Parsons and Roblox partner to educate on fashion and digital trends
The concept of the metaverse has been around for nearly 20 years, though audiences have only really started to engage with what it has to offer in recent years thanks to popular platforms and tech companies like Roblox.
Now, the metaverse is getting a little more fashionable thanks to a multi-faceted partnership between Parsons School of Design and Roblox that includes a collaborative course where students will create hyper-realistic and inclusive 3D digital apparel. The association also includes the Metaverse Fashion Trends 2022 report, which highlights the importance of self-expression through digital identity and avatar style for members of Generation Z who have grown up socializing on platforms like Roblox.
“Partnering with Roblox offers Parsons students working in creative technologies an exciting opportunity to engage in the complex intersection of visual culture and social structure, and to play with how we create meaning when we dress, in worlds. digital and physical,” says Shana Agid, PhD, Dean of the School of Art and Media Technology at the Parsons School of Design. “We are excited to see how students’ diverse experiential knowledge, along with their research, critical thinking, and digital and visual design skills, shape the future of these spaces.”
Parsons faculty members are leading the development of The New School’s next wave of fashion design with experts in creativity, education, and marketing at Roblox. The course will be available to Parsons students during the spring semester of 2023 and will equip students with the training and tools to prepare for the changing media and self-expression of the future.
In the collaborative, production-driven 16-week course, students and faculty will begin to explore the intricate relationship between digital and physical fashion in an immersive future. The curriculum focuses on digital and physical fashion research and prototyping for immersive environments, including proof-of-concept prototypes that students will create on Roblox.
Students will learn how to apply the latest technologies to create inclusive, hyper-realistic 3D digital garments that fit any body type, and will have the opportunity to work with experienced fashion designers from the Parsons and Roblox communities to further the experiential nature of fashion. digital fashion for our future presence. Ultimately, students will be able to create a retail experience with their physical and digital apparel and accessories at Parsons and the Roblox Avatar Marketplace.
In addition to the new course, Parsons and Roblox also released the Metaverse Fashion Trends 2022 report, which offers timely research and analysis of trends in digital fashion and self-expression among Gen Z consumers who are active on Roblox. Combining a wealth of behavioral data from the Roblox platform and survey responses from 1,000 Gen Z respondents living in the US*, the report offers an in-depth look at the consumer preferences of those who they are familiar with self-expression through digital identity and fashion.
“Generation Z consumers spend more time in immersive social spaces like Roblox, where they have been expressing themselves through their creations and digital style preferences for more than a decade,” says Christina Wootton, Roblox’s vice president of global partnerships. “With its growing economic power and fashion influence, trends from the metaverse are expected to have a profound impact on physical fashion, while trends from the physical world will continue to move into the metaverse as well. The data obtained for this report further underscores why the next generation of fashion designers and brands will dive deep into digital fashion: they will design digital collections and wear avatars.”
“Collaborating on this research with Roblox has made it even clearer that self-expression through digital fashion is important for digital natives and Generation Z,” says Ben Barry, PhD, Dean and Associate Professor of Equity and Inclusion at the Parsons Fashion School. . “Designers of the future will need to create in 3D and push the boundaries of creativity with apparel, accessories and collections unique to the metaverse that can be made available at lightning speed to millions of consumers around the world on platforms like Roblox. As we prepare the next generation of fashion designers for their careers, we look forward to a future where this creative profession is accessible to all through the latest technology and creator innovation.”
A virtual panel hosted by Roblox and Parsons School of Design on November 2, 2022, starting at 9:30am PT/12:30pm PT. ”. RSVP here to hear expert insights on the research and what’s to come in digital fashion.
key ideas of the Metaverse Fashion Trends 2022 report include:
- With Gen Z spending more time socializing, creating, and expressing themselves in immersive social spaces, the demand for digital fashion, its widespread impact and, consequently, its prestige are on the rise.
- Half of respondents say they are changing their avatar’s clothes at least every week, and during 2 in 5 self-expression (through clothing and accessories in the digital world) is already MORE important than expressing yourself in the physical world.
- Just like in the physical world, community members on platforms like Roblox tends to Connect and react to others based on their appearance and clothing.which can have a profound impact on their self-confidence and their relationships.
- Nearly 3 in 4 say they will spend money on digital fashionY two-thirds are excited to use branded virtual items on their Roblox avatars.
- Respondents note the importance of having various customization options by their ups and downs, and the vast majority also agree with the Importance of digital clothing designs being inclusive.
- Findings from the full report also discuss the most popular metaverse fashion styles and best-selling clothing categories, what Gen Z consumers’ virtual wardrobes and digital fashion budgets look like, and more.
- Download the 2022 Metaverse Fashion Trends report here.
*Methodology: For the latest consumer insight data, Roblox, in partnership with Parsons School of Design, commissioned a survey by Momentive (makers of the SurveyMonkey platform) conducted September 19-21, 2022, among 1,000 Americans from 14 to 24, living in the United States. The sample has been balanced by gender using the Census Bureau American Community Survey to reflect the demographic composition of the US population in that age range.