Clare TATTERSALL: ‘In 10 years it will be very magical and very creative’
This February, Paris is capturing attention with iconic projects in the realms of fashion and technology. One of them, Digital Fashion Week Paris is scheduled to take place here.
by Aida Dzhanhirova
Clare TATTERSALL: ‘In 10 years it will be very magical and very creative’
This February, Paris is capturing attention with iconic projects in the realms of fashion and technology. Alongside the traditional fashion shows, one of the main events in the world of NFTs - NFT Paris 2024 - is scheduled to take place here, along with the flagship project in digital fashion, Digital Fashion Week Paris. Leading up to the Digital Fashion Symposium PARIS, Cultural Singularity gained "first-hand" insights into the key and most vibrant events at the recently concluded Digital Fashion Week New York. The founder of this project, Clare TATTERSALL, also shared her vision for digital fashion and its future.
CS: Thank you for finding the time to speak about the Digital Fashion Week New York that was held in the first decade in February. It is a significant event for the fashion world and a new audience of digital creators and enthusiasts. In this case, could you tell us about the concept behind the Digital Fashion Week project?
The Avatar of Clare TATTERSALL
CT: Of course, Digital Fashion Week is about the digitalization of fashion, everything from concept to consumer. We operate under three pillars of thought: leadership, innovation, and creativity, and how we can bring these together. So, Digital Fashion Week is always changing. I started in 2020. My background is in fashion and digital fashion as well. I started that time with just virtual galleries, they were virtual gallery templates online. And I had one for wearable technology, one for digital fashion, and one for technology. Because we want people to understand the value of technology and put tech in the same places you could fashion.
You know, fashion is very sexy and glamorous, and people think tech is not so exciting and glamorous. Although now, already in 2024, that's a very old idea. I think people understand tech a lot more, we understand how it's involved in fashion and how it helps the storytelling of fashion.
So, now every season we grow and grow, and we've been in New York, London, and Paris, and we are doing our first event in Milan as well. In the major fashion capitals, we run in parallel with the traditional fashion weeks. and keep on interested and available and looking at exciting options during these times. It provides a good place for us to be during the traditional Fashion Week.
CS: It was a good beginning, Clare. Perhaps, because of the strong initial idea of the DFW to contribute to the involvement of digital technologies in fashion, your project is developing and becoming more significant both in fashion and in innovations. Let us return to the event in New York. What are the distinctive features of DFW this year, at the New York stage?
CT: In New York, we had a hologram with live motion capture. So, this was brought to us by Future Front Row. They're a team, a brilliant team based in Amsterdam. We also work with three design teams. Suza Vos and Harriet Davey were one team of creatives. Mutani and Martina Ponsoni and Stephy Fung. We had three different designers, and we also had an amazing ballerina, New York-based Lindsey L Miller. She performed using live motion capture but without a mo-capsule but with live motion capture then the avatar followed the dancer's movements. That was a highlight of our New York City event.
Hologram Show, Photo by Harry Umen, Dancer: Lindsey L Miller, Hologram by Future Front Row, Design shown by Mutani x Ponzoni
We also had four amazing designers as well, who are phygital designers. They were layering their digital and physical assets. These might seem like two completely different ideas, but what happens is what we're looking at. Why do we wear fashion? Fashion is about storytelling; fashion is about the individual layering their experience. I think it puts very much a focus on the consumer. The ballet dancer in the hologram was like the consumer, the ballet dancer Lindsey L Miller was doing well directing the dance. She was directing the avatars with her movements, very much like a consumer directing the fashion industry. The original designers on the runway as well, each of them has different digital assets because they all have a different brand vision. And I think this is a really important part of the conversation.
Because with the phygital designers, as we do tell them, you need to do this. We tell them ‘Bring your vision and we will make that happen’. Show us how you layer, and how you tell the story of your brand. How you tell the story of fashion. How you want the audience to experience your designs. But there is wearable and virtually wearable as an extension.
CS: Everything you've just described is about new practices and experiments with innovations. Tell us about educational programs, lectures, workshops, etc. at the event in New York in this regard.
CT: On the first day of the event there were talks, panel discussions, and exhibits. When we were curating that this season, we wanted to look at strategy and tactics, providing real, valuable information to the audience. The runway is about height, bits of that glamour, it's about beauty, it's about seeing things and seeing the beauty of how fashion and technology come together. The talks are the background. It's the thought leadership, the understanding of how we can move the fashion industry forward. We started with Matt Maher from M7 Innovations, and he was talking about how excellent innovations are a big focus of Apple Vision Pro, what can be done using Apple Vision Pro, and how this can revolutionize action. It also came with some really hard numbers about digital fashion, the number of people who are involved in digital fashion, the number of people who are in the gaming industry, and how much fashion has been sold in the gaming industry across different platforms. It was a lot of hard valuable information about digital fashion, or the fashion industry of digital assets, and how, where you can find and use them, and why you should, as a designer, enter this area. We also had Astrid Pilla who was demonstrating the Apple Vision Pro, and she created a virtual atelier and could guide people through this. One of the phygital designers followed the new and they were talking about their experiences in fashion, how they struggled that they had, and what they learned from this. Sharing the challenges that you have had the misunderstandings and how you come out the other side is really important for other designers. We want as many people as possible to avoid the pitfalls and just benefit. So, if we can share our challenges, we can help other people very much. We heard David Robustelli from Beyond Studios, Amsterdam, and he provided a beautiful AR experience on FIT[1] that you can see a hoodie draped on the building and he was talking about the value and what you can do with AR as a fresh brand. I was impressed by the deep dive into that conceptually and very practically as well. I do want to go through more speakers than we had. It was the lecture from Epic Games, talking about the hard journey as both the creative and an engineer, and what Epic Games is doing in the fashion industry now, which is incredibly exciting. We had Tracy Greenan who was giving a quick master class on how to create assets in Roblox. A very big focus is on what designers, brands, and retailers can do. Some information, hard facts why, and steps for moving into that industry.
