Paulina Russo and her Bae Blades are boldly entering the digital realm

Over the past few years, fashion has entered into a fully-fledged digital revolution, complimenting its IRL collections, events, and runway shows with high-tech stints in the metaverse. Fit for those of us who are chronically online and craving an escape from the world’s anxiety-inducing dystopia, upset with fashion’s long-standing history of creating earth-destroying waste, or simply unable to afford our own high fashion collections away from the internet, big-name brands like Balenciaga have dropped shoppable online collections and over 60 labels – including Coach, Diesel, and Tommy Hilfiger – have teamed up for 2023’s Metaverse Fashion Week (an event which drew in over 108,000 online attendees the year prior). 

Despite a handful of laughably bad avatars and a few questionable drops, for emerging fashion designers, online worlds have provided a rare chance to show off their artistry without high financial impacts, create zero-waste collections and projects, and connect with customers face-to-face (well, kind of) to grow their audiences – all issues which young designers are often confronted with when starting out in the industry. Now joining the growing roster of digital creators is emerging designer and CSM grad Paolina Russo, whose innovative and sustainable knitwear has caught the eyes of fashion legends Rihanna and John Galliano after debuting at CSM’s BA graduate show in 2018.

Partnering with tech platform SKNUPS and premiering at London’s Dover Street Market, Paolina Russo and co-creative director Lucile Guilmard have curated three complete looks for online gaming universe Roblox – all selected from the label’s futuristic AW23 collection and completed with virtual versions of the brand’s intricate, high-tech materials, accessories, and hair and make-up by Ana Takahashi and Shunsuke Meguro. “Our work is heavily inspired by gaming and online universes,” Paolina, who grew up immersed in video games like The Legend of Zelda, explains. “Roblox is a massive world, closely related to building, making, and community – themes that deeply resonate with our work.”

Here, Russo and Guilmard discuss how Roblox collections can help young designers, translating IRL artistry to the digital realm, and their dreams of creating a Paolina Russo video game empire.

Hey both! Going back to the beginning, could you please tell me a little about how your collaboration with SKNUPS came about? 

Paolina Russo and Lucile Guilmard: We were introduced to SKNUPS through the 1 Granary mentorship program, which connected us with Charlie Thomas and Fred Speirs, the co-founders of SKNUPS. Their focus was on finding a brand that emphasises craftsmanship and hands-on practices, creating a unique contrast between digital and physical fashion. At the same time, we were seeking to expand into the digital space as a natural extension of our creative world and as a means to diversify from the traditional wholesale model. This opportunity was particularly exciting for us as it fulfilled our dream of creating a Paolina Russo video game. We aspire to dress people in their day-to-day lives digitally [too].

Why does this collaboration feel important to you – especially as a young designer in the fashion industry?

Paolina Russo and Lucile Guilmard: This collaboration holds significant importance for us because we are avid gamers ourselves. Video games have always played a crucial role in our formative years, both as a source of entertainment and inspiration for our designs. It seemed like a natural progression to translate our physical designs into virtual outfits for video game characters. Creating garments within the digital realm provides an opportunity to sidestep the challenges that the manufacturing industry poses for young designers. There are no Minimum Order Quantities [MOQ] to worry about, no challenges related to lead times for raw materials, no overproduction, and no seasonal dependency on the market.

Beyond this, we were intrigued by the prospect of exploring alternative revenue streams. The elements we’ve created are available for purchase when players dress up their characters to play with. We’re really excited to connect with a new audience and become a part of the gaming community through our long-term partnership with SKNUPS. Also, the fusion of communities excites us, as we hope to inspire our own community to explore and engage in the world of video games if they don’t already do so!

“Creating garments within the digital realm provides an opportunity to sidestep the challenges that the manufacturing industry poses for young designers” – Paolina Russo and Lucile Guilmard

What was the process like of translating your designs to Roblox?

Paolina Russo and Lucile Guilmard: The process of translating our designs into Roblox marked the beginning of a new and exciting creative journey. SKNUPS boasts an incredible team of crafters who brought our pieces into the game through the creation of unique “skins”. Using the images, prints, and close-ups of our garments, which we provided, they meticulously recreated each piece pixel by pixel and in 360 degrees. This level of detail was crucial to ensure that the in-game character could seamlessly move, swim, and jump while adorned in our garments. SKNUPS successfully embraced the challenge of translating our craft-heavy pieces into digital assets. A noteworthy example of their success is the translation of our core illusion knit technique, a lenticular knitting effect. In the game, as the character moves, the graphics of the clothes move just like in real life!

