Fashion Designers Taking A Plunge In NFT

NFTs have become a big rage among designers. Now, the obvious question that comes to a lay man’s mind is what are NFTs? NFTs stand for non-fungible tokens. At a very high level, most NFTs are part of the Ethereum blockchain. For the uninitiated, NFTs are unique digital-native tokens, which are used to represent ownership of digital goods like images, videos, texts or songs. The ownership and trading of these digital goods can be tracked on public blockchains, which in turn brings in the necessary authenticity.  

According to Vogue Business the most straightforward example of a fashion NFT is where the NFT is the digital “twin” of a real-life garment. ‘Clothia’, an online retailer in the accessible luxury space, is currently auctioning NFT dresses. The winning bidders will receive the corresponding real-life dresses, and both the NFTs and the physical garments are one-of-a-kind, says Clothia CEO Elena Silenok.  

Setting a new record in NFT place, India’s NFT marketplace- Wazir NFT marketplace witnessed one of the fastest sales following their foray into the fashion segment. Featuring exclusive artwork, designer Manish Malhotra’s five exclusive fashion themed NFTs in partnership at the recently held FDCI x Lakme Fashion Week, 2021.  

Bringing the fashion and crypto community together with Manish Malhotra’s digital collectibles, WazirX NFT Marketplace sold some remarkable sketches and gifs of some of Manish’s most popular works throughout the years. At the recently held LFW Manish Malhotra mentioned “NFTs are a complete gamechanger and absolutely something that the Indian industry needs to consider and move towards. Realizing my NFT’s got sold in seconds, I was grateful to accomplish this technological breakthrough. I can see so many new possibilities emerge for artisans and the creator's community. I’m looking forward to further explore the extent of the new-age technology.”  

The NFT featuring a vintage picture of supermodel Lisa Ray, called Archival Diaries, from the ‘90s was sold for 1600 WRX. Illuminous Showstopper which is a custom-made constellation sketch for megastar Kareena Kapoor Khan was the highest sold NFT.  The GIF illustrates the merge of traditional art and modern technology, which was sold for a whopping amount of 3000 WRX (3,558 USD) to Mike Blue who is himself an NFT artist and a collector. The NFT, Reminiscing Runways, which is a video of the live show from 2013 glamourized by rain and Manish Malhotra’s collection was sold to CryptoSauga, who also got his hands on another NFT called Memorable Sketch, for 2000 WRX. Last but not least, Illustrious Sketch of a Chikankari outfit worn by the ace actor Alia Bhatt in 2018 was sold to Killashaw for 1750 WRX. All these NFTs were sold out in almost 2 minutes, from Illuminous Showstopper selling out quickest in only 12 seconds to Reminiscing Runways in 13 seconds to Memorable Sketch in 72 seconds and Archival Days in 132 seconds. In addition to getting their hands on the digital collectibles, the collectors will also receive an exclusive gift set from Manish Malhotra.  

Vishakha Singh, VP, WazirX NFT marketplace said: “Globally, designers have commenced making a statement using NFTs to engage with fans and patrons in the form of loyalty rewards. With the trend of NFTs being at its nascent stages in India, we believe that there is a room to understand and create awareness around the different use cases of NFTs. We have seen a promising response to art and music-based NFTs on our platform - that propelled us further to explore newer segments, with fashion being the most recent industry to jump the NFT bandwagon. The fashion NFT space is fairly untapped in India and has great potential to grow. The success of the NFTs dropped by Manish Malhotra proves that this entire process was indeed a ‘The Indian NFT Revolution in Fashion’. We are glad our platform could reach out to the fashion and crypto enthusiasts with Manish’s NFTs.”  

The NFT trend has been picked up well among Bollywood celebrities too. Amitabh Bachchan is expected to roll out his own NFTs including some of the most unique and exclusive artworks surrounding his identity by November this year.  

Actress Sunny Leone has also invested in NFTs. Sunny is the first Bollywood actress to roll out her very own NFTs (non-fungible tokens), taking the lead amongst Indian actors to gravitate towards digital assets. It may be noted that Leone is amongst the first Indian stars to venture into it, along with superstar Amitabh Bachchan, who too revealed his interest in NFT recently. International celebrities such as Ellen Degeneres, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan have previously ventured into NFT.  

Earlier in September, NFT trading platform Colexion roped in Indian artists including Suniel Shetty, Aamir Ali, Mika Singh, and Sidhu Moose Wala among others to be part of its marketplace as well.