Paris (AFP)

Briton Daniella Loftus is a fashion enthusiast who has been dressing virtually for a little over a year.

The success is such that she decided to quit her job to concentrate on this universe.

Isabelle Boemeke is a Brazilian model who lives in the United States.

She scrolls, but at the same time decided to create an avatar, Isodope, which she uses to defend virtual clothes and nuclear energy to fight against global warming.

These two influencers wear clothes that can't be bought in stores, because they don't exist.

"I like fashion. I like going to a boutique. I like to touch clothes", declares Daniella Loftus, 27 years old in an interview with AFP in Paris on the sidelines of Fashion week which revives physical parades .

"And when I started with that, my friends said to me + What are you talking about? +".

"What I find fascinating is that there is a whole generation coming up, like my 14 year old nieces, who play Fortnite, who understood it perfectly," she adds.

“For them, digital will influence their real life,” he explains.

Daniella worked as a consultant and in January she created ("this outfit doesn't exist) for fun. Through her contacts with digital designers, she wore extravagant and tailor-made outfits. As if they were haute couture.

The success was immediate.

"During the pandemic we became comfortable with early digital experiences. Stuck at home, people had nothing to do, nowhere to wear their beautiful clothes."

Isabelle Boemeke and Joe Gebbia at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York on September 13, 2021. Theo Wargo GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP

For her, the virtual world is an escape route where we forget "that we are an accountant or that we have children" and where we become a character with (virtual) clothes that go with it.

"The way you express yourself in these virtual worlds is totally different."

She paid 69 euros for one of her dresses, green with a long train.

"Which is a lot of money, but it's not theft," she said.

“I don't know if a lot of people who buy this stuff online want to meet other people” in the real world, she says.

"I believe that many of your needs and wants can be met online."

- Reduce waste -

Isabelle Boemeke decided at 30 that the podiums were no longer enough for her.

She began to take an interest in the impact of the textile industry on the climate.

According to a 2015 study by the organization Barnados, 92 million tonnes of clothing is thrown away each year.

In the UK, a garment is used an average of seven times.

British fashion influencer Daniella Loftus in Paris, October 1, 2021. Christophe ARCHAMBAULT AFP

During the pandemic, she is shocked by the images of forest fires in the Amazon.

His attitude to digital fashion is essentially political.

"I created Isodope as an identity because I wanted to do something provocative. If I appeared in my videos with a T-shirt and jeans, they probably wouldn't have the same impact," she explains. in an email to AFP.

The Isodope avatar looks like Isabelle physically, but what at first appears to be a beauty advice video quickly and humorously turns into an environmental and nuclear message.

“I know a lot of women who buy a dress, wear it once for a photo and never again. They could reduce their consumption and waste with digital fashion,” she explains.

A world that does not scare him, where some will be equipped with interfaces capable of creating clothes and others will wear glasses that allow your clothes to be transformed in their eyes.

An "augmented reality", in which reality and virtuality merge and overlap.

As in video games: "If you are not attractive, if you do not look like what you would like to be, you can become what you want", concludes Daniella Loftus.

© 2021 AFP