We were excited to bring even more to the table in Roblox, incorporating make-up and hair looks from our SS24 show, developed by Ana Takahashi and Shunsuke Meguro. Adding to the mix, we introduced the iconic ‘Bae Blade’ earrings, a collaboration with Yuma Burgess. Our aim was to curate three complete looks, giving players the opportunity to fully embrace the essence of a Paolina Russo woman in the game as well as highlight the talented community of creatives part of the Paolina Russo universe.

Was there anything that felt challenging or different compared to your regular artistic/work Process?

Paolina Russo and Lucile Guilmard: Interestingly, we discovered that the most challenging pieces to recreate in the digital world were the same ones that posed the greatest challenges in the physical realm. The intricacy of the craft proved to be directly proportional to the difficulty of its digital translation. However, a distinct challenge emerged in the digital domain – ensuring the smooth and natural movement of the clothes in sync with the character’s actions in the game. Take, for instance, the rainbow long crossover skirt with an A-line shape. Initially, it didn’t move realistically with the legs; when the character ran, the legs would seemingly go through the skirt, giving the impression that the skirt didn’t exist.

Having overcome these movement-related challenges with specific garment shapes in the game, our focus now is on continuity. We aim to collaborate with SKNUPS to create new silhouettes each season in Roblox. This way, we can build a vibrant and dynamic wardrobe.

Can you please walk me through some of the key pieces and how you landed on them for the collaboration?

Paolina Russo and Lucile Guilmard: We aimed to showcase the essence of Paolina Russo by highlighting our core values: craft, innovation, people, and sustainability. Believing that craft and innovation represent the future of fashion, we prioritised featuring our most technically-crafted pieces of the season. Our approach involves digitally translating the human hand to enhance craftsmanship.

We were [also] keen on creating a seamless customer experience from the physical to the digital realm with these garments. The launch of this collaboration with SKNUPS at Dover Street Market in London holds special significance. Dover Street Market exclusively stocks some of our Woolmark certified natural dye pieces from our Woolmark capsule collection. Notably, the core illusion knit category, developed in 100 per cent merino wool with vibrant colours achieved through natural dye by artisan Cavan Jayne, is part of this exclusive offering. These Dover Street Market exclusive pieces needed representation in the game. This way, when customers experience the game in the store, they can also see the real garments and even try them on!

“Believing that craft and innovation represent the future of fashion, we prioritised featuring our most technically-crafted pieces of the season… digitally translating the human hand to enhance craftsmanship” – Paolina Russo and Lucile Guilmard

You use a lot of natural elements and ancient crafts in your work, like knits and hand-woven fibres. How did you translate these into Roblox’s digital formats?

Paolina Russo and Lucile Guilmard: To translate the knits and fibres, SKNUPS worked on the meshes in high detail, recreating each stitch pixel by pixel. Similar principles apply in knit programming, where one pixel equals one stitch! SKNUPS had to reverse engineer the products, from texture to colour.

Could you please tell me a bit about this collaboration from a sustainability perspective?

Paolina Russo and Lucile Guilmard: Every creative experiment being conducted online reduces physical waste associated with traditional prototyping processes. Overproduction is eliminated in the digital realm, as items are produced on demand for the customer. Additionally, the absence of physical shipping and transportation in the digital space contributes to reducing carbon footprints. This is a key aspect of the beauty of the digital era – everything is instantly accessible in one place.

Last year, you spoke to Dazed about finding inspiration through fantasy worlds and games like The Legend of Zelda. How do you feel like your own interests in fantasy worlds and technology played a part in this collaboration?

Paolina Russo and Lucile Guilmard: Our childhood was filled with playing a variety of video games, providing our initial exposure to world-building—the essence of creating a brand. This connection allowed us to truly understand the context for designing digital clothes. The inspiration drawn from games like The Legend of Zelda, where dressing up and equipping characters like Link is a key element, made the process enjoyable. It is a full circle, from inspiration to platform. Now, the prospect of dressing our own character with our designed clothes in a game definitely adds an exciting dimension to the collaboration.

What was one part of the collaboration or design process that felt most memorable to you and why?

Paolina Russo and Lucile Guilmard: During the design and development stages of the pieces, the character remained static as we focused on building textures and colours. So, when Charlie and Fred showed us videos of the characters playing in the game for the first time, it became a memorable moment. It suddenly felt so real, and we wanted to play the game on the spot.

Check out Paolina Russo’s Roblox capsule here, and shop the AW23 collection IRL here.