Mefoxy Club Profile picture NFTs are hot. Fashion is starting to dress them
NFT profile pictures, or PFPs, have become covetable property for those with cash to splurge on Web 3.0 assets. As PFPs get flashier, fashion is spying an opportunity.
Profile picture NFTs are often the owner’s actual profile picture in channels such as Opensea, Discord and Twitter, and certain PFPs, such as the one owned by Adidas partner Gmoney, have become so recognisable as to achieve influencer status. He even appeared at the physical Prada show and overlaid the recognisable beanie-clad Cryptopunk PFP image onto his face in press photos. Rarity is crucial with PFPs and secondary buyers, those who weren’t there for the original mint, are willing to pay thousands, sometimes millions, to buy more popular collections: Alexandre Arnault bought a Cryptopunk for about $416,400 in February, wearing a red-orange beanie and 3D glasses. Justin Bieber’s new tearful Ape, wearing a simple dark grey t-shirt, was acquired for $1.3 million in January.
And where influence (and money) leads, fashion will follow.
A new crop of tech companies and projects are looking to dress PFPs, which would mean altering their original appearances with additional clothing and accessories. Unlike digital clothing worn on self-designed avatars (as on Roblox) or on submitted selfies (as with DressX), these are highly stylised garments in the aesthetic of popular PFP series.
PFPs are one of the most popular iterations of NFTs; usually a collection of images centred around a common theme or character, they are created and designed by the issuing party, rather than dictated by the owner, and often include entry into private clubs or events. There are different scarcities or complexities to some designs, making their value increase. Popular series include Cryptopunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club (with which Adidas partnered on its metaverse launch), World of Women (which Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine has tapped) and CloneX, created by digital fashion company Rtfkt, among many others.
