Day: December 6, 2022

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Metaverse Fashion Week Returns in Spring 2023 To Highlight Advances in Digital Fashion & Interoperability

The web3 revolution continues next year with the annual exploration of what fashion will look like in virtual worlds, featuring participation from the first CFDA-Recognized Fashion Week to join MVFW

NEW YORK, Dec. 06, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Decentraland, the world’s largest user-owned and operated virtual social world, announced today the return of Metaverse Fashion Week (MVFW) which will be held from March 28-31, 2023, concluding the Spring/Summer Fashion season on virtual catwalks. Pioneered by Decentraland and UNXD, a leading immersive art & culture platform, in collaboration with the Spatial and OVER metaverses, MVFW23 invites the global community to experience the latest advancements in metaversal interoperability and digital fashion.

At the inaugural Metaverse Fashion Week 2022 earlier this year, Decentraland hosted over 108,000 people who explored the burgeoning world of Wearables and digital fashion in the most important digital fashion event of the year. Iconic luxury brands such as Dolce & Gabbana, Tommy Hilfiger, Selfridges, Guo Pei, Paco Rabanne, and dozens of others graced the metaverse with their historic flair and technological visions of what digital fashion looks like, and a peek at how this new sector of the economy will evolve. Both legacy fashion houses and new digital fashion brands combined minted over 165,000 free Wearables during this year’s MVFW.

“I am incredibly honored to be leading the second annual Metaverse Fashion Week and cannot wait to show the world what has developed since the last time we showcased the fashion revolution in the metaverse on a grand stage. Within one year, we have shown the world one of the strongest and most obvious use cases for the metaverse yet—digital fashion. After all, we don’t all want to look like dull copies of the same avatar in our digital lives. Just like in the real world, we all want to individualize and curate the personal aesthetics that we are recognized for,” said Dr. Giovanna Graziosi Casimiro, Head of Metaverse Fashion Week.

The curatorial theme of MVFW23 is ‘Future Heritage,’ a challenge to connect the next generation of creators and traditional fashion designers, showing the potential of fashion to bridge realities and worlds. The event shines a light on the fashion industry of today, proposing a diversity of aesthetics across metaverses, connecting innovation to tradition, and looking back to the great moments of fashion to build the future.

“Metaverse Fashion Week is a tentpole moment for digital fashion where both brands and consumers can experience the future of fashion. MVFW is a direct extension of UNXD’s mission to bridge luxury between the real world and the metaverse. After our successful first season with Decentraland, we’re thrilled to be expanding the MVFW platform together to encompass additional metaverses,” said Shashi Menon, Co-Founder and CEO of UNXD.

Interoperability: The Builders & Pioneers Making it Possible

Decentraland will be partnering with Spatial and OVER to bring to life the next generation of interoperability across an open and free metaverse. In the same way that New York Fashion Week and Paris Fashion Week are not limited to one type of aesthetic or one type of fabric, MVFW is expanding to invite those building digital fashion to consider the endless potential of interoperable metaverses in which one can bring a Wearable to the other with ease.

What to Expect:

  • Miami Fashion Week will be the first CFDA globally recognized fashion week to participate during Metaverse Fashion Week with a special activation and runway shows on the rooftop of MIAFW’s L’Atelier in the The Luxury Fashion District. On December 2nd, Megan Kasper hosted the inauguration of the MIAFW’s L’Atelier in Decentraland and livestreamed the private event, curated by Dr. Graziosi Casimiro.
  • Working with high end fashion names, Phygicode comes as a consortium specialized in luxury and hybrid solutions for fashion bringing partners and brands to the event.
  • Threedium will return with their pioneering 3D/AR Commerce Engine that will power their own luxury mall, enabling a connected commerce infrastructure for brands to build and share customized wearables and Augmented Reality experiences.
  • Boson – the decentralized commerce protocol will expand their participation by enabling brands to sell physical and phygital items in the metaverse as redeemable NFTs. Once tokenized, Boson-redeemable NFTs can be traded, held, gifted or redeemed for the physical item.
  • DRESSX, the largest metacloset™ for digital clothes, AR looks and fashion NFTs is an official event partner and will onboard brands who are keen to explore their unique AR components.
  • Curator David Cash and their team at Cash Labs will return to present and produce experiences for an array of established fashion brands and exciting new digital native designers in Decentraland and beyond.
  • In addition, to Cash, in order to support the growing creator ecosystem, Decentraland is building an advisory board of curators to select designers to participate in the next event edition, among them, the Institute of Digital Fashion (IODF), Fashion3 by MAD Global, House of Web3, and The Fabricant. With the help of those curators a new plaza will be built, showcasing the new horizons of digital fashion and disruptive activations.

Luxury Returns to the Metaverse: Catwalks, Super Models and IRL Fashion Week

Inside Decentraland, MVFW will return to the Luxury Fashion District where several brands will debut new digital collections inside the Fashion Arena on the catwalk. Returning to this district will be internationally recognizable fashion houses and brands that will be announced in early January.

