LET'S GET DIGITAL

THE IDEA OF CREATING CLOTHES MEANT FOR CYBERSPACE HAS BEEN RAISING EYEBROWS IN THE PAST TWO YEARS. TO GAIN INSIGHT ON THE PHENOMENON, GENNADY ORESHKIN TALKS TO DESIGNERS GALA MARIJA VRBANIC AND SCARLETT YANG

- GENNADY ORESHKIN

In the 1980s, fashion – or at least its glamorous, airbrushed into-oblivion version – happened largely on the catwalks; raw style, on the other hand, lived in parties, often in the “adult amusement park” setting of New York’s Studio 54. Since the ’90s, however, fashion has increasingly been all about the streets – and especially so after style sirens began migrating to social media.

Now, it seems as if casual fashion observers (aka anyone unfortunate enough to own an Instagram account) find themselves on the precipice of change – one that involves no physicality whatsoever. To help guide you through this bright new world that seems to be just around the corner, I spoke to digital-fashion pioneers Gala Marija Vrbanic and Scarlett Yang.

Vrbanic founded Tribute Brand in 2020, shortly after graduating from the University of Zagreb with a degree in visual communications. Her love for fashion was, in a way, generic. “My mum is a fashion designer, so I’ve been surrounded by fashion all my life,” she says, though her decision to make digital fashion the focus of her brand was inspired by the gaming culture. “Five years ago, I stumbled upon this software used for fashion brands, so that they don’t have to produce physical prototypes. Then I realised we can use this software for something else, not just physical fashion. We can make crazy things.”