So, What the F*ck Is the Metaverse?

What the f*ck is the Metaverse?

The Metaverse is an amplified version of our existing functional digital realities. Put simply, it’s the web but more immersive and sat on a blockchain, which means it pivots the ownership hierarchy too. There is not one, but many metaverses: Think of each metaverse as cities and villages. At IoDF we use the term web3 as this is actually a more accurate term that reflects ‘the transition’ (web2-web3) to the decentralized internet where users have more control. For us, the importance is what we do with this tech, not the 0 and chains that make it up; that’s just the tools. We believe in a space where community, transparency and ownership are divorced from the hierarchical structures we see today, and for us that’s the beauty and power of the metaverse/web3.

Beyond NFTs, AR and AI, which are practices that have become increasingly commonplace in the luxury and emerging market sectors, how do you feel that brands have adapted to the metaverse and the realm of digitalisation?

Brands are becoming more innovative in their strategies, partnering with web3 experts and companies like IoDF and even investing, Epic Games partnering with LVMH and famously the Nike and rtfct acquisition. Since December 2021, Nike has earned $185M dollars in digital assets sales revenue and generated $1.3B in sales volume. They made 8x more in revenue. Seeing Nike’s output with RTFKT has been a real show that working IRL and URL should be in unison, a mission statement of ours since inception. The real successful adaptation is when you see the values of web3, community, authenticity, loyalty and democratization be woven into the brand's offerings. To be clear, there are two very different markets, the web3 collectors and enthusiasts, then the fashion audiences. Part of our mission is to bring the physical fashion industry to recognise the infrastructure shifts that web3 can enable: to build in more profit, re-structure IP, explore wider creative freedoms, reward community and avoid the current leading conversation that is ‘tech, nft, crypto and metaverse.’ A brief list of brands that have delivered Web3 initiatives, which shows the traction, are Prada, Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Burberry to name a few. We have been working with consultancy to assist in this pivot on how luxury and emerging brands can be a part of this shift with authenticity. It means listening to the audiences first, so we deep dive into insights, and real-time analytics and build focus groups to understand what the semantics shift means to those audiences. Famously, we produced and strategized the H&M metaverse design story, a 360 production now sits as the pinnacle of digital fashion fidelity. A CGI motion-captured campaign that introduced for the first time digital fashion alongside physical, yet the physical was not center stage. Our work pushed to change the narrative, adoption will not occur if digital fashion is stuck in smart contracts and digital wallets or on Instagram as a filter; we need to showcase to the world the radical beauty of digital fashion and push the desire.

<em>Courtesy of Institute Of Digital Fashion 001 launch 2022</em> — *Courtesy of Institute Of Digital Fashion 001 launch 2022*

Could you explain how IoDF came about, expanding on the frustrations you encountered setting up your company?

We built IoDF to revolutionize the fashion landscape, fostering democracy, sustainability, and innovation. Our goal was to forge a platform that wields technology as a democratic tool for transformative change. An ecosystem that breaks traditional barriers, allowing real-time co-creation, equity-sharing, and sustainable practices to thrive for brands, creators, and users. IoDF envisions fashion not just as garments but as a dynamic conduit of self-expression and empowerment within a space that is built on binary constructs. This irl x url fashion space was a natural progression for myself and Catty, stemming from our deep-rooted commitment to innovation, creativity, and inclusivity. With my background working in fashion tech, with blue chip companies driving innovation and experiences, coupled with Catty's pioneering work in the digital fashion realm, we saw a bright future together. A future that no one had built, one that embraced community for everyone beyond biases, seasons and realities, incorporating abundant storytelling opportunities. We encountered so many push-backs, as two strong individuals who were not cis white men meant we had to shout to be heard, be harder, more researched and ready for push-backs. As the semantics of fashion changed due to events like COVID we knew we had to work hard. Our platform, which we are now building, is that space in real-time, enabling co-creation, equity-sharing, and sustainable practices.

What are the biggest challenges, boundaries and limitations when it comes to approaching - and placing - brands in the Metaverse?

