of the main reasons why I wanted to join The Fabricant. and it was so fascinating to me Is how Amber had given away? Her files so that other people could create with them and I think she made a really good point Which is the humility and the democratization when it comes to? Being in Web3 and digital fashion I mean the fashion industry is notorious for being, um, you know, very much a gated community where You know, it's only kind of you know people with a certain background or you know connections or positions Whereas within the Web3 and digital fashion space you could literally be Um, I mean I'm just making this up But someone who's working in banking or someone who you know is uh working as a sales associate at some You know retail store or wherever it is and be able to create files and to be able to

[31:07] sell that and part of that democratization Is being able to get your name and your work out there and getting both primary and secondary sales So getting royalties for your work, which I think that is something that's very important And when we talk about getting into IP, I mean Hermès that whole situation with the MetaBirkin is Absolutely monumental obviously we know in terms of the blockchain and with the way that you know Web3 and digital fashion works that everything is logged on a public record, which is the blockchain So when we talk about, you know IP, or you know design infringement or things like that There is an obvious record of who created what and when and how it was traded and who owns what so I think that level of Transparency is something that is monumental of changing the whole face of fashion and you know, just in general I mean the fashion industry in some ways can be slow to adopt but I

[32:04] think that you know this um Situation with Hermès for example, it just shows that you know What is happening in Web3 is extremely relevant in Web2? And there's a connective point to that. So whatever you're creating across both realms It's actually we're not even talking about e-commerce and being omnichannel We're talking about the metaverse and we're talking about, um, you know NFTs and blockchains. So Uh, this is really going to change the game And um, I'm actually a really big sneakerhead and really big on what Nike is doing with .SWOOSH, and you know, they just made some really incredible moves and um in terms of you know, just being able to You know acquire RTFKT and you know, I've been in You know publicly traded companies and I've sat in board meetings with executives and it is challenging To get them to be on board, especially with new technology or entering a new market geographically

[33:01] even And you know Web3 there's still a lot of like negative connotations when you use the word NFTs for example Um, but I think that you know with the advent of you know, Nike moving with .SWOOSH, The way that they're educating and onboarding. Um, you know a whole new generation and collaborating with partners is You know major and just one last point that I'll cover is The whole aspect of the the creator economy I think that Web3 really changes that game and one thing that I'm really excited to see and how it evolves is how people use You know designs, um, you know in AR, To be a digital fashion influencer, for example, like we see some people doing that But I feel like the trend in terms of next generation Is really going to be you know fashion brands who are going to collaborate with digital fashion houses to?

[33:54] you know financially and you know marketing spend wise make it very easy to get you know UGC like user generated content or even You know different stylized shots across the board. So, you know seeding and giving You know influencers and celebrities It's always a point of contention because you just don't have enough stock or money actually to give them real product Whereas AR, in digital fashion really changes that so Um, I I know that we have many people on stage. I could literally talk forever on this, but I want to respect everyone So, um, yeah, I just want to say that I'm super excited. Just super bullish about not just the creative freedom the democratization um, but also just being able to Collaborate with different people within this space and make sure that people get credit where credit is due And making sure that that is very clear and apparent whether or not that's from a design perspective

[34:52] IP, or even getting paid for your work, which I think is very important Very well said great comments there and I really love a lot of your perspectives Especially on what's going on right now? Um in the space in terms of brands entering and Hermès and all these ideas we could we could have a whole episode just on that And diving in deeper on on so many different elements But really really great insights and appreciate you you being a part of this conversation Um, I'd actually like to pass the mic over move a couple things around and pass the mic over to Beata I mean, you know with all of these ideas, you know, AI?, IP, some of these like really kind of overarching topics, you know being the the you know Ideas of the moment in this space I'm curious how you present this and these notions to the students that you work with I know you educate a lot of people both brands And students alike and

[35:40] obviously it's a little bit different in terms of how we communicate with different Audiences whether it's a ceo whether it's a classroom, but I'm curious from your perspective, you know What you think is relevant in the big picture? I know you have a lot of views in terms of this space and what what makes sense and what we should be Discussing in terms of you know, virtual fashion and its use cases So, you know in terms of all these conversations, what to you is relevant and uh, you know What do you feel like we should be really pushing it and discussing when we bring up these topics? Yeah, I think the one of the things that's very very important is Like I think I know in my son general is but I will try to break it down why I think it's important It's addressing culture and how we define and understand what it is Because this is a common thread among all those topics. So Culture or maybe more something

