The Splice 🧬 Virtual Influencers: The Future of Fashion
Good afternoon!
Welcome back to The Splice 🧬 by VirtualHumans.org: a weekly newsletter curating the latest news, developments, and insights in the virtual influencer space.
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🧬 Core Strands from This Week
Who is Virtual Cyborg and Hip-Hop Producer, LV4?
🔎 The Synopsis: Christopher sat down with LV4, a virtual music producer who also happens to be a cyborg from the future trapped in our present day (with his adorable pet robot praying mantis, Harrison.)
🧬 The Splice: LV4 has grown his TikTok following to over 140,000 by uploading short comedic sketches and previews of his new music. He then leveraged those fans to secure a spot opening for Zedds Dead in LA and is now headlining his first concert—all in just two months.
Virtual Influencers: The Future of Fashion
🔎 The Synopsis: One of the earliest industries virtual influencers broke into was fashion when Miquela took over Prada’s Instagram stories in 2018, following her fashionable lifestyle first launched in April of 2016. Our article reviews the most inspiring fashion campaigns featuring virtual influencers from past to present while imagining what future ones could look like.
🧬 The Splice: Gen Z spends more time online than looking through magazines, so the best way for fashion brands to reach them right now is with captivating digital worlds that feature a virtual influencer twist on the traditional fashion ad.
🔭 What We’re Looking at This Week
6 Lessons on the Future of the Metaverse From the Creator of Second Life
🔑 Key Quote: In 2007, Second Life founder Philip Rosedale made a bold proclamation: “The 3D web will rapidly be the dominant thing and everyone will have an avatar.”...In the 10 years following its launch, Second Life users spent $3.2 billion of real money on in‑world transactions. Rosedale likes to say that Second Life contained the first NFTs: unique virtual goods that you could buy and sell.”
🧬 The Splice: Second Life was the true precursor to the Metaverse and was one of the first platforms to validate the importance of a customizable avatar. Imagine the addition of virtual influencers as cyber-celebrities in the Metaverse, promoting the hottest digital fashion as wearable NFTs.
Best,
VirtualHumans.org
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Insights by Makena Rasmussen, Christopher Travers, and Astrid Hiort.