To be able to buy trade, sell your assets with no middle man and to exit the horror of the attention economy. Currently tech companies deal on a ratio or a user spending 95% of time and 2% spend within that time so the attention economy trap is the economic drive. The customer becomes the product. Harvesting our attention (time and data) is now an integral part of the revenue generation strategy implemented in numerous business models. The beliefs of web3 is for ownership to prevail, the opportunity is to profit from sales not data, removing the need for persuasive design features, addiction and your personal data being abused. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok are built on persuasive technology, technology created specifically to change its users’ opinions, attitudes, or behaviours to meet its goals. Technology companies consider factors like motivation, ability, and triggers when they are designing their apps, with the goal of persuading you to spend more time clicking and scrolling. Persuasive technology companies specialize in algorithms that influence human behavior because that’s what they sell to the advertisers who are their customers. Benefits are also the financial infrastructure, i.e. developing countries where banking is not part of the country's infrastructure and do not have finance systems inherently, all you need is a block chain and a wallet to earn, your office is the internet. Blockchain is the underlying and fundamental layer of importance. Many brands are yet to consider it a long-term legacy project, missing the opportunity for lasting impact. Testing, listening, building is what is needed and that means incremental changes, not something for the press to write about. We want to see web3 structures and platforms that last, and which are not PR or marketing moments but legacy infrastructure changes. Tech is not the lead conversation for sales, but a tool to do more, and expand the breadth and depth of creativity, promote traceability and to applaud the authors by royalties and more economic stability. That is why we are building IoDF – and why we have built IoDF's consultancy services to address this challenge, aiding brands in crafting enduring transitions.

Touching on the ever-evolving component of wearable technology, how do you see it taking shape in the future?

Wearable technology's future is a canvas of limitless possibilities. We are still in the first incremental stages but biotech will really be the interesting pivotal moment. We are talking closely to companies building these types of markers that will shift the attention economy, which means so much change for users in particular. Fashion, beyond its tangible aspects, is a conduit of cultural expression and is poised to amplify its narrative through digital design, transcending physical confines. Digital fashion is a playground for experimental ideas rooted in the materiality of imagined realms. Elements like wind and water become creative tools, we often use these tools to demonstrate the boundless potential. We have the opportunities to digitally render "cloth" to wrap around the screen's reality, blending with its virtual environment. Amid this, the concept of community flourishes. Co-creation between designers and wearers takes center stage, allowing garments to be both wearable and interactive extensions of shared stories. What truly sets digital fashion apart is its inclusivity. It democratizes style, transcending traditional limitations. The allure of digital garments lies not only in their visual appeal but also in their accessibility. Regardless of location or resources, anyone can partake in the fashion experience, blurring the lines between creativity, experimentation, and communal engagement.

[In July, IoDF stepped into a live discourse on gender, sex, and the future of queerness in our IRL x URL realities with the queer legend Tom of Finland Art and Culture Festival 2023.]

This digital render of IoDF co-founders Cattytay and Leanne Elliott Young, sees them entwined in a classical setting, their bodies morphed as they struggle to define their realism. IoDF have sculpted the bodies of the co-founders to be more masc and defined, playing on gender norms.

QR codes invited the audience to get up close, to scan and participate in an AR experience referencing Allen Jones and, later, Rick Owens’ works. Contrasting with ‘DOMMES of London’, the AR shows Leanne and Catty in submissive, if not compromising, positions. Their digital doubles invite you to step on, sit on, stand on, place them where you want.

IoDF asked those who engaged with the AR to ‘take a seat and explore’.

Culture

Mowalola x Miss Sixty Launch with H. Lorenzo

I swing my legs over the ropes that guard the VIP entrance. Always over (I’m 5’10), never under. I’m late to the H. Lorenzo x Mowalola event, and the line is wrapped around the block. I don’t want to be an asshole, but I hate waiting in lines; it just ruins everything.

“Hey, my friend is DJing right now. My name should be down,” I say.

The youngish security guard looks me up and down. I have made an adventurous choice for this type of crowd. Neon pink hoodie, bright orange vest, my Raimundo jeans, and Jeremy Scott animal print sneakers. I let him take me in and look over his shoulder. Hmmm… I will be swathed in darkness when he lets me in. Dark night, dark clothes, dark makeup, furs, hoods, leather accessories, and sunglasses. I don’t recognize anyone, but it’s hard to tell who anyone is because I can’t see after 8 pm without my glasses. Night blindness. I can still catch a vibe though.

“She’s in the bathroom,” Mr. Guard says, interrupting my squinting.

“Who?,” I ask.

“The woman in charge of the list.”

