Virtual worlds should be as much of an expression of the people designing and living in them as possible. With the creator tools we already have and semi-open platforms like Roblox or Minecraft we can build pretty much anything within them. You could argue that even Minecraft obeys a little too much to the laws of the physical world but it wasn’t built as a metaverse platform so you can forgive it a little.
https://medium.com/@theo/the-metaphysical-war-for-the-metaverse-were-already-losing-ba576339a3e2
Category Archives: luxury
Mushrooms Are Popping Up in Our Cocktails
Recently, bartenders and drink professionals across the U.S. have started using mushrooms to add rich, savory flavors to cocktails made with and without alcohol. Some highlight the sweet taste of candy cap mushrooms in their drinks. Others prefer the smooth, deep flavor of creminis. With more than 10,000 varieties to choose from, mushrooms’ drinks potential is vast.
“As cocktail culture continues to progress I think that more and more people are looking for something creative and unexpected. Something they haven’t seen before or tasted in a cocktail,” says Nathan McCullough, the bar director at The Wolves DTLA.
https://www-thrillist-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.thrillist.com/amphtml/drink/nation/mushroom-cocktails-bring-unexpected-flavors-to-happy-hour
Dress Code: The Future of Fashion in the Metaverse
But what will you buy in this brave new mall? Well, if you and your avatar are going to be seamlessly flitting between work meetings and VR concerts, shopping trips and hanging out with friends, then you can’t be expected to do it all in the same outfit. If the metaverse is about being seen—and it is about being seen—then fashion should be one of its killer apps. Currently, Meta gives users a limited selection of free clothes, all with a plasticky, toylike aesthetic that has presumably been chosen to be as inoffensive as it is easy to render. In June, Meta announced its plan to change that, at least in terms of choice, with the arrival of the Meta Avatars Store and digital outfits from powerhouse fashion brands like Balenciaga, Prada, and Thom Browne.
https://www.esquire.com/style/mens-fashion/a40803280/metaverse-fashion/
Down with the rich! Class rage fuels new wave of ‘us v them’ films and plays
In the wake of Parasite, the bloody South Korean Oscar-winner, and of the Emmy successes last week for the television dramas Squid Game and White Lotus, which is set in a luxury resort, there is a clear global appetite for exposing and satirising the huge gaps in wealth and status. Both series focused on the desperation of the serving classes.
The ill-fated yacht in Triangle of Sadness is laden with people who represent the moneyed private jet-owners of the modern world. Among them are a grizzled Russian oligarch, who sails alongside both his wife and his mistress, and an elderly British arms manufacturer and his wife. The reluctant captain of the ship is Woody Harrelson, ultimately the accidental agent of destruction in Ruben Östlund’s film. The Swedish director, who is best known for his alpine drama Force Majeure and artworld satire The Square, ultimately hands power over to one of the yacht’s cleaners, Abigail, played by Dolly De Leon, in a storyline that echoes a long history of cautionary tales in which the downtrodden rise up to wreak revenge on their masters.
Tycoon’s Wild $3 Billion Gamble on ‘China’s LVMH’ Crashes
Based in the hometown of Confucius, Chairman Qiu Yafu spent more than $3 billion snapping up assets from the boulevards of Paris to the heart of London tailoring on Savile Row. He bought French fashion brands Sandro and Maje, as well as heritage UK trenchcoat maker Aquascutum and the maker of Lycra stretchy fabrics. Those big dreams have since unraveled, and Ruyi is at the center of a messy unwinding involving some of the world’s largest financial institutions.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-20/china-s-lvmh-wannabe-unravels-after-tycoon-s-failed-3-billion-bet
The super-rich ‘preppers’ planning to save themselves from the apocalypse
Taking their cue from Tesla founder Elon Musk colonising Mars, Palantir’s Peter Thiel reversing the ageing process, or artificial intelligence developers Sam Altman and Ray Kurzweil uploading their minds into supercomputers, they were preparing for a digital future that had less to do with making the world a better place than it did with transcending the human condition altogether. Their extreme wealth and privilege served only to make them obsessed with insulating themselves from the very real and present danger of climate change, rising sea levels, mass migrations, global pandemics, nativist panic and resource depletion. For them, the future of technology is about only one thing: escape from the rest of us.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/sep/04/super-rich-prepper-bunkers-apocalypse-survival-richest-rushkoff
Midjourney Experiments: Retail Microfactories
integrating textile micro-manufacture into fashion retail
The Death of Streetwear Culture is a Class Issue
…in its ‘80s and ‘90s heyday, by and large streetwear culture was driven by the kids from low-income neighborhoods in major American cities. The very term “streetwear” bears that notion—it’s a style born in the streets, in schoolyards, on handball and basketball courts, and on brownstone stoops. More often than not, streetwear heroes—athletes and rappers—came from the working class, more often than not they were Black. There was a time, now unfathomable, when those very people were snubbed by the likes of the streetwear giants, let alone European luxury brands, that now line up to collaborate with them. This attitude was not limited to sneakers. I clearly remember how in the mid-‘90s Hennessy tried to distance itself from hip-hop, as rappers enthusiastically poured its cognac on various parts of female anatomy in their videos. By 2012, however, Nas was featured in Hennesy ads.
https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/streetwear-culture-class-issue/?utm_source=Highsnobiety+Newsletter&utm_campaign=f1fa3ca0df-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2021_04_02_02_08&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_54b284222a-f1fa3ca0df-87663818&mc_cid=f1fa3ca0df&mc_eid=b04659cd42
Hermès Pop-up Gym Experience Coming to L.A.
Prada Seeks to Fashion Greener Luxury Brand Under Future CEO
Prada has moved to burnish its sustainability credentials in recent years. In November 2021, Prada said it would use more low-impact materials in its products and packaging, and lower greenhouse gas emissions as part of a carbon-neutrality push.
While sustainability scores are “fundamental” for evaluating corporate greenness, they can fail to capture the nuances of individual business models, Bertelli said in an interview Tuesday while attending a conference in Lisbon on sustainability and ocean preservation co-hosted by Prada and UNESCO.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-30/prada-seeks-to-fashion-a-greener-luxury-brand-under-future-ceo
Analyzing Trends with Tim Stock 