TUW Special: The Metaverse and the digital fashion Rennaisance
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Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you. - Friedrich Nietzsche
Introduction:
The Metaverse is one of the technologies that has, for the moment, lost steam in terms of public attention and perception - an expected consequence, it must be admitted, of 'the madness of crowds' effect - overshadowed by other trends such as Artificial Intelligence. Nevertheless, this by no means implies that it is dead. In fact, Apple is going to release its first VR glasses in 2024, the Apple Vision Pro, and although those currently active in the space are primarily focused on incorporating elements of Web 2.0 and Web 3.0, this article will focus on how the Metaverse will impact the fashion choices of future generations as the Metaverse becomes a mainstay throughout years and decades in our everyday analog, physical and "real" lives. However, before discussing fashion in the Metaverse and the real world and their future overlap, it is necessary to briefly examine how historical cultural exchanges have influenced fashion.
Historical influences in fashion through cultural exchanges
The ancient Greeks of the Archaic period engaged in cultural exchanges of fashion among themselves, with other cultures, and also drew inspiration throughout history from different Greek civilisations that preceded them, such as the Mycenaean and the Minoan civilisations. Prime examples include the chiton and peplos which were influenced by the more sophisticated fashions of those earlier Minoan and Mycenaean eras, whereas the Archaic style was much simpler and more straightforward.
Another example is Ancient Rome. The Ancient Romans were admirers of Ancient Greek Culture and famously incorporated many elements - Just as the United States did with Europe - wholesale into their own culture, including fashion; for instance, the aforementioned Greek chiton influenced the Roman toga. Roman influences however do not stop there. As Rome expanded into an Empire and reached the corners of the then-known world— for the Romans — the influences grew to include fabrics and silks from India, China (during China's Han and Three Kingdoms eras), and other East Asian territories.
A final example in this article of cultural exchange in terms of fashion happened between the West and Japan during multiple eras where both cultures took inspirations from one another. The West even experienced a period known as Japonism during Japan's Meiji Era, where everything from Japan appeared foreign and exotic and different tapestries in terms of dresses were woven and Kimonos from Japan brought to the west for the first time. Another exchange of that period included fabrics, textiles, silks from India and China dhotis and saris from India, caftans and djellabahs from North Africa and Cheongsams from China.
Similarly during the same era, Japan was influenced by Western attire and fashion with the military adopting uniforms styled after those of British and French soldiers, suits were adopted by men in general but also by public officials and railroad workers. Women on the other hand adopted western accessories fusing them with eastern garments such as kimonos to create a unique combination.
First era of Metaverse Fashion: From physical to digital:
There are many significant eras in human history: Rome, Byzantium, Medieval England, Medieval France, Ming Dynasty China, Edo Period Japan, Inca Era of Latin America, Indus Valley Civilisation era but being Greek, I will focus primarily on Ancient Greece as an example.
As the Metaverse expands, improves itself technologically and becomes part of our daily lives, a highly in demand use case will be that of education. One of the ways that the Metaverse would be able to enhance education and especially historical education is by creating lifelike virtual environments of historical locations based on what historians and anthropologists know and allow students to learn by wandering throughout for example, Ancient Greece and Ancient Athens.
Besides the lifelike world of architecture of Ancient Greece and Athens, students will be able to meet historical and philosophical personalities as we know them today such as Socrates, Pericles and other philosophers, generals and historical personalities of Ancient Greece through the power of AI. ChatGPT recently has allowed the creation of custom made GPTs for specialised use cases. One such potential and actionable use case can be scanning all the information available on Socrates by Plato's and other works available to us and create a digital AI Metaverse version of Socrates based on the works we have left about him and allowing students and visitors of the Metaverse version of Ancient Athens to interact with him and other historical personalities. This already to some extent exists with Meta's AI personas although for the moment based only on celebrities.
Before continuing, I would like to say that I am not a huge fan of big tech sucking our information and I am looking forward to potential decentralised versions of the exampels given above.