That’s a drag. I want to dance. Lately, I am going out in the name of music.

“So…can I go in?” I ask.

“Just wait for her to get back.”

That sounded fine. I wait. The outdoor smoking area is packed. I imagine the inside to be a mirror of this, hopefully with people dancing instead of blowing smoke in each other’s eyes.

“You got instagram?” The guard asks me after about ten minutes of flirting.

“Can I go in?” I said.

He laughs. He lets me in the event without a wristband.

Inside, I understand why the other guard was gone for so long. I made a mental note to not drink too much liquid, the bathroom line is almost as long as the line outside. The party is popping, far from a flop.

I push through the crowd solo, following the speakers to the DJ booth. The immersive visuals provided me with enough light to make out Mowalola in a gold bikini and her low rise denim. My pulse races like the horse printed on the front of her coochie. That’s the point of the collection, obviously.

My hips swing around before I head towards the open bar. I smile to myself, noting that it’s a mezcal forward menu. I see a drink that disgusts me so I order it without hesitation. It’s a mezcal coffee concoction. My heart ’s ran through already, why not go all in? I head back to dance when I hear Shigecki’s set start. I’m jumping around, sweating, and when I pause for a beat I let out a yelp. There are strippers working poles opposite and behind the DJ booth. Good. Events should be sexy.

I end the night smoking my friend’s Korean strawberry cigarettes taking in the air of cool- when a man comes up to me wild-eyed exclaiming that we look just like one another. I look at him- no, not at all. I turn slowly, remembering what I should be doing: listening to DJ G2G’s set. Back inside, she is playing reggaeton type beats with lasers beaming out of her headphones (I want these). A rave in it of herself.

Too bad all the events end at 2 am in LA.

Culture

Vans Pipe Masters 2024

On the first night, Steve Van Doren and the Vans team hosted the heat draw for the competitors at a casual backyard barbecue. The son of Vans’ co-founder Paul Van Doren, Steve has worked in the family business for decades, and is now known as the Ambassador of Fun. Wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a cowboy hat made out of old shoes, he was definitely dressed for the part. The surfers, along with family and friends gathered in a relaxed setting as 40 men’s and 20 women’s names were drawn from a shoebox. The competition would run in 3 rounds, the top 4 men and 4 women with the highest scores moving onto the finals. When asked about their strategies, most gave answers along the lines of “get waves.” Refreshingly simple.

After waiting a few days for favorable conditions, the first day of competition kicked off with Women’s Round 1. It was finally time to see Pipeline in action. Banzai Pipeline is known as one of the most dangerous places to surf due to the powerful waves breaking over shallow and sharp reefs. With the potential to crash into the rocky edges or have leashes caught in caves, it takes a ton of skill–-and even more courage–to surf here. No stranger to these risks, the first heat included favorites Caity Simmers and “Queen of Pipeline” Moana Jones Wong, who showed off exactly why they’d been successful here in the past. Midway through the heats, Mother Nature decided to throw in another element as a light drizzle turned into a proper downpour. Rain or shine, the athletes went out unfazed, focused on getting their first points on the board.

After another short day’s break, the competition continued with the women’s second round and the men’s first. The beach was filled with spectators, locals and tourists alike, as the competition was free for all to attend. While fans rooted equally for the women and men, the most popular were the local Hawaiian athletes, which made up about half the competition. The women started off the day again, hyping up the crowd with incredible rides. One ride by Bettylou Sakura Johnson earned the first Bag of Cash of the day– a cash prize (of undisclosed amount) awarded in a brown paper bag to any surfer that pulls off a wow moment, excites the crowd, and pulls off something spectacular regardless of what the conditions might look like.

Winds picked up as the men’s competition began and two strategies quickly emerged: an aggressive approach, targeting any decent waves to build small scores; and a patient approach, waiting for the perfect wave to chase a high single score. Even the waves that were unrideable were a spectacle in itself. The sheer size, illustrated by the length of surfboards riding up and over, and the following crash of white water spray was hypnotizing. Then imagining having to experience it out on the water, duck diving under or being lifted over, brought a renewed respect for the surfers.

After watching these early rounds, it was time for office to head back to the cold. With the competition officially spanning from December 8-20, it seemed the forecast was gearing up for some massive waves— and it didn’t disappoint. Following from afar through Vans’ Instagram and live updates, we saw the full extent of what it means to surf at Pipeline. After a series of electrifying and daring surfs, the 2024 winners were crowned: Erin Brooks and Nathan Florence.

