French streetwear royalty Balenciaga are launching a game to show off the fashion house's Fall/Winter 2021 collection in the absence of the usual seasonal shows.
Afterworld: The Age of Tomorrow will allow fans to create an avatar (decked out in Balenciaga items, of course) to browse the collection in an optimistic, near-future world soundtracked by Corey Hart's "Sunglasses At Night".
The game will release on December 6 on the Balenciaga site, where you can visit the world of 2031 and see the Fall/Winter collection of the future, based on a theme of "human destiny".
“A theme of Balenciaga fall 2021 is human destiny, as seen by an interactive, gamified journey,” Balenciaga say in a statement. “The world may appear to be decaying at first, but it is far from a dystopian view, showing instead the slow return to a healthier balance of nature and industry.”
There is, apparently, a way to win the game, so it isn't just an interactive space. Balenciaga say the winner of the game will receive a prize of "a real-life breathing exercise set in a virtual utopia." No sneakers, then.
This isn't the first time a fashion house has dabbled with the gaming industry this year, as real-world spaces remain closed to their sartorial parades.
In May, Marc Jacobs and Valentino were fast to adapt to the rampant popularity of Animal Crossing: New Horizons by collaborating with a photographer to make a line of in-game outfits. Others have merely brushed elbows with the gaming audience, like Burberry broadcasting their own Summer/Spring '21 collection show on Twitch earlier this year, a ball set in motion last year before the pandemic hit as the luxury London brand partnered with the streaming platform in September.
Will you be checking out the Balenciaga Fall/Winter collection in their video game on December 6? Or are you more into the in-game fashion choices of Fire Emblem?
