The collaboration between tech startup Amethyst, fashion magazine CR Fashion Book China, image production team Now Open and Monroe’s estate, dresses a virtual rendering of the icon in Saint Laurent, Fendi and Balenciaga.
A CGI Marilyn Monroe will appear on eight covers of CR Fashion Book China in April. The images on the cover of the fashion magazine founded by French fashion editor Carine Roitfeld will also later be minted separately as a series of NFTs, demonstrating a new way Web 3.0 technology can be used to revive the past.
Roitfeld imagined what a modern-day Monroe might wear, dressing her in physical looks by Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, Thom Browne, Fendi, David Koma and Miu Miu, in addition to digital fashion from Auroboros and Tribute Brand. Jim Gibb, creative director for the Marilyn Monroe Estate says that the goal was to reimagine Monroe’s magic “it” factor for a new, digital medium.
“It’s easy to forget that one of the most photographed women in the world was captured in the days of film, not pixels. We will never know what she would have looked like in hi-resolution, but it was fun to attempt to capture some of her essence and beauty through CGI technology and imagine what she would have looked like wearing today’s top designers,” says Gibb. The estate is owned by Authentic Brands Group (ABG), which also owns the estate of the late boxer Muhammad Ali and brands including Brooks Brothers, Neil Lane and Nine West.
Fashion and beauty have already found fertile territory in reviving existing intellectual property in virtual realms. Most recently, Mac Cosmetics revived a partnership with the late artist Keith Haring, including a series of NFTs. Ralph Lauren brought back iconic 1990s pieces for its winter Roblox experience. Ambush created 2,022 NFTs of its iconic Pow! jewellery; while Selfridges developed digital versions of 1960s archival designs from Paco Rabanne, which were never able to be physically produced; among other examples. A year ago, Karl Lagerfeld’s photographic archive was registered on the Lukso blockchain, via Chanel former artistic director for fashion Eric Pfrunder, who worked with the late designer.
The project is the first release from Amethyst, a social platform that provides creators access to NFTs and Web 3.0 projects, co-founded by Elliott Foote, a former casting director who also holds the licence to CR Fashion Book China. For this project, Amethyst worked with Monroe’s estate for eight months, and tapped image production team Now Open to recreate her likeness via CGI. Foote wanted to find an easier way to translate intellectual property to Web 3.0. “[Amethyst is] a launchpad for digital artists and influencers to jump the fence,” he says. “Everyone is Web 3.0 curious, but most projects are still tech-heavy and run by programmers. It’s not the easiest thing to jump into crypto — it’s not like signing up for a new platform — so we are hoping this will make the process easier.” The NFTs are a collaboration between Amethyst, ABG and Now Open.
The timing of the Monroe project comes at a precise moment for the estate, with Blonde, a buzzy Netflix biopic, set to be released later this year. One of Andy Warhol’s portraits of the actress, Shot Sage Blue Marilyn is also up for auction via Christie’s this May with a record estimate of as much as $200 million.
To create a CGI version of the star, Now Open crafted each individual element, down to individual eyelashes. To recreate her body, Now Open conducted a model casting call, and photographed the model in contemporary designs. Recreating a full body would take years, he says.
Amethyst is already planning other similar projects with creatives and influencers. “The Web 3.0 space allows us to experiment and find new ways to evolve the Marilyn Monroe brand,” Gibb says. “Marilyn’s likeness has been expressed in so many different mediums over the decades; we wanted to explore this new technology and add to her photographic legacy. One thing about Marilyn Monroe is she never goes out of style and her influence has only grown over the years.”