Julien Fournié’s haute couture invites itself into the metaverse

(Paris) Video game designers “know how to make avatars, but it’s not their job to make clothes”. To remedy this, French designer Julien Fournié is propelling haute couture into the “metaverse”, the future virtual world on which digital giants, including Facebook, are working.

Monday, the Parisian fashion designer who dresses extremely wealthy clients in Asia and the Middle East propels his elitist fashion “into the metaverse” via the game of Battle Royale PUBG MOBILE by allowing players to acquire ballet-inspired clothing and accessories Nutcracker for their avatar.

“We all talk about the metaverse, but we do not know aesthetically in what form this will be translated”, declares to AFP Julien Fournié, 46 years old, lover of video games since the age of 8 years and whose last high collection couture was already inspired by video games.

“In these virtual places, we embody characters with identities […] We are going to give people clothing transformation ideas in 3D so that they can be embodied in the metaverse, ”he explains.

“Crazy imaginaries”

Julien Fournié wants to offer “crazy imaginaries” to people deprived of entertainment because of COVID-19 and bring more sophistication to the world of ” geek “.

The designers of video games “know how to make avatars and”skins”(Appearance of a character or an object, Editor’s note), but it’s not their job to make a garment. This steering wheel will never exist in real life! », Considers the creator.

He therefore asked his studio premiere to create volumes in fabrics and then made video recordings to improve the quality of the virtual images.

The engineers “also took the lead” to reproduce the sparkling sequins that change shade depending on the lights, he recalls.

” From geek, engineers who model all this have no feminine sensibility […] We want to make the aesthetic of the virtual more elegant, finer, more fun », Underlines Jean-Paul Cauvin, general manager of the Julien Fournié house.

The task is all the more important as there are more and more avatars and female characters in games nowadays.

Balenciaga, who made a foray into the hugely popular video game in September Fortnite, offering clothes and sneakers to more than 250 million players, Gucci on the Sims and the Roblox video game platform, Ralph Lauren dressing Snapchat avatars in his outfits …

For the American futurist Cathy Hackl, expert in metaverse, it is not surprising that fashion brands have pioneered by settling on platforms.

“Clothes on an avatar – this is something we can understand and translate into virtual spaces […] Direct access to the avatar is becoming the next opportunity for direct access to the consumer, ”she told AFP.

Play … and communicate

Especially since since the start of the pandemic, we have spent more time on video games, not only to play, but also to communicate, underlines Emmanuel Longère, tech expert at Fabernovel, a company creating digital products and services. .

“The health crisis has accelerated this subject. This concept of the metaverse, which has become popular again today, is a response to the way of spending time together on virtual worlds other than by videoconference, ”he told AFP.

For the younger generations, their virtual image is “extremely important” and they develop their character in “gigantic virtual worlds” such as video games, he adds.

A space of absolute freedom, according to Julien Fournié, for young people who may feel misunderstood by their relatives or in search of their sexual and gender identity.

For brands, presenting virtual products on platforms serves to gain notoriety among young consumers and offers opportunities to reduce design costs and rethink distribution channels.

Eco-responsible, say the followers of virtual fashion. “These are energy-intensive technologies,” warns Emmanuel Longère, however.