If this season’s London and New York Fashion Weeks were relatively muted on Web3-related developments, with it generally being left to the smaller players in those cities to demonstrate the technology’s continued pertinence to the fashion space, it seems that the brands and designers represented at late September’s Milan Fashion Week (MFW) didn’t get the same memo. 

The most recent edition of the Italian clothing trade show took place from 19^th to 25^th September, and it was some of the undoubted titans of the style world who particularly used the event to draw further attention to the digital realm and artificial intelligence (AI). 

Here are just a few examples of the participating brands that helped provide some “food for thought” for many a forward-thinking lifestyle or luxury marketing strategy. 

‍Diesel showing that NFTs can still be cool among fashionistas 

If fashion brands were in any doubt about the sustained relevance of NFTs to their strategies when deployed in the right ways, they only had to look to Diesel’s spring-summer 2023 showcase – held outdoors in Milan’s Scalo Farini – for an indication of how misplaced such second-guessing would be. 

MFW was the occasion of another NFT drop for Diesel, as part of its alliance with the Public Pressure Web3 talent platform. The brand used the Polygon and Polkadot blockchain networks to release 300 “Metamorph” tokens on 13^th September. 

Particularly intriguingly, the NFT also constituted an invite to the clothing giant’s aforementioned event, giving tokenholders first dibs on access to a presentation that more than 7,000 people ultimately attended. 

‍An NFT-enabled crowdsourced shoe? Avavav has made it a reality 

Another unquestioned standout of the latest MFW was the Hoofster, a cloven-toed boot gracing the Avavav runway. With its faux-fur overlay, the shoe certainly caught the eye, its aesthetic being reminiscent of a shaggy pony’s hooves. 

Of perhaps even greater significance, however, was the manner in which this footwear came to be. It was created as part of Avavav’s linkup with a Web3 design studio, and is connected to an Ethereum NFT, courtesy of an embedded near field communication (NFC) chip.

The latter measure has the effect of attaching the physical shoe to its digital twin, which comes with a certificate of ownership, design and co-creation information, and further benefits set to be revealed amid the project’s continuing evolution. 

‍The metaverse provided the site for the premiere of Gucci’s show 

Gucci is no stranger to Web3 partnerships and involvement, having established its first presence in the metaverse in 2021. This season’s MFW, though, provided a further strong signal of intent – and not only intent, but realisation – by the Italian luxury fashion house’s “Dream Big” division, which is the part of the organisation dedicated to undertaking Web3 and metaverse projects. 

The brand’s MFW show would have been significant anyway, as a consequence of its being led by the fashion house’s recently appointed Creative Director, Sabato De Sarno. 

However, the decision to roll out three distinctive virtual experiences across three major metaverse platforms – namely Roblox, Zepeto, and China’s QQ – underlines the extent of the brand’s commitment to achieving genuinely worldwide reach with its digital initiatives. The “Gucci Ancora” event took inspiration from Milan’s Brera district, which is known for its artistic vibrancy. 

So, there you have it; just three of the many nuggets of Web3-oriented inspiration from the latest Milan Fashion Week, which you might be tempted to draw upon in the formulation of your own brand’s digital luxury marketing strategy in 2023, 2024, and beyond. 

By contacting Skywire London’s skilled and experienced specialists today, you can soon learn more about how we can assist your high-end, lifestyle, or fashion brand in making such projects possible.