[36:23] like cultural intelligence. This is actually A concept that's according to Thomaï Serdari. She runs MBA in uh, luxury fashion at NYU Uh, and she wrote a lovely book about that She says that luxury fashion really needs cultural intelligence because for example for brands Entering that space of digital fashion and doing assets entering NFTs It's pretty much also if they understand their own culture They can take it and then channel it to their projects. We saw many projects that were about emulating some quasi-futuristic cyber aesthetic and Brands that are let's say around traditional Italian craft suddenly becoming super futuristic why because they feel this is embracing the future So if they would be able to take their own whatever there's brand dna heritage history Their essence and work with that probably the outcome would be more interesting and more also understandable To their current community

[37:22] to the people that actually are involved with the brand for digital fashion I think yeah This is this is for um, this is a love letter to Amber and The Fabricant for doing the work with Sevdaliza the same understanding culture Understanding this like cross-disciplinary collaborations working with musician the same as The Dematerialised, where I work for a year uh working now with ispa so kind of you know mingling with k-pop and So as I think DRESSX, so I think these are very obvious but important things and it's really important how we understand this kind of You know cross-disciplinary thinking where does it all and flow and work together? Uh, Sevdaliza such a such a brilliant and obvious choice to me and such a beautiful project So yeah, I think this is a great example and the same comes to those two things that we discuss briefly mentioned AI?, and IP, When people are collaborating with AI?,

[38:13] It's about how to think what you can do with AI?, and I think great example here is more from music industry with Holly Herndon She's been for a long time collaborating with AI?, and doing songs with her own AI?, and I think this is a very productive and optimistic approach Rather than fearsome, you know, it will replace us and I think we will need more and more people who understand Possibilities limitations what actually AI?, means what is an algorithm? What is machine learning? I think many people and many magazines are writing about AI?, But like we think about it as some kind of personalized entity and we don't really know what it means So I think it's also about understanding what it is words might be going and how we can work with it And then coming to IP, it's also about you know Differentiation for me the the Birkin The Birkin NFTs were brilliant.

[39:01] I thought it was one of the best digital fashion NFT projects for for me personally The brand should like, you know, they should work together. I thought it was such a great Iteration and was when I saw it it was it was clear. That was like a you know, an art project Let's say an NFT art project But today we saw, you know the result and it's very interesting and it's also about those very very thin Fin differentiations and thinking, you know, what is the critique? What is the commentary, you know, not to simplify it But would Andy Warhol be allowed to do what he was doing, you know If he were to live now and so on so I I think understanding culture and having certain tools to dismantle it and contextual I think this is something that's super important And I think the project will be successful or the projects that will you know be able to to acknowledge that and focus on that Uh, so I hope culture is is a trend then

[39:58] A hundred percent. I hope I'm not cutting you off I think I think you end at that point, but it's beautiful beautifully beautifully said Um, I I love culture being at the forefront of you know what we're discussing here I think that's really what we're all here for at the end of the day And I also one other thing I hope I just wanted to echo in what you said is is considering Collaborating with AI?, instead of clashing with AI?, and I think that's a really important, you know Distinction to make when we're considering these new technologies I always like to say, you know, what can these technologies do for us instead of what can they detract from our lives? You know, we should be considering the positive, um, you know in the conversation whenever we can So really beautiful points and very happy as always to have you as part of this conversation here today Um, I'd love to pass the mic over to the

[40:40] lovely ladies from DRESSX, you know We chatted a lot about you know, some of these specific areas in terms of how do we um, you know collaborate with AI?,? How do we you know reach the consumer through co-creation? How do brands enter the space authentically? And I think you've been one of the entities to collaborate I think with probably the most brands entering this space and helping guide people through Um in terms of how they how they you know translate the space how they um, you know integrate this this uh, You know these technologies with their brand and their brand's ideals And I'd love to pass the mic over to Natalia., and Daria and get some insights from both of you in terms of What you've been working on recently and what you feel is relevant right now I know both of you are always on a never-ending conference tour Doing some incredible activations and installations all over the world.

