GEMMA SHEPPARD SHAPES NEW FASHION FRONTIER AS WORLD’S FIRST STYLIST IN METAVERSE

British fashion guru Gemma Sheppard has become the world’s first fashion stylist to join the metaverse – a collection of immersive, real-time 3D worlds where people work, play and communicate using avatars.

Renowned for her fashion-forward styling and longstanding career in fashion and television, Gemma has spent over 20 years working with a host of luxury and high street fashion and lifestyle brands, plus iconic designers including Tom Ford, Alexander McQueen and Daphne Guinness. Her work on Channel 5’s award-winning makeover show 10 Years Younger In 10 Days – helping people with their design style – has been widely acclaimed.

Opening a new chapter in a changing world of fashion, Gemma is collaborating with Metaventures – an investment firm that backs metaverse startups – in the gaming platform Roblox to provide virtual styling services for fashion fanatics, helping to create and customise wardrobes for their digital identities. Metaventures recently led an £5.8m investment into Dubit, the UK’s largest Roblox developer. Together Metaventures and Dubit create consumer lifestyle experiences including concerts and fashion shows for the metaverse.

Gemma’s move into cyber fashion follows a recent desire from Roblox to increase the social experience of its vast audience of 43.2 million daily active users by making avatars more life-like and customisable with new layered clothing, hair and accessories. Consumers purchase avatar shop items using a virtual currency called Robux.

Through the metaverse, Gemma is reinventing the fashion styling wheel by using her own Roblox avatar to supply in-game styling to consumers via virtual try-ons, look books and personal styling showrooms. Gemma’s unrivalled expertise is available to any Roblox user who wants to express themselves through digital clothing, mixing and matching various styles to get the look they need.

This spring, Gemma and Metaventures are also staging the first Metaverse Fashion Week (metaversefashionweek.co) which will feature brands and personalities from the fashion world, new creations and fantastic combinations, to inspire a new generation of fashion fans.

Gemma Sheppard says: “I’m never afraid to evolve – call it the chameleon in me – and I’m overjoyed to be at the forefront of this new chapter of fashion. Trust me, metaverse fashion is a digital trend that is going to grow and grow. Endless designers have already dipped their toes into selling products virtually and at this year’s Met Gala, usual party pictures were ditched in favour of turning celebrity guests into 3D avatars.

“The metaverse is the place where anyone can express themselves through fashion so for brands it’s untapped territory for connecting with customers and also road-testing new designs because if it’s popular in the metaverse, it’ll likely fly in store. I’m super intrigued by the idea of uniting real and virtual life.

“Roblox has been ahead of the game for years as a place to design virtual fashion so as the first fashion stylist to work in the metaverse I’m ready for my avatar to take that to another level by helping people explore fashion in a 3D world where creativity is limitless. It feels amazing to be part of something so inclusive and environmentally friendly. Everyone is becoming more mindful about reducing clothing consumption and in the metaverse there’s zero waste – just maximum innovation and self-expression!”

Matthew Warneford, founder and chief executive of Metaventures says: “We are very excited to expand the Metaventures portfolio into the fashion world. We firmly believe that the future of entertainment, music, fashion and education lies in the metaverse. Our collaboration with Gemma Sheppard and the launch of the Metaverse Fashion Week will open the door for fashion brands to talk directly to the next generation.”

Dubbed ‘fashion’s go-to playground’, the metaverse is fast becoming a go-to destination for fashion brands who want to target a new generation of fashion consumers and is garnering huge press attention including recently in The Sunday Times. In the past 12 months, leading designers including Burberry, Gucci, Vans and Stella McCartney created and sold digital clothing in the metaverse. Last year Roblox, which can be accessed on desktop and mobile, saw a virtual Gucci bag sell for 350,000 Robux or £3,016.