This is the first fashion week since Covid vaccines have mass implemented. Many brands have revert back to the original ways of operating fashion shows (what happened to progression?), and some brands continue to experiment new ways of displaying their collections, making them as interactive as it can be for the public. The fashion week was more than just fashion; NYFW 2021 NFT & tech brought highly immersive technology to help fashion consumers experience fashion in a different way.

There are three collaborations that are applaudable for trying out new tech plug and plays. Legitimate Tech X ap0cene has created an event which showcases wearable digit couture, an NFT giveaway for the first 100 visitors, live DJ sets, photoreal hologram technology, and a first-of-its-kind NFT auction. The Latter was a collaboration with Yahoo and two of the most sought-after designers, Christian Coman and Rebecca Minkoff. 

NYFW 2021 NFT

Ap0cene, a designer marketplace, and Legitimate Tech, a fashion-art blockchain company have created metaphysical NFTs bound by blockchain technology.

Credit / Ap0cene x Legitimate Tech @ NYFW

The NFTs introduced in the show are blockchain-based tokens that store the history and origin of the fashion item with a timestamp to verify the ownership of the designer publicly. These NFTs are also designed to distribute royalties from future sales. This will allow designers to gain perpetual passive income whenever there’s a new transaction.

Legitimate Tech X Ap0cnee ‘s Emergent Fashion Showcase featured designers like Ecke Faei, Scarlett Yang, Marco Garro, Yitao Li, Maximilian Raynor, Yinglin He, and Hue Anh Nguyen. The showcase was both an exhibition and a contest for designers to showcase their designs during the fashion week. Consumers had the chance to win their own fashion NFT. They could use their phones to scan the LGT chips embedded in the physical clothing and wear them in selfies via an AR filter on the phone camera.

NYFW SS22 Immersive Experiences

For Yahoo, it is their first official innovation partnership with IMG to redefine NYFW 2021 tech. Yahoo’s new immersive technology helps you to have a peek inside artists’ vision and overall process to experience fashion like never before.

While traditional fashion shows showcase designers’ clothes, Yahoo figured out how to help you have an up-close experience with the designer. In the immersive experience, fashion you were able to see Christian Cowan as a photoreal hologram that could be accessed through a series of QR codes. This has shortened the barrier between designer and their fans for a closer knit community.

Unlike the brands that are designing for the next season, Rebecca Minkoff has shown a collection that is made for this fall. The interactive web-based gallery allows you to experience the first-of-its-kind auction both in the virtual and physical world. You can purchase the NFTs at Opensea.io, the infamous marketplace of Ethereum, click here to view Rebecca’s collection.

Credit / Rebecca Minkoff on Opensea

“I’ve done a lot of research about NFTs over the past few years,” Minkoff said. “I’m really excited about the potential of collectibles, the transactions that take place and how we as designers can actually benefit from what’s happening in the Metaverse and in the blockchain to find new and creative ways to do business.”

Administered by Female Founder Collective (501c3), the grant was hosted by OpenSea to help empower female business owners with much-needed financial support. The revenue collected from the NFT resales will go to the Female Founder Collective. 

What were your favorite NYFW 2021 tech moments? Let us know in the comment section below. 

Interested in simialr shows, check out Portion’s Digital Fashion Month 2021.