[41:23] So, uh, Natalia., Should I pass it over to you first and then we'll follow with Daria Sure, and uh, yes, speaking of the trends, uh, I would say AI?, is still Everlasting trend for digital fashion because first of all more and more brands and companies in digital fashion space and in physical Fashion embracing that and more and more people embracing it. So this is amazing And definitely AI?, is a subject of 2023 at least the first months of this year, right? And I just want to give a shout out to three creators Asami Ascream and first get lady and alexandra roduna.

[42:12] Uh, those are the first three winners of the AI?, Contests that we started at DRESSX, um, and it means that people who never had experience with 3d now have an opportunity to create and to create fashion as they see it and we will help them to digitize and put it into the Reality into the digital reality, right and Make those items not just inspirational images, but wearables and this is going to be an ongoing initiative from DRESSX, And we will also partner And we'll embrace brands who would want to join this journey as well and some announcements Will be coming soon Because definitely this is an amazing tool.

[43:05] Uh, this is something that definitely we should not be afraid of and Master and not just on the surface level of creating some inspirational images because there is so much more into it and It's I'm really excited to see the next kind of months and the next iterations um of the development of this project and How we will all go? Uh deep into this space. Um, I'll probably uh step here. Just last thing. I was like pressing 100 so many times while uh Beata was speaking about this, um like Hermès uh issue and not a Birkins but honestly, I'm I'm surprised I'm not surprised but if I wouldn't mess I would Maybe hire the artist to do that because it's such a such an amazing job.

[44:00] He Made for the brand from the so many standpoints um But let's see how the space will be developed but definitely this is a precedent that is set up and uh I understand where it comes from but also it's not kind of encouraging for the Creators and for the progress but still I believe there will be even more creative ways doing even more creative things and Working with IP, and culture and combining uh those together in a productive way for everyone 100 % Daria I'll pass it over to you Yeah, so basically yeah, it's a very interesting story and thank you ladies for touching upon this doing this discussion and definitely kind of collaboration is the future of uh Let's say creative work and it's Also was very widespread in the past and was all the developments in the artificial intelligence recently There will be more and more collaboration between people and AI?, and AI?, will be used as an instrument

[45:12] as Also told uh to everyone by Natalia., like the competition that we're uh doing and will continue to do Uh during the entire year when we co-create together the community and community co-create together with AI?, this is something Exceptional and definitely we see a big trend here. I agree with Natalia., that augmented reality will continue to be Uh a trend just because it will the technology will only continue to get better And uh also like dressing yourself for videos and images something that we started to do at DRESSX, two years and a half ago Obviously with all the advancements of technology is becoming more mass And widespread and in two three weeks from now we'll release something very exceptional in terms of technology as well for the photo dressing and that will prove that It can be done at a scale as well And I'm really like you've asked david about like new things and all the new link to the new trends

[46:12] I think we are very Excited about all the advancements in tech that is happening on the market and the that we are personally building so a team of machine learning engineers, uh was uh building this technology of dressing and making it better actually through the recent uh time period and all the cases that We managed to process and uh, definitely like the result that we have now Internally, we like it a lot. So in two three weeks, we'll share it also to try for everyone In better to dress yourself even uh, kind of faster than it is happening right now And obviously like yes camera we spoke about it I think more and more people will join Zoom and Google polls while wearing their digital items And we're happy that we're launching also product here, but I wouldn't share a lot Before like everyone will see it in real but definitely this is like the mass adoption that will happen through the video

[47:12] calls and Anyway, you know the advancement of technology is something that can push the industry forward at a scale and make a quantum leap for certain Industry, I would say and here are definitely digital fashion can can make this quantum leap in the numbers and In the amount of audience, uh, we reach Through this advancement that are currently happening and built under the hood by some of the companies including DRESSX but I'm sure by some others as well And that's what is fascinating because in like maybe this year maybe next year Definitely in a couple of years. We'll see a big change here and the trends will shift as well But something that we discussed today will be definitely a foundation of how the technology will coexist with Adoption, so that's what excites me.

