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Metaverse Fashion Week: New Platforms, Same Fashion System?

In: Fashion Communication in the Digital Age

Author

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  • Tyla Stevenson

    (Massey University)

Abstract

The following research notes have emerged from my ongoing PhD project, which explores digital fashion brands, platforms, and metaverse events as key sites shaping and producing digital fashion discourses. This writing focuses on exclusivity and accessibility in digital-only fashion events. While in-person fashion weeks employ digital technologies to enhance accessibility, they remain mediatized performances reinforcing exclusivity. Using a case study methodology, this research analyzes Metaverse Fashion Week 2023 (MVFW23), Helsinki Fashion Week 2024 (HFW), and Metaverse Fashion Week 2024 (MVFW24). Grounded in Georg Simmel’s fashion theories, it explores how digital fashion events navigate the dialectic between collective identity and individual distinction—a core tension in trend-driven fashion. Despite being promoted as more accessible, digital platforms often replicate exclusive structures of physical fashion events. MVFW23 emphasized accessibility yet retained hierarchical elements; HFW struggled to balance innovation with recognizability; MVFW24 required a paid subscription while simultaneously posting exclusive content for free on YouTube. This chapter critically examines how digital-only fashion events, rather than being radically different, reproduce the same hierarchical structures as traditional fashion shows. By analyzing MVFW23, HFW, and MVFW24, it reveals that Simmel’s tensions between collective identity and individual distinction persist in digital settings. The significance lies not in what is new, but in what these events carry over into virtual worlds reinforcing the discursive concept of “Fashion.”

Suggested Citation

  • Tyla Stevenson, 2026. "Metaverse Fashion Week: New Platforms, Same Fashion System?," Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics, in: Paula von Wachenfeldt & Lorenzo Cantoni & Nadzeya Sabatini & Teresa Sádaba (ed.), Fashion Communication in the Digital Age, pages 383-390, Springer.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:prbchp:978-3-031-99481-4_30
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-99481-4_30
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