CS: Fashion designers have always been sensitive to the new, embodying new ideas and possibilities in their collections. Can it be said that digital collections and experiments have become a widespread trend today?
СT: I don't think we can talk about all designers in one group. Some designers are very flexible. I think there is a list of designers who are purely digital, and very talented. There's also an A list of phygital designers as well, and there is an A list of designers. Some designers are purely physical and do not use digital assets at all. But we're going to talk about the digital and the digital designers. So, these designers have risen to prominence, primarily because of their talent. But it is about both creative and technical talent. And now, I think it is so much harder for designers. There is so much more that they have to learn. It's a cocktail of technology.
But, you know, a pro-talent rises to the top. I do not believe any of these technologies are taking a designer's skills. They are not replacing a designer. They are tools for a designer. So, a designer has to learn to use new technologies. These technologies just help them become more brilliant to showcase their talent in new ways, but they have to be nimble, they have to be agile, and they constantly have to learn new technology.
CS: Absolutely. And you are one of the first enthusiasts who form a new audience. Could you characterize the audience of the DFW? Are they primarily traditional fashion show attendees, crypto enthusiasts, game designers, or part of the video game community?
CT: It is playing people from different areas. Our audience is usually comprised of innovators and creatives in the Web3 industry, but also in Web2 as well. I think there's so much to learn, we all are moving into it.
I think the mystifying parts of Web3 and understanding the real value to us as individuals and brands, etc. is very important and exciting. We have a lot of people from the Web3 industry. We have a lot of people from the digital design industry, executives from the traditional industry and fashion industry, and we have executives from digital innovation and traditional fashion. We have a lot of people from education and decision-makers. There are a lot of professors, and people who are exploring technology in fashion in education. It shows how curious education is about staying relevant as well, and they have a very hard job at the moment to stay on top of all the changes in innovation.
CS: Is it plausible that the phygital format will evolve into the Metaverse and games later?
CT: Not all games are in the Metaverse. Some games are Web2, some games are Web3. We're partnering in France with Sandbox, a very exciting partner for many reasons. First, they have a creative economy, and they are very focused on the power of the individual. So, it is looking at the decentralization of influence in the game that they're very focused on independent designers being empowered to create new revenue streams for them. It is Web3, so, when you create something, you sell it, and you can see where it will be sold in the future and continue to gather revenue from retail. I think there are very exciting partners for us and the fashion industry in general.
CS: These processes of new digital economy creation in Web3 are already confidently progressing. And the younger generation is been prepared already for such new challenges. However you look at it, the caravan called Digital Fashion Week is approaching Paris. What highlights can we anticipate from DFWParis?
CT: The upcoming event is completely different, so NFT Paris invited us to do the runway during NFT Paris. Again, Sandbox is our partner, and this is a perfect partnership for fashion at NFT Parisbecause the fashion in Sandbox is in NFTs. It is again about the creative economy.
On a runway, all the designers are creating both digital items in Sandbox and the physical ones on the runway. We're showing parallel worlds while the models are on the runway. And just very highlighting what a valuable revenue stream this is for designers. And it fits perfectly with the NFT conversation.
CS: Let us imagine the future in 10 years. Share, please, your vision for fashion runways in the digital fashion realm at that time.
CT: I think it's impossible to predict in 10 years when we will be. If you look at 2021, everybody was talking about NFTs. In 2022, everybody was talking about the Metaverse. In 2003, everybody was talking about AI. I think to create an advantage in 10 years, I would be happy. So, you would be able to just prove me wrong.
I think there are some things we can foresee and there are some things we can hope for. I hope we will see a much more sustainable runway. I hope we will see a much more sustainable fashion industry. I think at the core of all our decisions must be less waste. Reduced carbon footprint and better if we should put the planet at the center of our decisions. I think this is slightly tangential to digital fashion, but digital fashion plays an important part in this story. It is not always sustainable, but I think we should be more and more sustainable.
I think we're going to see so many things that we see on the runway filter down to real life. I think this is both with real fashion and also with the use of technology as well. What I think we will see in 10 years is something that we cannot imagine right now. And I think it will be very magical and very creative.
I'm very inspired, so I look forward to seeing fashion in 10 years. I think it's going to be a lot of fun.
[1] Fashion Institute of Technology, NY
links to the show at Digital Fashion Week New York 2024:
Links to the hologram show at Digital Fashion Week New York