During Milan Fashion Week, Digital Couture Summit brought elegance and a technological touch to the iconic location Lynk&Co, in front of D&G Martini. By connecting luxury houses with digital couture, Digital Couture Summit once again showcased the latest innovations in traditional luxury, fashion, and beauty digitalisation in front of 300 invite-only guests.
For the second year fashion advisor Nikki Cikaluk and sustainable designer Olska Green connected luxury houses with digital couture in Milan at Fashion Week. Headlined by Head of New Media at D&G Davide Sgherri, Digital Couture Summit welcomed two digital fashion and beauty brands with their debut at MFW – SEAMM and CHIPPED, while creating a fully immersive experience for its guests. The highlight of the night was an original production of a phygital runway show by Ecoolska & Isadoska who presented their digital and physical sustainable collections. Selected speakers and luxury brands had a chance to connect in an intimate atmosphere during a VIP dinner hosted by previously-debuted SEAMM.
Global innovation leaders from D&G, VALENTINO, HUGO BOSS, L’Oréal, Meta, and SWAROVSKI among others met with digital counterparties from SEAMM, CHIPPED, DRESSX, SYKY, and Beyond Luxury on stage and off stage to discuss the importance of digitalisation in the luxury industry and the latest trends in phygital clothing, 3D designing and immersive experiences.
“It is a step-by-step process. What we have done at D&G is mandatory training for every employee of the brand on what is web3 and NFTs. The brand is doing it, you are part of the brand and need to know what we are talking about.” – said Davide Sgherri, Head of New Media at D&G, when talking about the mass adoption of blockchain technology in traditional fashion.
On another panel around traditional fashion digitalisation, Carlota Rodben, an ex-Chanel and Founder of Beyond Luxury talked about the magnificent role of AR in fashion innovation and how brands use it in day-to-day interaction with their clients. Meanwhile, Jackie Berardo of Meta shared her take on phygital products and the integration of NFC chips into modern beauty and fashion, with an example of CHIPPED next-gen beauty nails product. Blake Lezenski of Outlier Ventures, Simone Targetti Ferri of L’Oréal and SYKY’s designer Felipe Fiallo of FELIPE_FIALLO were among other notable speakers at Digital Couture Summit MFW FW’24-25.
Throughout the evening, guests had the opportunity to immerse themselves in the latest fashion and beauty innovations through workshops, product showcases, and technology presentations organised by Digital Couture Summit’s partners and sponsors. A live fashion collection design using VR, a freshly created digital look in an AR Fitting Room, a phygital collection showcase by SEAMM and an exclusive “Beyond Luxury” book signing session for guests were among side activations at Digital Couture Summit. Memorable fashion gifts from summit partners DRESSX and POAP Studio showcased another great use case of digital fashion.
The highlight of the fashion evening was a one-of-its-kind Phygital Runway Show presented by Ecoolska & Isadoska. 300 excited guests were fully overloaded with anticipation of the Phygital Runway Show “The Green Matrix” — a thrilling blend of the physical sustainable fashion world and digital innovation brought by Olska Green, a founder of Ecoolska, a next-gen sustainable phygital fashion brand and Jessica Evans, MA Biodesign Central Saint Martins London, the visionary founder of Isadoska. “The Green Matrix” Upcycled collection was crafted by Olska Green in Milan entirely from thrifted clothes. The digital part of the show by Jessica Evans addresses the importance of sustainable material utilization, showcasing the journey of creating innovative textiles from algae combined with upcycling material. Algae offer a promising avenue for sustainable textile production, blending seamlessly with upcycled materials and providing a natural, eco-friendly dyeing solution. This approach also tackles the issue of overproduction, aligning with the grand vision of Ecoolska & Isadoska to transform the fashion industry into a more sustainable and innovative one.
Set in a unique digital environment that combined a scientific algae lab with a traditional fashion studio, the show offered an unconventional and provocative physical experience directed by the young stylist Alexandra Artemova. Students of the leading Milan fashion institutions NABA and Marangoni were taking part in the innovative runway show, while their professors attended the summit.
After the official part was over with a live DJ playing till night, glamorous drinks and an Italian Soirée, the selected guests were invited to a VIP Reception hosted by SEAMM which had its official debut earlier that day at MFW during Digital Couture Summit.
“The Green Matrix” Phygital Runway Show by
Ecoolska & Isadoska. Photo by Vasyl Kalynchuk
As a pioneering Phygital Fashion platform, SEAMM integrates advanced technologies like AR try-on, customisation, and game/metaverse transfers into a single hub. Available as both a web and app solution, it streamlines digital and traditional fashion for B2B and B2C markets, allowing for the sale and purchase of physical products with their digital twins and digital-only assets. Designed for ease of use, SEAMM facilitates seamless integration with CRM and ERP systems, eliminating the need for blockchain or designers. This launch, marking a significant step in bridging digital and traditional fashion, was celebrated with a VIP reception at The Manzoni restaurant as the official closing of Digital Couture Summit MFW FW’24-25 with guests from VALENTINO, HUGO BOSS, Meta, FILA, and SWAROVSKI.
“It is a true privilege to have the trust of all the leading luxury, fashion and beauty brands by coming to Digital Couture Summit for the second year. Exciting to see how traditional fashion continues its digitalisation journey, as we have already started working on September SS’25 Edition.” – Nikki Cikaluk and Olska Green, Founders of Digital Couture Summit.
About Digital Couture Summit
Established in 2023, Digital Couture Summit is an immersive fashion event that connects luxury houses with digital couture. Organised by Nikki Cikaluk, a digital fashion and web3 conferences advisor, and Olska Green, a sustainable fashion designer and founder of Ecoolska, Digital Couture Summit made history as the 1st digital fashion summit organised during the Milan Fashion Week, uniting thought leaders from traditional and digital fashion, luxury and beauty. As its mission states, Digital Couture Summit is an immersive experience connecting luxury houses with digital couture, showcasing immersive web solutions, connecting different tech generations and bringing fashion, tech and web3 innovators on stage for thought-provoking discussions.
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