Most digital stylists balance their metaverse clients with real-world gigs. Michaela Leitz-Askalan, for example, runs a plus-size styling business in the real world but decided to start selling her services as a metaverse fashion stylist after hanging out in the 3D virtual world Decentraland, where her outfits got her compliments from strangers.
Another stylist, British reality television fashion expert Gemma Sheppard, made the jump to styling people in digital spaces after her goddaughter asked her to buy a pair of $60 sparkly shoes for her Roblox avatar three Christmases ago.
But not all metaverse stylists started out doing a real-world version of the job. Svoboda spends her days designing digital clothing and accessories on Roblox, where her unique fashion sense has made her an it-girl. People are lining up to pay to learn from her.
Being a metaverse fashion stylist isn’t currently a gig that can pay all the bills on its own. Leitz-Askalan says that metaverse styling accounts for about 20% of her income in a good month, and both she and Sheppard juggle multiple jobs in real life.
They say it’s still worth it, though, because the job offers the unique opportunity to work in a new medium and learn new skills. Leitz-Askalan launched her metaverse styling business a couple of years ago, meeting with clients on Discord, a chat platform popular with gamers. She designed lookbooks to help them dress their avatars on platforms like Decentraland, DressX, and Auroboros.
Her clients get an expertly curated outfit; she gets $49 in cryptocurrency. To Leitz-Askalan’s clients, it’s well worth the money. “People are like, ‘I want to try crazy things,’” she says. “And I love that.”
Svoboda is primarily a creator designing clothing and accessories for Roblox avatars, but she has begun to style clients’ avatars as well, and she’s meticulous about working out how to do it.
“We have to trial-and-error it,” she says. Svoboda will often look through users’ history of outfits, ask who their favorite artists and influencers are, and then create looks that fit their aesthetic.