[48:01] Most of all seeing this. Oh, this is fabulous I think these are these are some really valuable insights to share I think from from both you and Natalia., I think it's encouraging to consider. Um, you know developments in AR, you know more so than just Um, you know AR, is a trend itself You know, I think if you look at AR, a year or two ago versus AR, today, um, you know I think your your work being prime examples, you know, we've been able to do so much Um more in terms of what's possible movement interaction Um, you know the little virtual worlds that we can build in AR, now So I think it's it's encouraging to see how the space is is progressing, you know I think you know filters and face filters have definitely permeated But now these you know more 360 Virtual world elements and wearable elements of of AR, can really allow us to push the technology further. Um, and then AI?, I'm just very excited to

[48:47] see all the explorations that you're you and your team are doing with AI?, I think it's going to be fabulous. Um as this gets uh, you know continues to get pushed forwards Um as we're starting to to wind down I I have to pass it over to Enara last But certainly not least in this in this question I know Enara you have a great perspective in terms of a lot of things happening on a number of different levels of the space art fashion design Collection marketing I'm curious from your perspective especially in terms of digital fashion what you see brands working on and what you see Consumers loving what's relevant and what's really trending right now from your POV?,? Yeah, I mean I'm I'm sure we'll all say that it's not a boring day in the office for any of us There's so much opportunity to combine different technologies and learn about new ones And I think the speed at which we're actually expected to keep learning

[49:35] them makes these conversations super relevant one I learn something new from each one of you because I don't have I mean just like Beyoncé Yes, we all have 24 hours in a day, but sometimes I feel like I need more But there's a new concept I learned recently called positive friction, which I mean I'm sure you already have ideas formulating of what what that means But really it's when there's a collision between various practices that at first might seem like they're challenging each other But in the process of them kind of coming head to head they end up Birthing either a new way of doing something you're very familiar with or coming up with a new process so I think tech colliding with fashion has been stuck in the Fitbit era for a little too long. I remember When I was in university still I was trying to figure out like what does a job in fashion tech really look like?

[50:23] And the most you could do is kind of work in like an MIT Media Lab working on some smart fabrics Which is something that's like totally not wearable. There wasn't really anywhere to go And when LUKSO presented their white paper when The Fabricant started to drop The the drop their first iridescence dress that opened up a very new conversation which everyone who went to that first evolution had to face a lot of ridicule and you know kind of just Move through those motions of sounding silly and kind of like talking about invisible clothes and so on and so forth But what really made it interesting for me is to see how a lot of separate efforts like the sustainability and circularity movement What tech was trying to create and kind of find actual use cases for the technology that they're building to then Cultural sectors like fashion music art They all were working in silos and to bring people together into

[51:12] the room where there's a multidisciplinary approach where A technologist is speaking with a designer that is speaking with an artist that is speaking with a creative That is a very rare conversation and almost never happened within companies So one thing I'm really excited about to see as a trend is the departments within companies that are starting to form there are Major brands that have 15 20 30 people working on their teams each specializing in AI?, tech generative this for example Looking at new materials. There's so much support and funding that's flowing into this partially because a lot of us kind of reared our head and started talking about this as like speaking it into existence and saying yes, this is happening and we wanted to kind of to continue and One thing I noticed is that this evolution or innovation has already happened within the food and beauty industries But the concept of

[52:04] having a label that explains nutritional value of what you're consuming whether it's makeup and you're looking for Allergens or just trying to better understand what fits your body and what you actually want What type of products you want to work with and ingredients? This is a 30 maybe a little bit over 30 year old old idea that was added to products and Particularly because so much of food and beauty products were being manufactured Some of them had some pretty shady ingredients others that we just didn't understand completely So that hasn't happened in the fashion industry yet. I think that kind of started in a circularity movement, which always For or at least maybe not always but for a long time felt very uncool because they were talking about wearing these like Weird makeup that didn't feel nice on your face or clothes that kind of look funky and like none of the sustainability was sexy

[52:49] enough So now this conversation kind of pushed into a different level where companies like reinee and blockchain technology are starting to add layers of transparency that actually make these products more more purchasable Make the consumer feel like they are in control of their purchasing decisions and looking at what types of products and what type of Product they want to vote for with their dollar So I'm excited to see how blockchain tech while it's still innovating on use cases of NFTs or buying certain things At the end of the day me personally just speaking for myself I don't want to have to win an auction in order to be part of a community. So I think there's still a lot of Innovation left to be implemented that will make these things feel organic and truly inclusive. I think The dance of what makes something feel unique and inclusive is very difficult to nail down Like how do you know?

