<p>The online metaverse is coming and if we're going to be spending more time in virtual worlds, there's one crucial question: What are you going to wear?</p>.<p>"When I first started talking about this, my friends were like, 'What are you talking about?'" said 27-year-old Daniella Loftus.</p>.<p>"But my 14-year-old cousins understood it immediately."</p>.<p>For many, the idea of buying clothes that don't exist is a conceptual leap too far.</p>.<p>But emerging digital fashion stores are tapping into a growing market -- not actual clothes but digitally generated outfits that stores simply photoshop onto a customer's photos or videos to be posted onto Instagram and elsewhere.</p>.<p>Soon they are likely to become a way to dress your avatar when interacting in online games and meeting places, all potentially while reclining in sweat pants in your own home.</p>.<p>British influencer Loftus sees so much potential that last month she gave up her job with a fashion consultancy to devote herself full-time to her website, This Outfit Does Not Exist.</p>.<p>Her Instagram shows the potential of virtual clothing that doesn't need to obey the laws of physics -- from a shimmering silver liquid pant suit with tentacles, to a wobbling pink creation with lasers firing out of her bustier.</p>.<p>"Digital is coming to overtake physical. Kids are asking each other: 'What skin did you have in this game yesterday?'" said Loftus.</p>.<p>Isabelle Boemeke, a Brazilian model and influencer, is already an avid buyer of digital outfits.</p>.<p>Online, she is known as Isodope and merges high fashion with a serious commitment to clean energy and environmental activism.</p>.<p>Her other-worldly style fits neatly with her message.</p>.<p>"I wanted to do something very eye-catching and bold. If my videos featured me wearing a T-shirt and jeans, they wouldn't have the same appeal," Boemeke told AFP.</p>.<p>"Models nowadays have the freedom to share more about their personal lives and personalities. I'm a big nerd and I love expressing myself in different ways through fashion or makeup."</p>.<p>That's the demand, so the supply is coming fast.</p>.<p>Outfits on digital fashion store DressX range from $25 hats to strange jellyfish-like dresses for hundreds of dollars.</p>.<p>"Every brand in the future will be on board with digital fashion," said DressX co-founder Daria Shapovalova.</p>.<p>Its own research says 15 percent of customers are doing so for Instagram posts, and almost a quarter found it satisfied their need for a new item of clothing.</p>.<p>"You don't necessarily need physicality to experience the thrill of wearing an extraordinary garment," said Michaela Larosse, of The Fabricant, which sold the first ever digital-only dress in May 2019 for $9,500.</p>.<p>"We will all have a digital self, we'll have an avatar and you'll be able to communicate something about yourself, who you are, what you're interested in, through the iteration of your avatar."</p>.<p>Environmental concerns are also key to their appeal.</p>.<p>The traditional fashion industry is one of the biggest pollutants and waste generators on the planet -- a point made by Extinction Rebellion protesters who stormed the Louis Vuitton catwalk in Paris on Tuesday.</p>.<p>"I know many women who buy an outfit, wear it once for a single photo and never again," said Boemeke.</p>.<p>"They could reduce consumption and waste by using digital fashion for a few of those posts."</p>.<p>The pandemic was an obvious accelerator for these businesses.</p>.<p>"People were stuck at home with nothing to do. They had nowhere to wear those beautiful clothes," said Loftus.</p>.<p>She is clear that digital fashion is not yet for everyone -- and may never be.</p>.<p>"I don't know if a lot of the people who do this stuff online actually want to meet people in person. I think that a lot of their needs and desires can be satisfied online," said Loftus.</p>.<p>It may also prove a great leveller -- a way for anti-social people to (almost literally) shed their skin and adopt another.</p>.<p>"You might be an accountant with a wife, kids, and you're happy being quite mundane in real life, but then the way you want to express yourself in these virtual worlds is totally different," she said.</p>.<p><strong>Check out DH's latest videos</strong></p>
