Dirt | Substack

Some have claimed that virtual garments will surpass physical but I don't believe that will ever happen. I do however think we can expect to see digital techniques and an aesthetic established in the virtual world informing the structure and finishes of products IRL.

How might our view of the world be altered by uncanny fashion? We could look to architecture for precedent on this question. Speculative architecture is either a radical way of conceiving unbuilt futures or “the design world’s clickbait,” depending on how you look at it. 

These buildings aren’t habitable, but we can imagine inhabiting them. These clothes aren’t real, but we can imagine wearing them–in fact, if we accept the term “clothing” in relation to an object we make it real. The metaverse equivalent of the Meat Dress.

What does it mean for something to be real or unreal when so much of digital life operates at the level of symbols?

Social media made us experts in forming opinions about things we can see but not touch.

What happens in the metaverse doesn’t stay in the metaverse. In this way, virtual garments are a bit like bootlegs. The fake (sign) may not subsume the real (reference), but it exerts power over the way the original is perceived. Eventually, they almost need each other to stay culturally relevant.