SUB-BF21

The Balenciaga AW 2021 collection debuted in a bespoke video game environment. The game narrative follows the traditional mythic structure of “The Hero’s Journey,” with the user tracing a path from a subterranean parking garage turned Balenciaga store, through a dense city center to a rave in a forest, and ultimately up a mountain peak. The game is set in a speculative environment ten years from the present. Advertisements, fly posters, and other game assets are deployed as world-building devices, extrapolating future conditions from contemporary sociopolitical, ecological, and technological realities. Augmented reality, in particular, is projected as a dominant interface in the future, and serves, in-game, to orient users and establish paths, while also acting as a commentary on the “metaverse” of the present. The game was produced in record time with a global network of contributors and developers. Garments from the 2021 collection were 3D-scanned and reconstructed digitally, allowing users to select their avatars’ clothing and NPC’s to serve as models.