£100,000 dress you can’t even wear
WHEN splurging on a dress worth thousands, one would hope to get a few wears out of it.
But anyone buying theirs in the latest Selfridges sale might be surprised to find they can’t even do so once. The department store has revealed it will be the first shop in the world to sell a range in digital form only.
A dozen Paco Rabanne dresses from the Spanish designer’s legendary ‘unwearable’ collection from 1 66 are to be sold as nonfungible tokens (NFTs). The bizarre concept gives customers a digital certificate of ownership for each outfit, but not the original item.
Instead, it will be added to their wardrobe in the ‘Metaverse’, a futuristic 3D world where they can use it to dress an avatar of themselves. The NFTs will be sold for between £2,000 and £100,000 in a ‘multi-dimensional’ exhibition at Selfridges’ flagship store in London,
Rabanne was in his early thirties when his breakthrough collection – Twelve Unwearable Dresses, made up of shining metal discs strung together – put him on the fashion map.
Each item will be available as an NFT to no more than 56 customers from January 28. Buyers will be also be given the opportunity to travel to Paris and have a physical fitting for their own replica of the dress.
Selfridges said it would be the first time NFTs will be available to purchase in a physical shop anywhere in the world.