Besides historical personalities, visitors will have the opportunity - once the technology allows for human senses to be incorporated - to try different delicacies of Ancient Greece with recipes based on the Ancient Greek recipes that have survived such as:
领英推荐
Such experiences would also work as an incentive for history buffs to visit Ancient Greece - This could give rise to a new form of tourism—digital tourism. To immerse themselves in the environment of Ancient Athens and Greece, visitors would need attire that is faithful to the era, and this is where fashion in the Metaverse comes into play. .
Using historical details, digital fashion specialists would be able to create various forms of Ancient Greek chitons (togas) for a digital avatar to wear, which could then be purchased as NFTs. These chitons could range from highly historically accurate to those where only the color and other small details are altered to suit individual tastes:
To historically inaccurate chitons featuring logos of well-known modern brands such as Louis Vuitton, Ralph Lauren, Chanel, and others
People visiting the Metaverse version of Ancient Greece could also visit ancient miracles and wonders of the world and attractions that have been lost to us such as the Colossus of Rhodes and the golden statue of Zeus of Olympia, Mausoleum of Halicarnassus and the Temple of Artemis, all recreated digitally based on the historical facts we have about their construction and appearance.
Second era of Metaverse Fashion: From digital to physical:
As time passes by and people immerse themselves in different historical worlds be that Ancient Greece, Medieval England, Han China, Edo Japan or any other period of human history, fashion in the real world will begin to change as well, with fusions of old and modern attires creating a unique blend of the old and the new. These changes will take place in different forms:
However, as more time passes by and people from different parts of the world blend together digitally and exchange their cultures just like their predecessors in history from Ancient Greece, Rome, Meiji Era Japan, and the West's "Japonism" period, they will start drawing inspiration from each other's cultures and attires, blending them—for example, Ancient Greek digital attire with elements of Ancient Chinese attire and Napoleonic era French attire, combined with modern fashion to create a Renaissance of inspiration for the fashion industry, resulting in a new blend and type of clothing to be worn both in the real world and within contemporary versions of the Metaverse.
It is worth mentioning that this article considers only the historical aspects of the Metaverse, not delving into science fiction worlds like Star Wars, Star Trek, Terminator, or fantasy realms such as "The Lord of the Rings" by J.R.R. Tolkien, "A Song of Ice and Fire" (Game of Thrones) by George R. R. Martin, or "Conan the Barbarian" by Robert E. Howard. These aforementioned worlds, albeit fictional feature people with their worlds, cultures, attire and even languages in some instances. These would also be part of the inspiration for creating new types of clothing through fusion of fictional, ancient and modern.
Conclusion:
Although the Metaverse is still in its early stages, overshadowed by AI and not yet fully understood in terms of its utility, it is a technology that will have an immeasurable, multifaceted, and multivariable impact on human culture, fashion, psychology and experience first on the digital level and then to the physicalto the point that it will bring about a Renaissance in fashion—and other domains. It is challenging to foresee where it will all lead and what the understanding of fashion will be when this Renaissance concludes.
If you enjoy and find value in the newsletter, please feel free to donate for its upkeep and independent nature as much as you think is fair:
Monero Wallet Address:
42EkgN23XZoLJXrgMJjrRM7jYpmirk1WvWUWc2SDF6kZAXVzHMGy5XB8JM8Vce3iHGKh9H8ACWF9J6ErrfKCP48mL2yeWcw
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Reclaim (some) Privacy Webinar Series: Intro to SearXNG & other privacy engines
In April, I am planning my first webinar in a series focused on privacy. The specific webinar will be focused on why Google may not be the best search engine to use and the SearXNG meta search engine and how it can be used to enhance privacy when using a search engine to research or find something to one's interest.
If you are interested in the topic, feel free to click "attend" on the link to the event below: https://www.dhirubhai.net/events/7167975601373458433/about/