With the pandemic changing the way we live, the fashion industry has been adapting under the ever-changing restrictions, lockdowns, and quarantines. Already before all of this, we have reached a point where the online world is no longer separate from the offline and it has led to the gamification of many parts of our lives.
According to findings in Highsnobiety's new White Paper, the gaming industry is altering the consumer landscape and challenging norms around marketing, entertainment, and community-building. But what does that mean for fashion?
Luxury brands like Gucci and Balenciaga have already started making inroads into the gaming space, issuing virtual garments for sandbox worlds or creating their own video games altogether. But in an industry just as diverse as the world it mirrors, winning over new consumers isn’t as easy as dropping a virtual sneaker. As in real life, newcomers can raise suspicions in online communities — particularly those who have a marketing mission.
Of course, fashion and video game crossovers are nothing new. Luxury retailers like Louis Vuitton have already attempted to lure gamers by casting avatars in IRL campaigns (in 2016, they featured Lightning from the Final Fantasy series)
They also partnered with “League of Legends”: an online multiplayer battle arena video game. A capsule collection was released by LV as part of their collaboration. Yes, it is an excellent marketing strategy, but bringing gaming into high-end fashion benefits video games too. Avatars endorsing brands work in a similar vein to how celebrities and sports teams push products onto their followings. These collaborations give video games and e-sports like “League of Legends” recognition and attach cultural value to them.
Brands can expand and develop consumer loyalty beyond traditional advertising and social media by using video games to commodify play while simultaneously manipulating the emotional connection players have with the games. In 2018, Hermès developed the game H-Pitchhh for their annual jumping competition, Saut Hermès, at the Grand Palais. The mobile video game requires players to launch horseshoes close to the stake.
Gaming is simply another avenue for fashion houses and beauty brands to expand their reach. Just take the plateauing attention Instagram advertising was getting from its customers when TikTok started becoming increasingly popular in 2019 and 2020.
Brands had to shift their focus to a new platform and a new way of broadcasting. Plenty of other unforeseen fellowships was formed in the wake of in-game advertisement: last year, Travis Scott held virtual concerts on “Fortnite”. The shows garnered millions of viewers who enjoyed the performance via their avatars and attendees could also get their hands on exclusive “skins” and merchandise for their avatars.
These partnerships are highly profitable for all parties involved. When Moschino partnered with “The Sims” it enabled tens of millions of players to choose outfits from the brand for their avatars. Their clothes usually cost hundreds of pounds, yet “The Sims” democratizes luxury fashion. Arguably, while making these brands accessible is a positive step towards the democratization of fashion, it is perpetuating our ideals of status from the real world. Are brands simply manipulating the inevitable consumer patterns that exist in the digital world that is so much like the real world?
“Animal Crossing: New Horizons” (2020) was a lifeline this year, giving its users a chance at escapism, a brief moment of normalcy in a digital microcosm. As a “social simulation” video game, players simply control and customize their avatars and fulfill tasks for Tom Nook.
There were collaborations from prominent designers, such as Valentino and Marc Jacobs, while brands like Gillette appeared too, focusing on in-game beauty. Beyond the idea of a digital escape in the midst of a pandemic, “Animal Crossing” reveals how consumer behaviors in the physical world also exist in the digital.
The collaborations between fashion houses and video games have done more than just help each of the industries make a tidy profit. They have democratized high-end fashion to a certain extent: with social media, you can see luxury fashion from influencers, but video games offer ownership, even if it is restricted to the digital realm. The dichotomy between the real and the virtual is now seemingly close. The distribution of luxury fashion in video games has helped create communities and bring identity to players’ avatars through customization and status.
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