Cindy K. Sotomayor Mallqui
The Peruvian designer, Annaiss Yucra Mancilla, recognised by Vogue magazine as a Latin American talent, is a national and international reference for fashion, art and social activism in our times, as she has represented in each of her collections called: Revolución, Willkas, Matriarcado, Resistencia and Pachamama.
Today, in her most important role for the future of fashion, she has made a difference by venturing into the metaverse, landing with her digital fashion pieces, and making the most of this great revolution, the fourth industrial revolution, thus adapting to the digital dynamics.
In this sense, Annaiss Yucra is the first Latin American brand to form part of the metaverse and is presented hand in hand with Zepeto, a South Korean social app dedicated to the world of gaming that has had a greater reach with the Z generation.
Other brands that have also connected their digital collections with the zepeto app are Ralph Lauren, Christian Louboutin and Zara.
ANNAISS YUCRA & ZEPETO
The partnership, which came to fruition at the end of 2021, through the SwatchOn platform and South Korea’s Vmode. “They contacted us directly to launch this emerging designer project, render and digitize some of our garments for this platform,” mentioned Annaiss Yucra.
She also added “It was very important to me that the garments that the Korean agency chose for the game are the ones that in the real world help us to prevail our traditions and techniques. It is very representative, if we talk about Peru, that they have chosen a garment that in the real world is made of Peruvian cotton and hand-crocheted, to be able to bring that to the digital world is an honor for me, not only as a designer but also as a representative of my country”.
DEMOCRATIZATION OF FASHION
Annaiss Yucra, has always marked her position when talking about the democratization of fashion under a standard of inclusion and access to garments based on a fair price and, now ventured into the world of metaverse this interest has been strengthened, specifying that “When we talk about democratization of fashion this is another of the edges that must be taken into account, because for $2 dollars you can have an Annaiss Yucra garment in the virtual world, and again you give access to more people so that they can play within these universes with a meaningful garment that allows them to demonstrate their creativity in terms of the way they dress and the way they want to express themselves through their avatars”.
Precisely this democratization that I was talking about now will be multiplied exponentially in the metaverse through the millions of avatars that will be using Annaiss Yucra’s digital creative pieces, as the sizes are also democratized in this digital world.
THE METAVERSE AS A POSSIBILITY FOR ANNAISS YUCRA
The Peruvian designer has also spoken out about the possibilities in the metaverse, saying, “I think that new opportunities have opened up in the Asian market, just during our first day on the platform I was very happy to see that a considerable amount of our crochet jacket and skirt sets have been sold, which means that there is a window to the real world”.
“We see that in the digital world it has worked and therefore there is a great possibility that in the physical world it is viable to be able to introduce these products into new markets,” she concludes.
CONCLUSIONS
The work that the Peruvian designer has been doing is an example of innovation, perseverance, and creativity, which is why the metaverse is available for those daring companies capable of innovating and creating an opportunity in that parallel space of our daily lives, it also offers the possibility of opening to new markets and entering people’s lifestyles, creating simultaneous experiences.
Virtual fashion is booming, many luxury brands have already ventured into the metaverse and the Peruvian brand Annaiss Yucra will probably become the starting point for many other brands in Latin America and the world to venture into the metaverse, thus adapting to the needs of the consumer, also creating a different interaction in the virtual world.
