East meets West meets the metaverse at Vivienne Tam's latest NYFW runway show.

Photography by Mich Cardin

On a sunny Friday afternoon in Manhattan&rsquo;s Fashion District, Vivienne Tam holds the first model fitting for her Fall/Winter 2023 collection. It&rsquo;s two days before her runway show. In the studio, there are assistants steaming garments, racks of colorful clothing, and a board on the wall laying out the order of the full collection. While she explains to me that the show is an immersive metaverse experience, I&rsquo;m witnessing the physical labor behind the virtual world.
And yet, the metaverse is at the heart of Tam&rsquo;s work. For the Spring/Summer 2023 season, she introduced metaverse themes into her collection with cartoon imagery and pixelized motifs via knitwear and graphic patterns. &ldquo;The last collection was all about NFTs and bringing the virtual world to the physical world,&rdquo; says Tam. &ldquo;I want to [create a] bridge so that my customers can learn about the virtual world. I found that world was really unlimited to the creativities. I find it very inspiring and no limitations. I can do anything.&rdquo;
Tam started her brand in 1994. Almost 30 years later, she maintains a love for the intricacies of the work. &ldquo;I love using my hand, doing things like embroidery and weaving.&rdquo; Her mention of the word &ldquo;weaving&rdquo; strikes me, because, while she&rsquo;s clearly talking about the physical weaving of textiles, it&rsquo;s true in more ways than one.
Tam&rsquo;s work is known to be a fusion of Eastern and Western aesthetics. After growing up and receiving her design degree in Hong Kong, she moved to New York City and established her brand in 1982. Drawing on her Hong Kong heritage, Tam&rsquo;s career is a masterclass in how to weave sartorially opposed cultures into a cohesive collection of garments.&nbsp;
On the window sill of the showroom, bags with cartoon characters on them are laid out; colorful knit bucket hats are being organized; and embroidery patches of Web3 avatars are lined up in rows. Tam&rsquo;s Fall/Winter 2023 collection features Oracle Bone Scripture, an ancient configuration of Chinese characters that are believed to be the oldest Chinese writings in the world. Holding out the sleeve of a high-neck crop top, she tells me that these characters were &ldquo;how [ancient Chinese civilizations drew] about the world, about the animals&rdquo; and that it was &ldquo;the old world&rsquo;s&rdquo; way of &ldquo;being with nature.&rdquo;&nbsp;
But this collection isn&rsquo;t just bringing two cultures together&mdash; it&rsquo;s bringing more of Tam to the virtual world. "Textiles are about weavings and weaving the metaverse&mdash;it brings everybody together, all the committees from NFTs and the old world, the new world. Bringing all of the committees of the virtual world together, like the NFT, PFP, all of this, together.&rdquo;
Exemplifying this, Tam&rsquo;s runway show on Sunday night simulates a metaverse experience for the audience, bringing the virtual world to the physical one, once again. In a space designed to look like Spring Studios, guests will enter and pass a step-and-repeat for VIPs before entering the show space, where large windows peer over the rows of seating set up along the sides of the runway. After the show, head backstage to see the inspiration board for the collection plus photos of each model in their runway look lined up on the wall. There, metaverse visitors can tune into a live stream of the real-life backstage area as the models get ready.
For every new technological invention, there are always those who fear it or don&rsquo;t understand it. But then there are the pioneers&mdash;the boundaries pushers who see the potential or at least are willing to look for it. While Tam&rsquo;s love for the design process is what drives her, she isn&rsquo;t blind to the wilderness of possibilities opened up by the metaverse. Instead, she's embracing it while also weaving &ldquo;history and humanity&rdquo; into the virtual world&mdash;something it's lacking.

Vivienne Tam's Fall/Winter 2023 Collection Brings the Metaverse to Life

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