It’s been nearly three years since the runway was up and in full motion for New York’s Fashion Week. In a six-day fully-packed schedule, designers from around the world gathered to showcase their Spring/Summer 2023 collection for the upcoming seasons.
On Wednesday, September 14, the last day of the fashion extravaganza, Chinese American fashion designer Vivienne Tam, known for drawing on her Guangzhou cultural roots, took her designs and style further than ever before, straight into the metaverse.
The designers’ runway outfits incorporated familiar avatars from well-known NFT collections — Bored Ape Yacht Club, CryptoPunks, and Awkward Astronauts, to mention a few. The embroidery and various silhouettes mixed well with Tam’s high-tech partnership with Asia’s leading digital asset service, First Digital Trust, which bridges the gap between equities and crypto.
“I’m so excited to bridge the future with First Digital, making art, crypto, and fashion more safe and secure,” she said on this season’s sponsorship.
In an effort to merge the world of fashion and Web3, Tam designed shirts worn by models that incorporate First Digital’s brand on the runway with the message “Guardians of the Metaverse” — positioning First Digital as gatekeepers between the physical and digital worlds.
In addition, the partnership introduces the audience to First Digital as the custodian of choice for Tam’s future NFT collection that she will design. The designer aims to bring her designs and style to the metaverse and NFTs through the support of First Digital.
First Digital provides a new level of security and safety for NFT owners and a way to safeguard NFTs for generations to come. First Digital plans to officially announce its NFT custody solution to the market in Q4 2022, leading as one of the first providers offering institutional-grade security of digital assets, including NFTs.
“The fashion and luxury industry are increasingly following the evolution of technology by entering the world of crypto and blockchain. Many industries are already participating in the digital assets space, but fashion is one industry with the potential to drive mass crypto adoption in attractive forms,” says Vincent Chok, CEO of First Digital, on the industry’s opportunities.
With many brands and designers already entering the crypto ecosystem, like Tiffany & Co., who announced its first NFT collection earlier in August, there is an increasing need for trusted services for digital assets.
“First Digital is proud to sponsor Vivienne Tam, a designer whose works resonate with our company with its Chinese heritage and ties to Hong Kong, bridging East with the West, just as this partnership is bridging physical with digital. We hope this is the first of many exciting collaborations with Vivienne,” Chok says on the sponsorship.
To bridge the physical and digital divide, First Digital moves first in solutions that power the digital asset industry, servicing fintech innovators, including blockchain start-ups, money service businesses, and token issuers.