Hanifa's 3D Fashion Show May Have Influenced the Fashion Industry Forever
By Imani Johnson - May 23, 2020
Hanifa, a small fashion brand with less than 200k followers on Instagram put on a virtual fashion presentation, May 22nd 2020 using 3D models that just broke fashion barriers
In the midst of this pandemic the fashion industry has really been thrown for a loop. Major businesses are declaring bankruptcy and many brick and mortar establishments are closing down.
Many brands within the fashion industry are attempting to figure out ways to present their collections during fashion week in a COVID-19 world. Kerby Jean Raymond of Pyer Moss solution to the problem is to have a drive in fashion event in September. Carine Roitfeld, Bazaar's fashion director on May 1st had a virtual fashion show for her annual amfAR gala to raise money to fight COVID-19, which featured models catwalking in their homes.
Anifa Mvuemba the designer of Hanifa is on the cutting edge of this virtual fashion show movement with her 3D presentation. The collection, which was presented live on @hanifabridal Instagram Stories Friday, begins with an explanation of the inspiration of her collection and how she designed it in order to raise awareness of the injustices caused by illegal mining of her home country in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Then the fashion show begins, the first look walking down an invisible runway with a black background and the clothes being worn by just a shape of a body where a model would usually be. The 3D clothes trotting down this runway flowing, bouncing, pulling, moving around where there would normally be limbs, and a body. It was innovation to the highest degree.
Hanifa Pink Label Capsule Collection available now at Hanifa.co
3D software is nothing new, it has been around since the 70's and has since been improved throughout the years as technology often is but, it's initiation to the fashion industry has been slow. Iris van Herpen has normalized the use of 3D printing, some companies are now conducting fittings and creating samples using 3D models, and in 2018 Carlings launched a collection of clothes that were completely digital (as in do not physically exist) that completely sold out.
The epidemic and Hanifa's innovative 3D fashion show raises some questions about how this may effect the future of the way collections are presented in the fashion industry. As fashion followers we are left wondering:
Will other companies start following suit?
Will Instagram or YouTube be the main medium to present 3D Collections?
Since anyone can access 3D software and social media, is this the beginning to the potential democratization of the fashion industry?
Is this the end of in person fashion shows? If so, will this cause the fashion industry to become even more of a global community since the whole world can see these shows via the internet without jetsetting to major fashion week destinations Paris, London, NYC, and Milan?
How will this effect runway fashion photography? Will we all just be screenshotting the looks?
Is this the end to runway models?
Is this the beginning to more size inclusive fashion show presentations?
We could go on and on about the effects this could potentially have on the fashion industry and how it will respond. Until then we'll just have to wait and see.
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