Luxury fashion house Loewe has launched a new line of clothes and accessories that may appeal to those of a digital persuasion. Aiming to provide a “real world glitch” with its pixel-heavy fashion, Loewe’s new SS23 collection (opens in new tab) will surely catch some double-takes in the real world. Even more eye-popping than the fashionista visuals are the prices on these real-world digital goods, which start at $590 for a t-shirt and go up to $3,400 for a handbag.
According to Loewe, “the digital world is decontextualised” with its latest line. The digital-physical collection includes delights such as a $2,500 pixelated hoodie, a $2,500 pixelated pair of trousers, a $1,850 pixelated top, and a $3,400 pixelated handbag.
The collection includes some (relatively) cheaper items as well, such as a $1,450 pixelated denim jacket, a $790 pixelated denim skirt, and a pixelated pair of jeans for $990. The cheapest item is a white graphic t-shirt for “just” $590. Making a full outfit from the collection would easily cost you over $9,000 — and you’d still need to source some shoes and underwear.
Loewe doesn’t neglect the packaging, either. Customers will receive products from the SS23 line in limited-edition pixel print bags (while supplies last).
Gamers are used to seeing pixelated characters and items in games, especially in retro games and emulated classic titles. Pixelated visuals also came back into style a few years ago, when we saw a wave of stylized flat/2D titles — a trend that caused gamers to demand crisper integer scaling in their graphics drivers.
The pixelation effect in Loewe’s new SS23 collection looks more like what we saw in early 2000s classic 3D titles, though the edge emphasis gives some Borderlands-style vibes.
In 2023, graphics similar to the Loewe SS23 collection will mostly be seen by those running demanding modern titles on iGPUs in “potato mode.” You may also see similar graphics if the VRAM on your GPU is running low, as this can sometimes render objects and scenes with low-res (or no) textures, making for blurry or pixelated visuals.
This is far from the first time pixels have hit the runway. Japanese designer Kunihiko Morinaga notably featured pixels in his FW11 collection for Anrealage, and other designers such as Burberry (opens in new tab) and Akris have pixelated prints in their current collections.