Is there room in the metaverse for indie fashion labels? Australian designers hope so

As high-end fashion conglomerates rush to invest in virtual reality fashion, small players are making moves too

In the designer Denni Francisco's new film, models wearing clothes from her label Ngali wander through a virtual landscape. Using this digital medium, it was possible to take her collection on location, despite being in lockdown and unable to travel.

This was particularly important for Francisco, a Wiradjuri woman, as the landscape used in the film is based on Taungurung Country, in central Victoria, where Francisco was born, and her daughter now lives. She says when she's designing, connection to Country is at the forefront of her mind. We're often talking about how what we do belongs to Country, how it's connected to Country and how it has a rightful place in Country," she says.

The VR film will premiere not at a fashion event, but at Melbourne International Games Week. Francisco is one of seven apparel and accessories designers included in a digital fashion incubator project, an initiative of Creative Victoria, that saw independent Victorian designers collaborate with Melbourne-based AR/VR studio Ignition Immersive. Some projects, like Francisco's, are artistic while others are more pragmatic, allowing would-be customers to virtually try accessories at home using AR filters.