Nick Knight’s first NFT drop could bridge the fashion-Web3 divide

“It’s about creating art for the love of it and not creating art just for finance. There are very few things which aren’t businesses these days,” Knight says. Part of that includes sharing the creative expression, and revenue, with all collaborators. To that end, ikon-1 will share revenue with its main creative partners and has compensated all other contributors actively involved in the project. Jazzelle, who is adept at manipulating their own image, is also a figure that represents this new participatory zeitgeist, Knight says, adding that this is a shift compared to how models once worked with famed photographers such as Cecil Beaton, Richard Avedon, Irving Penn and Helmut Newton. “They nearly all said the same thing: ‘We had no control. We had no voice. We were not part of it.’ I think that’s a sea change now.”

The fashion community needs to both create with and buy into Web3 technologies for the two sides to truly come together. Web3 also needs fashion. The alternative, he cautions, is a future that is divorced from creativity and artists. “​​It’s not until you get it into the hands of the artist that it becomes important culturally,” he says. 

Future plans are under wraps. He long-ago began 3D-scanning supermodels including Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and Karlie Kloss, often encouraging them to participate in creating their own avatars, in advance of an inevitable fashion future in which their iconic likenesses — similar to Marilyn Monroe’s in April of this year — are employed without their presence.

He has come to know a number of creatives who are more native to the space. “It’s quite heartwarming. It’s people who want to do great work, and there’s no cynicism about it,” he says. Often, there is a strong sense of community that reminds him of those found at traditional fashion events. “I didn’t really factor in meeting 30 new fashion designers; it’s kind of like fashion week — it’s a big offering of people’s visions… I wanted to get that through ikon-1. This is a gift, you know, this is an offering. And it’s just the first step into a lot of other really exciting things.”

For now, he’s anxious at how this first project will be received, but he considers the act of trying a success in itself. This mindset is more in keeping with tech companies, who thrive off of failure and iterations, than luxury fashion, which is expected to deliver perfection at every turn. “I think the whole of the creative process is full of your own mistakes and failures, but that’s what makes us human, you know? But every mistake is a new opportunity.”

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