Animoca Brands X Vivienne Tam partnership brings HK streets to runway with Web3 tech

Animoca Brands has partnered with Hong Kong designer Vivienne Tam and Hepha, a Cyberport incubate, to bring the streets of Hong Kong to Tam's New York Fashion Week runway show on 12 February, with the support of Cyberport and Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in New York.

This initiative aims to showcase a brand-new fashion experience by interweaving creativity, artistry, the prowess of technologies, synergy between members of the Cyberport community, and the charm of Hong Kong. With Tam being an enthusiast of fashion tech and Web3 technologies, she created the Hong Kong metaverse environment on the stage with the help of Hepha. 

Tam said, “When I broached the idea of setting my runway against the background of a metaverse, I immediately thought of Animoca Brands and Hong Kong’s Cyberport. There are so many talents in Hong Kong, both from local and international origins, equipped with out-of-the-box ideas, top-notch technologies as well as an adventurous can-do spirit. I take pride in what we have achieved together with Animoca Brands and start-up Hepha in the New York Fashion Week.”

As the audience saw models walking down the runway, they simultaneously embraced the metaverse that showed the city’s urban streetscape and signature features such as Hong Kong trams, the legendary floating restaurant, eye-catching fluorescent signs, and pawn shops.

Through the curation of Tam and Animoca Brands, blue chip NFTs (non-fungible tokens), such as Bored Ape Yacht Club, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, Cool Cats, Mocaverse, Meebit, and CryptoPunks, also adorned the streets of the virtual Hong Kong.

Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, said, “It is a privilege to work with Tam and Hepha to bring a virtual Hong Kong to the New York Fashion Week. The various NFTs featured in the show represent some of the most loved and impactful brands in the open metaverse. It is awesome to see them being brought to life on Vivienne’s runway.”

Meanwhile, Kevin Lee, co-founder and chief executive officer of Hepha, said,"The Hepha team is extremely honoured to be a part of this project, with Tam and Animoca Brands, two renowned leaders in their own realms, as our partners. We are thrilled to stage Hepha’s ‘Scan the World’ Hong Kong metaverse on Tam’s runway show. We are grateful for the exceptional opportunity to join hands with other Cyberport community members in displaying the innovation and technology competence of Hong Kong internationally. We hope to see more similar endeavours in the future."

Tam's fashion brand VIVIENNE TAM has launched an NFT- inspired collection last September, incorporating NFTs into its clothes. Tam hopes to bond people's lives in virtual world and their spending on physical goods by doing this, according to SCMP. Profile pictures and avatars of blue chips collections including CyberKongz, CryptoPunks and BAYC NFTs were printed on its collection. 

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