Co-founder of the Institute of Digital Fashion, Leanne Elliott Young, transported The Standard, London’s Townhouse 8 to the Metaverse with her birthday party last week.
As one of the founders the IoDF -- a think-tank and collective that is pioneering the future of digital fashion with immersive digital solutions, innovation and sustainable direction -- Leanne’s work takes her between digital and physical worlds daily.
Her birthday party paid homage to that, from the theme to the augmented reality activations within the space. We caught up with the self-professed ‘Metaverse Mama’ after her birthday bash and got the lowdown on her URL vs IRL party and her many other exciting projects.
Tell us about the concept behind your birthday party at The Standard Townhouse?
We wanted to explore How do we exist in a world that is simultaneously digital and physical? Considering what does an IRL party in the metaverse look like? I spend my world with feet in both spaces so wanted to bring that to my community and celebrate that for one night. The Standard, London's Townhouse 8 was a perfect venue to roll this out. The whole event was grounded in celebration, With my London family on the decks Lucia Blayke, Nadine Noor and Talia Darling alongside Danni Spooner and Yung Reenie go-go dancing throughout the event, who was wrapped in nothing but IoDF tape.
Tell us about other digital moments you had at your IRL party?
We brought digital fashion to the IRL moment through augmented reality activations bringing the metaverse experience to the evening’s guests. We showcased a reimagined “Series 002” of IoDF’s iconic industry’s first Red Carpet NFT celebrating our 2021 Fashion Awards activation. People danced all night most semi-naked dressed only in the digital garment and littered in Qr codes that opened the digital wardrobe. The Absolut cocktails also had the Metamama Digital vibe with guests all having their own images printed on the cocktail.
As a co-founder of the IoDF, how would you describe the project to people who may have never heard of the Metaverse?
We are transitioning the fashion industry into the metaverse, through strategy and business development, the work is grounded in the goal of building a diverse, inclusive and sustainable future for the industry.
Give us an example of an exciting project you have worked on recently
IoDF collaborate with Tayce and Chet Lo for ABSOLUT’s #BornToMix Campaign, unveiling the genderless AR garment during an IRL x URL catwalk. Conceptualized and constructed digitally by IoDF, the modular augmented reality garment design was made to be worn by any body shape on and beyond the runway, incubating wider inclusivity with the tracking functionalities of the garment. For us this is such an important part of our work -- to bring diverse conversation to the mainstream.
What does travel and hotel life look like in the metaverse?
It includes multiple layers, the metaverse isn’t one place or one world it’s multi-dimensional using AR and VR but also web. We are excited to be delving into this with the standard watch this space.
What’s next for the Institute of digital fashion?
We have a LFW white list launch, so sign up! This is our metaverse product launch which will revolutionise the industry and incubate our ethos.
And a question we ask all of our London family - describe a perfect day in the city.
It’s local And true tourist moments a hybrid of the both! I love my locals east Chisenhale, Blok Gym, Elliot’s for eats, but also galleries like the Tate and visiting the studios of friends like Berthold (who’s custom dress I wore for the party). And the IoDF we have a mild obsession with karaoke so that’s always a must.
