“I think I always dreamt of having my own fashion label-but very much in a physical sense,” he says during a recent Zoom interview. With 22 years in the industry, he’s seen it all-but he never could have predicted his next gamble being something like Republiqe. He’s a designer and stylist who has worked with everyone from Chanel and Burberry to Bulgari and Louis Vuitton. The world’s first digital-only luxury fashion brand, Republiqe is founded on a bedrock of Gaubert’s experience in “analog” fashion. One such company is Singapore-based Republiqe, run by James Gaubert, which was launched in August o f 2020. In the fashion world’s heated atmosphere of digital innovation, ambitious ventures have sprouted up, looking to capitalise on the demand for virtual threads.
The Aura Blockchain Consortium, created in collaboration with LVMH, Richemont and the Prada Group. There was the Gucci-Pok é mon partnership, which saw the fashion house designing for player avatars.
For much of 2020, many fashion brands shelved their in-person catwalk shows, choosing to opt instead for virtual reality shows or short films to showcase their collections.
Cyber-style received an unprecedented push into mainstream culture as a result of the pandemic.
