Choose Your Fighter: Balenciaga’s Game-Themed Fall ’21 Show Transcends Luxury

Gone are the days that fashion and gamers belonged to different crowds. Balenciaga’s Afterworld: The Age of Tomorrow game – aka its fall ’21 fashion show – has arrived. The video game x fashion crossover lets you peruse the Maison’s fall/winter ’21 collection but beyond that, it tells us a lot about the future of fashion. Recently, Balenciaga has been setting itself apart with innovative new ways of presenting collections. But this game shatters even the massive digital screen ceiling of last year. Afterworld, which launched online today can be played by literally everyone, making luxury fashion a lot more democratic. Anyone can choose their fighter from a lineup of models and enter 2031 in a quest to conquer the virtual world and the dystopian future, as Balenciaga itself seems to be doing. This time Balenciaga proved once and for all that it is ahead of the game (literally). By granting everyone access to the “show,” Balenciaga breaks out of the outmoded idea that luxury should be restricted to an elite few and instead positions it as something people can resonate and interact with regardless of who they are and where they fall in the fashion hierarchy. That’s the meaning of luxury today. Read more at Highsnobiety.