It may be more than 50 years since Cristóbal Balenciaga held the needle that stitched together era-defining designs, but the same spirit of innovation and creative leadership lives on at the brand that bears his name, with Creative Director Demna Gvasalia at the helm.In 2021, the house of Balenciaga has a reputation for pushing boundaries. Fitting, then, that this should be the first high-fashion label to drop in Fortnite. Starting today, players can express themselves with digital Outfits inspired by real-life Balenciaga silhouettes, purchasing them in a virtual version of a brick-and-mortar Balenciaga boutique, and also snag an exclusive real-world hoodie that unlocks the Outfit in-game.
But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Since dipping its toe into virtual worlds with the Unreal Engine-powered Afterworld: The Age of Tomorrow, Balenciaga has embraced cutting-edge technologies in a way few other fashion houses have.
A new partnership that blurs physical and virtual realities like never before sees Fortnite players and characters stepping between the two realms in a mind-bending multi-touchpoint experience.
With 3D models repurposed for the game, 3D billboards, traditional promo materials, and the Fortnite ‘Strange Times Featured Hub,’ Balenciaga has built a true transmedia pipeline, giving a glimpse of reality-jumping experiences enabled by the Metaverse.
The end result is an exciting new way to engage with fashion—and a new mode of self-expression.
“Our partnership with Epic didn’t start with Fortnite, actually,” says Demna Gvasalia, artistic director at Balenciaga. “It started with our own first video game, Afterworld, which we built using Unreal Engine to debut our Fall 2021 collection. From there, we have continued to be inspired by the creativity of Unreal and Fortnite communities. It made total sense, to me, that we collaborate further by creating these authentic Balenciaga looks for Fortnite and a new physical Fortnite clothing series for our stores.”
Source: Unreal Engine Blog