Fashion shows and the metaverse. The effectiveness of digital fashion shows for advertising a brand.

Abstract

The fashion industry has proved to be a competitive place for companies to be in. In order to be remembered and chosen by consumers, these companies use several marketing tools, including fashion shows. Nowadays fashion shows are not only in presence but they can also be in virtual mode. In fact, after the pandemic, and with the increasing influence of AI on almost every field, digital fashion shows came to surface. The two kinds of fashion shows, in presence or online, can be powerful marketing tools, having the scope to give visibiity to the brand and let people know about the existence of the brand. Specifically, digital fashon shows take place in the metaverse, a surreal world where brands can host their virtual runaways and offer on site purchase platforms. In the metaverse there are various opportunities and prospects for stakeholders, including tech developers, fashion brands, and consumers. This new, virtual, type of fashion show has been adopted by serevral brands, from the most famous, such as Dolce & Gabbana, Toomy Hilfigher, to cite two of them, to the least famous, and new born ones, such as Auroboros. Overall, this thesis aims at undecovering the insights of both physical and digital fashion shows, understanding advantages and disadvantages of the two, and, as a result, comprehend if the new born digital fashion shows can be a substitute or a complement of standard, already existing, fashion runaways. This paper is the result of a research based on data drawn from various different sources put together on a coherent work. It does not have to be taken for granted, but, rather, as a starting point for discussion and further analysis. In fact, the key topic developed in this thesis, meaning digital fashion show, is a brand new one and has plenty of opportunities to be developed further.