Written by Jacqui PalumboCNN
Designer Maisie Schloss’s digitally created psychedelic prints and chic cyber-inspired party wear are right at home in a fashion industry looking to the possibilities of a virtual future. During New York Fashion Week, she leaned into this digital fantasy and presented her latest collection for her brand Maisie Wilen in 7-foot-tall holographic models.
Over the weekend, attendees of the Fall 2022 show entered a gallery to find virtual models lined up in a row, performing a series of repetitive, GIF-like movements. Inspired by dolls from Mattel’s 2010 “Monster High” franchise, some wore green and blue body paint, creature ears and fins as they spun in space, swung their hips, pointed at guests and sometimes emitted shocks. of animated blue rays or bubbles.
The retro-futuristic collection has plenty of nods to virtual worlds (some models wore VR goggles) with some throwback 2000s silhouettes like shimmering party tops, fitted styles, vinyl trench coats and backless halter dresses. A collaboration with Yahoo, Schloss said they wanted to “really push the whole fantasy of what we can create.”
“I really wanted it to serve as a study of the often-blurred line between reality and fantasy: what makes something that’s real feel unreal?” he explained in a video call.
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GALLERY: Maisie Wilen’s latest collection was inspired by virtual worlds and Mattel’s “Monster High” franchise. Credit: Maisie Willen
The Los Angeles-based designer, whose label is named after her mother’s maiden name, got her start under the wing of Kanye West, starting out as an assistant at Yeezy and working her way up to a womenswear designer. Three years ago, West awarded her the first grant from her incubator program, and she founded her own brand.
Since then, her clothes have been worn by Kim Kardashian, Bella Hadid and Kylie Jenner and she’s been featured on the HBO show “Euphoria,” where e-girl aesthetics and fantasy makeup reign supreme in high school hallways.
‘Surreal yet realistic’
Schloss has previously experimented with digital presentations, but here it took a hybrid approach, considering both home viewers and in-person attendees. The entire collection is also available through a shopping site, created by Yahoo, that features augmented reality (AR) versions of the models that can be placed in one’s personal space.
Nigel Tierney, who heads Yahoo’s Content Innovation, said the show is far from the “traditional passive viewing experience” of a fashion show.
“They can play with assets around them,” he said. The “Monster High”-inspired cast, such as Frankenstein’s monster’s genius daughter Frankie Stein, can appear in AR anywhere the user is, wearing Maisie Wilen’s clothes and moving in space; in Frankie’s animation, for example, she gets electrocuted. “We’re thinking about going into these worlds like the metaverse and what that means for individual brands,” she added.
Since physical shows with large audiences have been difficult to produce during the pandemic, designers have embraced digital presentations and reinvented the boundaries of what a fashion show can be. But even with the return of in-person shows, the virtual influence has remained, and Schloss is fully embracing the change.
“We are no longer tied to the things that we can show during a traditional fashion show,” he said.
And while doing justice to materials in the digital realm can be tricky, the Schloss collection is made for it, leaning into what’s surreal, “or even disorienting,” he said.
“I used optical illusion prints (and) unique textiles that could trick the eye,” she explained. “I have holographic vinyls and matte sequins that give an unusual visual effect.”
To create the larger-than-life holograms and AR images for the show, the Yahoo team set up 106 cameras around the models in a studio space, capturing 360 images in super-sharp 6K resolution to show off every detail of the clothing. . Maisie says the experience is “almost like living inside a GIF lookbook.” The image “brings so much dimension to the clothing … you can see her move in this very surreal yet realistic way,” she said.
And while some brands have begun to enter the metaverse by launching their collection as digital NFT garments alongside their physical clothing, Schloss says there are no plans to do so this season. For now, bringing Frankie Stein over to your house to wear the clothes will suffice.
Visit Maisie Wilen’s Holographic Experience to see the full collection.
Source: www.cnn.com