The whoosh of white noise in outer space. A giant glowing orange sphere. A white sand landscape with a rolling robot camera bolting around at high speed. That was Ambush designer Yoon Ahn’s otherworldly vision brought to life on the runway for the first time.
Like something out of the film “Dune,” it was exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. And soon you’ll be able to see it in the metaverse.
For all the buzz in fashion about NFTs and the metaverse, very little in the way of tech, even tech talk, has made it to Milan Fashion Week.
An exception was New Guards-backed Ambush, started by Ahn and hip-hop singer Verbal as a jewelry collection in 2008, which in 2016 expanded to ready-to-wear.
The precocious robot was filming the spectacle for Ambush Silver Fctry, the Ambush metaverse launching in March. Unlike other fashion projects in the space, the new world will exist on the web on its own, rather than as part of Decentraland, for example. (Info was available through a QR code at the show venue door.)
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On the runway at least, the new world leader was Bella Hadid, strutting the planet surface with slicked back hair, wearing a black maxi coat nipped at the waist, a barely there mini and buckled thigh-high fetish boots.
“I want to present who these characters are,” Ahn said.
To clothe them, the designer homed in on elongated silhouettes, statement tailoring with near military precious and tactile outerwear with attitude. An oversize blazer with black leather bodice, and cargo jacket with leather collar, were particularly gorgeous, sharp but shaped at the waist for sex appeal.
In a season of so many shearlings, Ahn’s cropped flight jacket, shaped at the waist and with sweetheart collar, was a knockout. Cutout and twisted black jersey dresses and gowns had real sophistication, and the swinging wood beaded fringe on some added a handmade, artisanal quality to the future aesthetic.
In addition to twisted silver earrings, cuffs and collars, Ahn pushed her jewelry technique into clothing, on a chic silver chain mail tank dress, and into accessories; see the “A” chains adorning heart shaped bags.
Men’s padded leather vests, second-skin tops and moto pants completed Ahn’s 360-degree view. She’s building a compelling, future-thinking brand narrative; now it would seem, the sky’s the limit.