Anifa Mvuemba's Virtual Runway: The Future of Fashion Shows

Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention. Many fashion entrepreneurs were caught in a fix during the COVID-19 pandemic’s long months of uncertainty.

For the fashion world, it meant no physical shows or runways, but this gave birth to a genius approach – digital fashion shows, starting with London Fashion Week.

So, designers increasingly took to social media and found new, innovative ways to present their products remotely.

One of the latest innovations is that of designer Anifa Mvuemba, who unveiled her collections on Instagram Live via 3D models. So what’s it all about?

Anifa Mvuemba knew that many could not afford to attend a Fashion Week. And so, she decided to do something different, bring her show to people through Instagram. She first launched her collections on May 22, 2020, on Instagram Live via 3D models.

According to Teen Vogue, the Congolese designer has been working with 3D images since the start of her career, but the idea of creating a moving fashion show came to her during confinement.

The concept is about creating content with 3D models and making a whole collection out of them. It was a complete game-changer!

Talking about realism for 3D models may seem paradoxical, but it turns out that Anifa makes a point of making her models as credible as possible.

When I say models, there is nobody under the clothing. But the pieces move as if someone was carrying them.

And as you can see in photos and videos, these famous bodies have relatively visible curves. This is not always the case for most models shown in fashion shows.

The designer chose the measurements she wanted the models to have. Then, she made sure that they represented more realistic bodies.

This way, customers can better visualize themselves in the garment. Genius, isn’t it?

This digital fashion show immediately drew a lot of attention and became the talk of social media.

For this collection, the designer drew inspiration from her native country, Congo. She tried to raise awareness about issues facing the Central African country with a short documentary just before the show.

In her collection, you can see a ribbed dress in the colors of the Congo flag and a long silk dress featuring grassy hills and a river.

Anifa explains how she wanted the pieces to tell a story. She wanted them to remind us to be intentional about what we create.

The future of fashion promises to be digital — and Congolese designer Anifa Mvuemba is raising the bar by showcasing a collection of clothes that move in 3D!

The constraints imposed by social distancing pushed fashion designers to double their creativity and get closer to their customers.

Fashion also seems, these days, to slightly lose its “reserved for an elite” connotation, and it’s about time!