<p>The online metaverse is coming and if we're going to be spending more time in virtual worlds, there's one crucial question: What are you going to wear?</p>.<p>"When I first started talking about this, my friends were like, 'What are you talking about?'" said 27-year-old Daniella Loftus.</p>.<p>"But my 14-year-old cousins understood it immediately."</p>.<p>For many, the idea of buying clothes that don't exist is a conceptual leap too far.</p>.<p>But emerging digital fashion stores are tapping into a growing market -- not actual clothes but digitally generated outfits that stores simply photoshop onto a customer's photos or videos to be posted onto Instagram and elsewhere.</p>.<p>Soon they are likely to become a way to dress your avatar when interacting in online games and meeting places, all potentially while reclining in sweat pants in your own home.</p>.<p>British influencer Loftus sees so much potential that last month she gave up her job with a fashion consultancy to devote herself full-time to her website, This Outfit Does Not Exist.</p>.<p>Her Instagram shows the potential of virtual clothing that doesn't need to obey the laws of physics -- from a shimmering silver liquid pant suit with tentacles, to a wobbling pink creation with lasers firing out of her bustier.</p>.<p>"Digital is coming to overtake physical. Kids are asking each other: 'What skin did you have in this game yesterday?'" said Loftus.</p>.<p>Isabelle Boemeke, a Brazilian model and influencer, is already an avid buyer of digital outfits.</p>.<p>Online, she is known as Isodope and merges high fashion with a serious commitment to clean energy and environmental activism.</p>.<p>Her other-worldly style fits neatly with her message.</p>.<p>"I wanted to do something very eye-catching and bold. If my videos featured me wearing a T-shirt and jeans, they wouldn't have the same appeal," Boemeke told AFP.</p>.<p>"Models nowadays have the freedom to share more about their personal lives and personalities. I'm a big nerd and I love expressing myself in different ways through fashion or makeup."</p>.<p>That's the demand, so the supply is coming fast.</p>.<p>Outfits on digital fashion store DressX range from $25 hats to strange jellyfish-like dresses for hundreds of dollars.</p>.<p>"Every brand in the future will be on board with digital fashion," said DressX co-founder Daria Shapovalova.</p>.<p>Its own research says 15 percent of customers are doing so for Instagram posts, and almost a quarter found it satisfied their need for a new item of clothing.</p>.<p>"You don't necessarily need physicality to experience the thrill of wearing an extraordinary garment," said Michaela Larosse, of The Fabricant, which sold the first ever digital-only dress in May 2019 for $9,500.</p>.<p>"We will all have a digital self, we'll have an avatar and you'll be able to communicate something about yourself, who you are, what you're interested in, through the iteration of your avatar."</p>.<p>Environmental concerns are also key to their appeal.</p>.<p>The traditional fashion industry is one of the biggest pollutants and waste generators on the planet -- a point made by Extinction Rebellion protesters who stormed the Louis Vuitton catwalk in Paris on Tuesday.</p>.<p>"I know many women who buy an outfit, wear it once for a single photo and never again," said Boemeke.</p>.<p>"They could reduce consumption and waste by using digital fashion for a few of those posts."</p>.<p>The pandemic was an obvious accelerator for these businesses.</p>.<p>"People were stuck at home with nothing to do. They had nowhere to wear those beautiful clothes," said Loftus.</p>.<p>She is clear that digital fashion is not yet for everyone -- and may never be.</p>.<p>"I don't know if a lot of the people who do this stuff online actually want to meet people in person. I think that a lot of their needs and desires can be satisfied online," said Loftus.</p>.<p>It may also prove a great leveller -- a way for anti-social people to (almost literally) shed their skin and adopt another.</p>.<p>"You might be an accountant with a wife, kids, and you're happy being quite mundane in real life, but then the way you want to express yourself in these virtual worlds is totally different," she said.</p>.<p><strong>Check out DH's latest videos</strong></p>