[53:39] Not necessarily how do you gatekeep? But how do you curate a room in such a way where people don't feel like you're shutting the door in their face? I find that to be very difficult because There's a quote. I keep sharing with everybody who asks me about this that says Studio 54 had this policy where they said it's a Dictatorship at the door and a democracy on the dance floor in order to give a really high quality experience to people that are Given, you know their time their energy Their hours in a day to actually participate in your experience and making sure they're having the best possible time last thought that I'll add is that If you look through The Fabricant's curation and kind of the people that are Participating in their early beginnings either from the very very early Drops to then the artists that they're working with It is very adjacent to the LGBTQ community and drag and just very expressive

[54:33] communities that are very focused on On the bash itself expression and just you know Not really carrying what everybody else thinks and really being authentic to what they want to create and somebody told me that Gamification is a very delicate thing when it transitions into fashion because some people I think Balenciaga created their Afterworld game a little while back that Display their collection via a website that you had to navigate the same way as you would a game And that was a task for a 45 plus year old Fashion lover who doesn't play games doesn't really know how to navigate that website made finding products very difficult So gamification translated one to one exactly as it is on your console is really not the answer but going back to drag shows the interesting thing about them is that some of the participants are not necessarily High-end fashion designers, but they're very good at having

[55:25] great taste and great self-expression So what makes it interesting and gamified is that there's an audience that's watching that exchange There are people that are looking at each other and saying, you know What I can do better and just making it fun and gamified and very organic So I think there is something there in this intersection between cultural creativity that is sparked by or maybe fueled by innovation by brands by people that really care about that space and allowing The average joe or the person that actually consumes the clothes to be part of that conversation It's starting to happen more and more but I think we haven't really hit the high note of where this is going So I'm super excited to see that unfold Fabulous insights, Enara. I love I love the points that you mentioned about all the different Industries converging and you know, this confluence kind of resulting in what we have now in these

[56:13] You know very multi-dimensional conversations that are happening with brands and and creatives and beyond. I think it's super encouraging and yeah This is a really beautiful moment. Uh in time, I know that we've unfortunately come towards the end of today's conversation But Ramona., I'm hoping you won't mind if I pass it over to you one more time I think that you know, this this these last points that Enara brought up about self-expression and how you know We're using this virtual realm as an extension of our physical realm in terms of you know, extending communities I know I love the example of the queer community is one of these, you know, beautiful Elements that has been you know elevated through brands like The Fabricant, you know I've even gotten the pleasure to work with Amber and you know, bring drag queens up on stage and dress them in virtual fashion We've got some really fabulous experiences

[56:56] But Ramona., and I had a point that we were discussing before That I'd love to to leave us with Around the idea of how does digital fashion impact the way that we think about self-presentation and self-expression So uh to end today's conversation Ramona., if it's okay I'd love to pass it to you to share some thoughts and then uh, we'll bring it home. Yeah pleasure And super excited about everything that was mentioned earlier and and I love the positive friction actual movement and the example you You brought forward With with that kind of tension between digital fashion and traditional fashion And one of the things that I was reading was a quote from Gianni Versace and actually it was about How does how? Gianni Versace was selling to their his community don't be into trends Don't make fashion own you but you decide what you are what you want to express by the way you dress and the way you live

[57:52] And when we look at these creative designers and directors that actually when they talk about fashion And it's kind of against today's topic, right? We're talking about trends and they say don't talk about trends talk about how you create your own Own trend you create your own fashion You are your it's your own decision to be whoever you want to be but in traditional fashion You have a limitation because that is what physical products Limit you to what is created out there what brands bring forward And how can we build with digital fashion a new playground of expression? Of fluid identities of people being whoever they want to be Fashion being about escapism as much as it can be about reality. It can be about elevating sustainability and circularity and owning Your own style having a choice on who you want to be who is Who are the people that inspire you find that community and co-create with them?

[58:53] It's something that that friction I think it's actually going to open up so many new avenues for fashion and for creatives To explore the same things that Versace wanted to do the same thing that Ralph Lauren wanted to design is not close but dreams and with digital fashion, it can be that an additional layer that all of You you hear talking about it You're building that and I am convinced that The traditional fashion brands when they see the opportunity and they already are starting to see is going to just be fashion There's not going to be traditional or digital. It's just going to be fashion for fluid identities