Published on: 02/12/2022

CFDA commemorates 60th anniversary with NFTs, metaverse debut

The Council of Fashion Designers of America, or CFDA, a trade association of over 450 American fashion and accessory designers, has announced its metaverse and NFT debut to celebrate its 60th anniversary.

The exhibition “Fashioning the Shades of American Design” will begin in The Sandbox on December 19 and run for one month, highlighting American fashion trends from the last 60 years, which will be presented as NFTs.

The collection was compiled by Darnell-Jamal Lisby, a fashion historian and assistant curator of fashion at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

“When you are curating contemporary fashion exhibitions physically, you are dealing with conservation issues left and right,” Lisby said. “In the metaverse, I had a little more creativity, and if I could dream it, it could happen.”

The voxelized language of The Sandbox has been used to reinvent garments ranging from Dapper Dan’s 1980s design features for Eric B & Rakim to a grunge aesthetic from Marc Jacob’s spring 1993 collection for Perry Ellis.

The event is organized in collaboration with The Fifth Column. “Think of it as a mini MET exhibition in the metaverse with beautiful images and scenes recreated in a voxelized form,” said its founder and CEO, Akbar Hamid. He said the plan was to bring established fashion brands to the gaming community.

“[The CFDA] is making a statement that gamified experiences, gaming worlds, are here and are going to become an integral part of fashion,” Hamid said.

“It allows Web3 audiences, younger audiences, to come and learn about [fashion] history.”

CFDA’s auction

The NFTs were created in partnership with Brand New Vision (BNV), the Web3 platform behind the collaboration between Paris designer Victor Weinsanto and K-Pop outfit LIGHTSUM at Paris Fashion Week in September.

“Bringing to life iconic American fashion moments as digital assets and reimagining their surroundings to amplify core brand values and showcase timeless design is building a great use case for the global fashion industry as a whole,” BNV founder and CEO Richard Hobbs said.

“BNV is building the framework for fashion brands to navigate their way into the metaverse and all the possibilities that Web3 can offer them.”

They will be offered for purchase in a private auction from December 12 to 16 on CFDA.bnv.me. Opening bids range from $15,000 to $25,000. The CFDA has teamed up with MoonPay to allow buyers to use credit cards to purchase an NFT.

CFDA’s 60th anniversary NFTs feature established brands

Seven unique NFTs will represent seven famous American fashion brands — Coach, Diane von Furstenberg, Michael Kors, Tommy Hilfiger, Vivienne Tam, Wes Gordon for Caroline Herrera and Willy Chavarria.

These designers will each create one-of-a-kind NFTs which will be available starting on December 12, one week before the exhibition opens to the public. Each NFT includes extras such as tickets for fashion shows and backstage meet-and-greets that “money can’t buy.”

For example, Diane von Furstenberg is offering a custom-designed dress with special embroidery, a ticket to a DVF event opening in Brussels in April 2023, and a meet-and-greet with Diane von Furstenberg.