Digital Fashion Week London: The Trends Enhanced by Gaming

As we saw in our last trend report, Digital Fashion Week pushes the boundaries of innovation, providing a platform for emerging digital designers to demonstrate their creativity through virtual platforms. Alongside holographic runways, augmented reality (AR), and interactive shows, London’s Digital Fashion Week was an exhibition like none other. 

The main takeaway from the technological display was the Character-driven collections, which added imagination and vibrancy from the worlds within gaming, creating immersive stories, unique aesthetics, and vibrant communities. The stylish format of digital fashion is becoming just as much a medium of storytelling as video games, and we’ve listed some key elements spotted at DFW London defining this new space. 

STORYTELLING REBRANDED: Designing a narrative in brand identity forges deeper connections with consumers, especially in gaming. In 2023, a wave of narrative-driven games was released, proving it to be one of the most influential trends in the gaming industry. Signature motifs or patterns that can carry symbolic meaning, “episodical” designs instead of trend-oriented versions, and narratives through clothing and accessories are staple elements of this emerging trend. The Matic Studio’s DRKMTTR (vol.2) fashion film demonstrated inventive designs with dynamic storytelling elements.

KEY ELEMENTS: Seasonal storytelling, symbolism in pattern and design, evolving fashion lines.

RECOMMENDED GAMES: Assassin’s Creed Series, God of War, Fable.

PHYSICAL SHAPES UNPHYSICAL:

Phygital collections at Digital Fashion Week London allowed consumers to experience fashion across all realities. Offering limited items that mirror in-game rarities, creating items that can be bought in both the physical and digital realms, and allowing consumers to alter or change their virtual wearables with color wheels or texture packs are vital to this meta concept. Rakee Chen’s SCHNABBIT collection boldly exemplified the possibilities.

KEY ELEMENTS: In and Out of game garments, interactive elements, limited or rare items.

RECOMMENDED GAMES: The Sims 4, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Fortnite.

FASHION IS GAME ON:

Borrowing from gaming’s bold and thrilling aesthetics is a critical strategy in digital fashion. Key trends can be revisited in our previous post, covering the digital designs we saw at Digital Fashion Week in New York. The gaming industry is packed with references and inspirational imagery, both new and old. Considering these elements can aid designers in creating immersive, innovative, and forward-thinking concepts. Additional ideas are exaggerated colors and silhouettes, texture layering, and glitch aesthetics. Edvard Nielsen’s TRANSMUTATORS, “The Cosmic Architects of the New Humanity” series, demonstrates that adding elements found only in gaming is vital in this novel trend.

KEY ELEMENTS: High-contrast color combinations, avant-garde silhouettes or tailoring, intricate details and textures, and glitch-inspired elements or aesthetics.

RECOMMENDED GAMES: Ooblets, For the King, Fall Guys.

SUSTAINABILITY: 

Sustainability is becoming a focus of fashion across the globe, and digital-only fashion is a vital factor in the industry’s movement towards a greener future. When designing in the virtual realm, brands can experiment without limits while reducing waste simultaneously. Virtual fashion allows limitless products and experimentation in all materials, even those unable to compute with IRL physics. It’s vital to remember that when designing for the in-game space, creativity is critical. Like reusing old clothing, digital designers can upcycle previous meshes or designs across platforms, minimizing their carbon footprint, reflecting eco-friendly textures or patterns, and celebrating the earth we live on. Svitla Volka’s MARTYROLOGY Animation was an exemplary addition to earth-focused aesthetics.

KEY ELEMENTS: Earth-related textures such as grass, mushrooms, or bugs, digital asset upcycling, solar punk aesthetics, and references.

RECOMMENDED GAMES: The Last of Us, Horizon Zero Dawn, Synergy.

By merging character design with fashion design, digital creators are developing wearables and entire worlds where consumers feel free to express themselves. This isn’t a novel idea; it’s vintage, something lost in the cycles of fast fashion brands and social media. But when analyzing DFW London, we see the future of fashion is one where we reflect on that past idea and bring it into the virtual, physical, and fantastical realms gaming offers, promising unlimited possibilities for brands, consumers, and designers alike.

GCS TREND REPORT DFW LONDON 2024.pdf

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