The thrill of watching top athletes compete at the highest level of their sport, even remotely, never fails to inspire. Few sports surrender so completely to the forces of nature as surfing does. And at its core, surfing is all about having a deep respect for the ocean—its unpredictable whims, its immense power, and its ever-changing moods.

Culture

The Cost of Queendom

December 17, 2024

One summer afternoon in New York, a few days after their New York premiere of the acclaimed documentary Queendom, office met up with documentary filmmaker Agniia Galdanova and producer Igor Myakotin at a tattoo parlor on the west side of Manhattan. While Agniia received a tattoo of the portmanteau “DOCU CUNT” across her fists, she — unfazed by the needle on her knuckles — answered our questions alongside Igor about the making of the stirring story that has traveled around the world.

One of the opening scenes of Queendom depicts a ritual many of us are all too familiar with in the 21st century. Jenna Marvin, the documentary film’s central subject, takes her friend along with her to take photos for Instagram. When she finds a suitable backdrop, she poses, poses, poses, and then reviews the photos. Dissatisfied, she gives her notes, and then returns to pose, pose, pose again.

By Brook Aster
Photos by Liv Solomon

The ritual may be familiar, but nothing else about the scene — from its setting to its stakes — is ordinary. The backdrop behind Jenna is a sweeping expanse of ice and snow in a small Russian port town called Magadan. Jenna is dressed in drag, but not drag of the Rupaul’s Drag Race variety; her drag has been referred to as “creature drag.” Her signature white face paint, platform heels and surrealist costumes, with their exaggerated sculptural proportions and use of duct tape and repurposed items, catches the ire of her neighbors and the love of online admirers alike. Jenna eventually accrued a following on social media for her public and technically illegal drag performances, which often involved little more than her walking or being in public spaces but nevertheless were often met with abuse and threats of imprisonment.

But when Agniia first encountered Jenna, she hadn’t yet reached the level of virality that would eventually come in the years to follow. The filmmaker was researching different drag performers in Russia for her sophomore project, which she thought would be a docuseries, when she heard from a friend about a young drag queen from Magadan. “I was like, this is impossible. I have to meet this person,” Agniia remembers. “And I could not actually go meet her because I was in Moscow and she was in Saint Petersburg, so I sent a friend of mine with whom I’d been studying with in film school, and she went and filmed the sample.” The simple video, showing Jenna and her friend getting dressed up for a party, struck something in Agniia. The drag was an earlier, more prototypical version of the style Jenna is now known for; less duct tape and ornamentation, but still that signature striking makeup. “Something sparked. I knew I just had to stick to this feeling,” Agniia says. She decided to turn the docuseries into a documentary solely focused on Jenna.

Around that time, the entire world came to a grinding halt: the onset of COVID-19 pandemic had just led to lockdowns around the globe. With only a couple thousand followers on social media at that point in time, Jenna had tried to branch out and connect with other drag artists in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, but faced rejection; her drag was extremely unconventional, and not even other drag artists quite understood it. “I think we found each other at the right moment, because nobody knew what to do, how to cope with all this,” Agniia says. “Jenna was saying that she was lost, and she also didn't know how to develop her art next.”

Unlike some of the other artists Agniia had initially researched, Jenna didn’t need much convincing to allow the camera into her life. “[Especially] after COVID came, there wasn't really [any] drag in my life,” Jenna recounts when I speak to her later over Zoom. “I realized that what drag is for me is not just a costume, a dress, something that you leave, that you take off and then in the dead of the night you put back on. Later, I understood that this is who I am, that I am art and I am drag, and that this is way bigger and more important than just clothing or costume.”

[LEFT TO RIGHT: Agniia Galdanova, Jenna Marvin, Igor Myakotin]

When it came time to move into production stages, Agniia sent a clip to Igor, who had been referred to her by a past colleague. When Igor saw the footage, he was similarly struck by Jenna — and even more struck to find out she shared his small hometown of Magadan. “It was just so fateful to know that I also come from this town, and I've never seen it through this cinematic lens, through the vision that Agniia has,” he says. “I was mesmerized by the footage, mesmerized by Jenna. I thought to myself, I have to do everything I can [for us] to work together, whatever the collaboration is gonna be.”

