Italian house Dolce & Gabbana has been a top brand among the ranks of luxury fashion for more than 30 years. Now, it's taken those talents to the world of NFTs.
According to a report by the New York Times, Dolce & Gabbana set a new NFT fashion record, selling a nine-piece collection of virtual and physical garments for 1,885.719 Ethereum cryptocurrency, or nearly $5.7 million. The auction was held in partnership with digital luxury marketplace UNXD, running for about a week in late September.
See Also: Gucci Closes First NFT Sale Via Christie's Auction
Dubbed "Collezione Genesi," the collection consisted of five physical pieces designed and executed by Dolce & Gabbana alongside virtual replications by UNXD, including The Dress from a Dream in both silver and gold, The Glass Suit, and two silver crowns called The Lion Crown and The Doge Crown.
The four remaining pieces were digital and included three men’s jackets as well as The Impossible Tiara. The virtual pieces were created based on sketches by the label’s designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana.
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— Dolce & Gabbana (@dolcegabbana) September 19, 2021
The IRL experience linked to this collection is magical. As just one example, this striking photo captures the opening night dinner during this year’s Dolce&Gabbana Alta Moda couture event in Venice. This is what winning bidders can expect: digital, physical, experiential. pic.twitter.com/naKehB0kdn
The collection is considered the most intricate NFT fashions created thus far. The value of the pieces has increased by 10 percent, with an estimated worth of $6.1 million in market rates.
“These prices are not surprising,” Nick Jushchyshyn, program director for Virtual Reality and Immersive Media at Drexel University, is quoted in the NYTimes. “You have world-renowned designers creating something absolutely unique, with attention to detail. It is beyond what you expect to see in a typical digital rendering, and it’s a one of one.”
Included in each sale were invitations to future Alta Moda events.
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The Doge Crown, with its seven blue sapphires and 142 diamonds, was sold for $1.25 million, marking it as the highest sale-price of the collection. This sale was considered “a ‘big bang’ moment” for fashion NFTs, according to Aaron Wright and Megan Kaspur of Red DAO, a leading NFT collecting community.
Dolce & Gabbana and UNXD have more fashion NFT projects in the works. The brand plans to introduce a crypto community for NFT fashion buyers called DGFamily, as well as digitally-handcrafted NFT jewel boxes.
Pranksy, a leading NFT collector, told the NYTimes this is only the beginning for NFT fashion as new generations of consumers “see higher value in the virtual than past generations.”
Dolce & Gabbana is not the first fashion label to sell NFT fashion. Non-fungible tokens use blockchain technology to create non-exchangeable tokens representative of a piece of digital artwork such as videos, music and of course fashion. NFTs act as digital proof of ownership for the buyer, while NFT original creators retain copyright and traceable creatorship, keeping a percentage stake in any future sale. Each NFT is proven unique and valid.
Dolce & Gabbana is accompanied by brands such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Burberry and more in NFT fashion sales. To learn more about this record-breaking auction, visit the NYTimes.
Photography by: Billy Farrell/BFA
