When Facebook launched the name change for Meta's parent company and its vision of the new metaverse last week, many felt the timing was more than appropriate for the tech company since it has been in bad weather lately. Loud criticism for internal leaks, secrecy and lack of social responsibility has characterized the conversation about Facebook.

Now, however, “Meta” is a new chapter for Mark Zuckerberg and co and that’s what we want to talk about.

It is undeniably exciting.

Imagine a world where you can meet someone from the other side of the world face to face (or avatar to avatar), design your own dream home with any view,

or, best of all, fill your own digital wardrobe with creations reality puts an end to.

In the past, brands such as Supreme have collaborated with Fortnite on so-called skins. As it’s well known, Balenciaga has shown its creations through the game Afterworld, and Norwegian Carlings has launched an all-digital 3D fashion collection - in fact the world's first.

The question now is how the fashion industry will relate to the opportunities that arise with the investment in the metaverse.

Zuckerberg presented a video in which he prepares for a meeting. Here he chooses his plain uniform from a digital wardrobe. "You want a wardrobe full of virtual clothes for different occasions, designed by different creators and from different apps and experiences," he says in the video.

- They have Instagram and own Facebook, and digital is spreading in the fashion industry - we see that on many fronts, says Synne Skjulstad. She is a media and fashion researcher at Kristiania University College.

- But it undeniably looks like Zuckerberg and Meta are trying to take ownership of various tendencies long before they are a reality.

The researcher points out that Facebook started as something very different than what it became, and has gained a position that many believe is problematic in today's society.

- And then it may be appropriate for them to try and connect with fashion and other cultures, she says.

Metaverse

Highsnobiety reports that Meta tagged Balenciaga on Twitter. Source: Twitter

The vision of an all-digital, virtual reality is not new, nor will it be a reality here for a long time, but the tech giant believes the building blocks are ready and that Meta will work to make it a reality.

- I am very skeptical of the idea of the meta-verse, says Skjulstad.

- There has been a lot of hype around this with VR (virtual reality) before - and it should revolutionize everything. But in practice it was incredibly immature. Here it looks as if Facebook has a vision of world domination - to connect what exists with lots of new things that they can further develop.

Nevertheless, she points out that fashion is already becoming more and more digital in its expression - with all that entails:

- If you talk about it as a form of medialization of fashion, then fashion as a digital phenomenon risen seriously people with Instagram. Now the platform has become one of the most important fashion arenas. Before, it was maybe a little more fun - haha, digital clothes, sort of, she says.

- It has gone from something strange that a few companies were doing - to the fact that you suddenly see Balenciaga's collection in Fortnite and that they sell digital clothes to very young people.

Metaverse

Digital fashion, like this collab with Balenciaga, has become a regular feature of platforms like Fortnite. (Photo: Fortnite)

According to Zuckerberg, your presence in the metaverse should be personal and the avatar will be as important as the profile picture. Skjulstad believes that fashion will in any case change with more surfaces to express themselves on:

- If they manage to meet by creating a need for an avatar - something that today is to a greater extent reserved for games, then something happens.

- If you have an avatar that becomes central in your social or professional sphere as we use images today - then the presentation of it will be something we want to care about.

She points out that technology changes the way we live anyway - and thus dresses us.

- When new media technologies begin to play a role in culture and people's lives, then one can begin to see culture change. And then fashion is affected.

- We probably won’t sit in a skyscraper with VR goggles all day, but people have had a taste of it through the corona pandemic. Did it really change fashion? Well, many may have kind of lived in sweatpants for a while - but now we see that it should preferably be glitter and glam again, she says.

- Digital clothing and digital fashion are starting to become part of the contemporary culture you have to relate to. This is where you reach people, this is where you meet the superdigital. And that is the whole next generation of consumers.