Interest in virtual fashion has exploded during the coronavirus pandemic as people explore ways of dressing their online avatars, according to digital fashion designer Amber Jae Slooten.
"We got huge interest," said Slooten, co-founder of The Fabricant, a virtual fashion house based in Amsterdam. "I've never dressed so many people in my life".
Slooten said that digital fashion allowed people to act out their fantasies online.
"How do we want to represent ourselves within the virtual space"" she asked. "If we can be anything, will we still want to be ourselves""
Top: a virtual fashion show by The Fabricant. Above: Amber Jae Slooten
The rising interest in virtual outfits echoes the growing popularity of images depicting fantasy landscapes that "offer a chance to wonder and escape", according to visualisation artists. "Given the global situation, the desire for escapism is at an all-time high," interior designer and creative director Charlotte Taylor told Dezeen earlier this summer.
Slooten spoke to Dezeen during a live panel discussion held as part of London Craft Week. The discussion, called Textile Intelligence, featured Slooten alongside Seetal Solanki, founding director of London studio Ma-tt-er, plus multimedia artist Lauren Godfrey and textile artist Celia Pym.
Slooten's designs only exist in digital space
The Fabricant, which Slooten describes as "the world's first digital fashion house," d...