Valentino launches metaverse collection

Updated on: 18 July 2023

Justinas Vainilavičius
Senior Journalist

From Barbiecore aesthetics to the Roman fashion house classics, you can now dress your metaverse avatar in head-to-toe Valentino.

The Italian luxury brand has teamed up with Meta to offer six digital fashion looks inspired by its collections, including hot pink outfits from PinkPP line and Maison Valentino “essentials.”

Users can also opt for clothes featuring Valentino’s signature Toile Iconographe and panther patterns, or have their digital likeness wear its latest offering: Valentino Garavani Rockstud ballerina pumps.

Six full looks are now available on Meta Avatars Store, a fashion marketplace that Meta launched a year ago with inaugural collections from the likes of Balenciaga, Prada, and Thome Browne.

While luxury fashion comes with a matching price tag in real life, digital designer pieces on Avatars Store can be bought for less than $10, offering brands another opportunity to tap into a mass market without sacrificing the aura of exclusivity.

Meta avatars can be used and customized throughout its massive portfolio of social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

Just last week, Meta’s VP of Metaverse Vishal Shah announced in a Threads post that users will be able to appear as their avatars in real-time calls on Messenger and Instagram “when you’re just not feeling camera-ready.”

In a recent interview with Fortune, he said that “the metaverse hype is dead,” but that means his team can now “put their heads down and build.”

With Meta focused on outrivaling Twitter with Threads, its own micro-blogging platform, and putting new importance on AI research, one could be forgiven to forget that the metaverse was, until recently, CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s top obsession.

While 2022 failed to be a turning point for his virtual reality project, which cost Meta almost $14 billion in losses, the shift in focus does not mean that the dream’s over.

Earlier this summer, the company unveiled Meta Quest 3, its new virtual reality headset set to compete with Apple’s much anticipated Vision Pro.

The entry of another tech giant into the field could mean that the game’s just beginning – with big names sticking around and new ones stepping in.