The two followed Jenna for over three years; Agniia first relocated to St. Petersburg, where Jenna had taken up residence after leaving her grandparents’ home in Magadan, and later Jenna moved in with Agniia in her home in Moscow. All the while, Igor and his team worked remotely from the United States to meet Agniia’s production needs. Inevitably, with all their time spent together, Agniia and Jenna became close.

“There is an unspoken rule in documentary filmmaking that you have to keep this line, and you can’t overcome certain boundaries,” Agniia explains. “In my first film, it was not an easy subject [to do this with] as well. I was following a family for seven months, and [we became] close, but I always was trying to keep my distance, and was constantly thinking about it. How much should I say? How much should I give?” But as she got to know Jenna, it became clear that this time, that distance wouldn’t be possible. “With Jenna almost from the very beginning, I was like, fuck it. That’s not going to work with this one. I'm going to break this rule 100%. I never regretted it, because that's actually what built up the trust that is there.”

As Jenna's public performances continued and began to garner more public attention, her online audience multiplied. Among her virtual admirers was French fashion maven Michèle Lamy, who would eventually sign onto Queendom as an executive producer. Lamy's discovery of Jenna led to an invitation to walk in the Rick Owens show in Paris — her first time modeling, and her first time leaving Russia in her life. Of course, Agniia and her camera followed. But most of their excursions were not so glamorous; many of Jenna's performances shown in the documentary were undertaken at a real risk to her physical safety, and by extension, to the safety of Agniia. But neither of them were daunted.

I remember who I am. And this is what carries me through this life.

After all, Jenna was used to both taking risks and documenting them well before she was the subject of a film; she and her friends long filmed the often impassioned, sometimes violent reactions of strangers and policemen to their mere existence in public spaces in drag. And after a protest performance in which she wrapped herself in the Russian flag, Jenna was kicked out of beauty school, her last attempt at a practical route before pursuing her drag as a full time venture.

The only time Agniia tried to dissuade her was on Paratrooper’s Day, a Russian military holiday often characterized by the drunk soldiers roaming the streets. The risk for violence was especially high. “On Paratroopers Day, people say you can't come out in skinny jeans or with nail polish,” Jenna describes. “[I think] you should do the opposite. You should really make a statement and come out wearing what you want to wear. I think that clothes, what we wear, is really at some point beyond our psyche, our mind, our understanding. It is as if it's a certain kind of spice that is enticing you and you follow the scent of that spice and you don't see anything else except that scent and you follow it. That's how I see it.”

“I was like, ‘girl, maybe we should not do that,’” Agniia says. “Igor was stressing out and she told us, ‘well, you don't need to follow me. I'm gonna go and do it. I don't care if you're coming or not.’” In the end, Jenna ventured out for her performance anyway, protesting the then-recent invasion of Ukraine. Agniia followed. Not shown in the film is that the two were arrested, and managed to talk the police out of their arrest.

Not too long after, she would have to leave Russia again, this time moving for Paris for good; the film follows her struggles to get a visa in time to leave the country after the onset of the war. “It's already been three years that I've been in France, and it is important for me to understand and remember who I am, and to remember that pain, those moments when we were back in Russia doing drag, fighting with the police and law enforcement,” Jenna says. “It is important that this resistance continues and that those voices are not being silenced. Yes, here there’s much more freedom, there are pride parades and queer people can get married, but this is an illusion because there are also places where you cannot get married and you cannot enjoy the same freedoms. I cling to who I am, who I was from the very beginning. I remember who I am. And this is what carries me through this life.”

“Meeting Jenna gave me hope for the future of the country, because governments come and go, people in power come and go, but the generations change at the same time,” Igor says. “So it warms my heart to see that someone like her came from somewhere like that. If I saw her back then at a similar age, it would be even more personal. I think I would’ve accepted myself as gay quicker, and I wouldn't be nervous or closed and not open to the world or myself… Working with this project also meant that we were amplifying the voices of many, many people who couldn't speak like Jenna could.”

For Agniia, the honor of telling Jenna's story is only paralleled by the honor of having her in her life. “We found each other,” Agniia says. “And what I learned from Jenna is so precious; about life, about art, about surviving. And I appreciate it a lot. This film grew so much larger than just a documentary, because I have a family now, a working family.”

Queendom is now available to stream on Apple TV.