The Future of Fashion Collectibles 🔮
Fashion collectibles move into the metaverse, a rare Magritte is up for auction
Cultured is a newsletter by Otis that gets readers up to speed on the most interesting things going on at the intersection of finance, art, collectibles, NFTs, and more.
🗞 STORIES OF THE DAY
Is the future of fashion collectibles in the metaverse?
Last week, Balmain and Barbie announced a collaboration that included new Balmain-branded Barbies and a series of NFTs. The collab pulls on childhood nostalgia, evoking Barbie’s 90s packaging.
Fashion and toys have gone hand in hand for decades. Bearbrick, a Japanese toy brand, has been working with designers like Lanvin and Kenzo since 2001. Mattel, Barbie’s parent company, teamed up with Gucci last year for a Hot Wheels collection.
Fashion collectibles also have outstanding resale value—original Bearbricks go for upwards of $3,000 on StockX. With NFTs, toy giants like Mattel are hoping to bring the booming toy collectibles market to the metaverse.
Our Take: Even adults like to play. As our idea of play goes digital, so do our toys.
When Mattel collaborates with fashion brands, its goal is to bring the fun of children’s toys to the adult cultural world. One of the metaverse’s core purposes is entertainment, and gaming in particular. Mattel might be the first major toy manufacturer to experiment with digitizing toy collectibles, but it likely won’t be the last.
A Surrealist work by René Magritte is estimated to fetch around $60 million at Sotheby’s. It’s the first time the work has been sold at auction.
Auction houses rarely sell big name works without guarantees (a payment to a buyer that ensures the work will sell), so there’s a near-certain chance that the work will sell for at least $60 million. If that happens, it will be a new sales record for the artist — and more than double the previous record.
Somewhat lackluster Old Masters sales last year left some doubting the future of older, high-dollar auction house sales. However, the news of a blockbuster Magritte sale suggests that blockbuster sales are still fashionable.
Our Take: By investing in trendy culture items while boosting its painting sales, Sotheby’s is getting the best of both worlds.
Most of Sotheby’s growth last year came from its booming sneaker and NFT businesses. The Magritte estimate is the first sign of what will happen during the auction house’s Modern & Contemporary Evening Auction, its biggest earner of the year. That may be a big factor when owner Patrick Drahi decides whether to take Sotheby’s public again.
✨ AROUND THE INTERNET
LooksRare, a decentralized competitor to OpenSea, sold $100 million in NFTs on its first day online. But is trading propped up by the platform issuing a token?
A rare car collection held by Richard Donner will go up for auction later this month. Among the highlights is a gorgeous 1962 VW Transporter and a 1965 Porsche 356 SC Cabriolet.
Remember Antonio Brown’s massive meltdown last week? It’s already an NFT – and it’s expected to fetch $1.5 million at auction.
Cat in the Metaverse Hat: A Dapper Labs-backed startup is selling pop culture NFT trading cards, starting with a bunch of Seuss characters.
Ye Heads East: The rapper is going to Russia to perform a Sunday Service and…meet Putin? Not all that surprising, given that Kanye called himself a “Young Putin” a few months ago.