New Features & Activations:

  • Decentraland is now making it easier than ever for brands to participate and build in the metaverse with the addition of self-service tools to create Wearables and Emotes, and the new feature that allows brands to “rent” land for specific periods of time. This facilitates easy and reliable access to land through Decentraland’s smart contract marketplace.
  • Curated by the Decentraland Foundation and luxury NFT marketplace UNXD, MVFW Lux will showcase luxury fashion houses in a beautiful environment hosted across the Luxury Fashion District (Metaverse Group) and adjacent Plaza. Experiences will include runway shows, exclusive Wearable collections, immersive 3D/AR web experiences, pop-up stores, the introduction of the first physical fashion week to the metaverse, and a closing performance.
  • New to the 2023 schedule is MVFW Neo, designed to support and celebrate the next generation of digital designers. Working with pioneering digital-first companies, Decentraland has selected a number of new digital fashion designers and up-and-coming physical designers to develop their work and designs within the Web3 space.
  • Not only new fashion designers will be shown, but the first official MVFW supermodel will be introduced: Tangpoko, a DCL community member deeply involved in the fashion and pop culture within the Web3 space will be the main supermodel this season.
  • In addition, MVFW will present a runway show featuring Barth, the season two winner of “The Hype” on HBO Max. As part of the Next Generation initiative, the event will present an exclusive DCL wearable collection created by the second season’s winner in his debut inside the Metaverse.

Join Decentraland at the next installment of Metaverse Fashion Week by pre-registering here. Follow Decentraland on Twitter and the event hashtag, #MVFW23, and join our Discord to learn more. For fashion brands, designers and retailers interested in participating in MVFW23, feel free to apply via this form.

About Decentraland
Launched in 2020, Decentraland is a virtual social world powered by the Ethereum blockchain and the first decentralized metaverse. Within the Decentraland platform, users can create, experience, and monetize content and applications as well as socialize and attend a wide range of daily community-driven events. Decentraland is unique in that it is owned, created, and governed by the people who use it every day. Through the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) users can submit proposals and even apply for grants for the community to vote on.

About UNXD
UNXD is bringing iconic luxury and culture to the metaverse. Created by the team behind prominent international editions of both Vogue and WIRED, UNXD partners with the world’s leading luxury brands to create crypto-native way products and experiences. Each brand forms a part of an expanding ecosystem for luxury digital assets. UNXD’s pioneering collections with Dolce&Gabbana, 2021’s Collezione Genesi, and 2022’s DGFamily, have generated nearly 10,000 ETH and are widely regarded as a catalyst of the fashion NFT movement.

About Spatial
Spatial powers your world in Web3. Offering visually stunning spaces that are accessible and easy to use whether on web, mobile, or VR. In Spatial users can customize a virtual space and gather for NFT exhibitions, music performances, runway shows, lectures, live events, watch parties and more. And all it takes is a few clicks to set up your space or join. Spatial was founded in 2016 with the goal of designing high-quality 3D spaces for collaboration and community.

About OVER
OVER is a cutting-edge AR platform powered by the Ethereum Blockchain. OVER makes it possible for users provided with a mobile device or a smart glass to live interactive augmented reality experiences customized in the real world. Committed to cross-platform interoperability, OVER supports real-time augmented reality capabilities, AI avatar motion-captured interactions and hyperrealistic NFT assets which, in time, will be transmissible between Metaverses.

For Media Inquiry: press@decentraland.org

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 8708877

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Central bank to raise credit limit, banks slash interest rates

The State Bank of Vietnam has raised the domestic banking system’s credit growth by 1.5-2.0 percentage points from the previous 14% limit on December 5.

 

The central bank said local banks that meet liquidity requirements and offer low-interest rates for loans are qualified for the new policy, citing more favourable conditions and system-wide improved liquidity.

 

Commercial banks were slashing interest rates in an attempt to bolster economic recovery and ease up pressure on consumers and businesses, according to SBV.

 

Agribank, one of the largest banks in Vietnam, said it has slashed 2 trillion VND in interest rates alone since the beginning of the year for 2.2 million clients across the country.

 

According to Agribank, businesses, cooperatives and household businesses will be entitled to a further 20% interest rate cuts from now until the end of 2022.

 

Vietcombank, one of the country’s most profitable banks, led the movement by slashing 1 percentage point off yearly interest rates for Vietnam dong loans for both consumer and business clients until the end of the year.

 

Nguyen Viet Cuong, VCB’s deputy director-general, said the rates drop applies automatically, meaning no papers were required from clients, given they qualified for the package in the first place.

 

“The rates drop applied to around 175,000 of our clients, who accounted for half of VCB’s credit loans or 500 trillion VND or 20.8 billion USD,” he said.

 

HDBank slashed up to 120 billion VND in interest rates (up to 3.5% in some cases) for 43,000 clients.

 

Tran Hoai Phuong, director of HDBank’s business client services, said while the rates drop was not as significant as some may have hoped, it shows the bank is fully aware of the difficult situations their clients are in. He added the bank was willing to sit down with and listen to clients’ problems and hopefully, can find better solutions to support them.

 

This has been against a backdrop of rising deposit rates. In the second half of the year, deposit rates have climbed 3.5-4 percentage points higher compared to the same period last year, leaving little room left for commercial banks to reduce interest rates further.

 

Dr Dinh Trong Thinh, from the Vietnam Academy of Finance, said that prolonged high-interest rates will likely increase businesses’ borrowing costs, operational costs and inflation in the long run.

 

In an earlier development, the SBV demanded the country’s commercial banks tighten credit, while improve liquidity and prioritise key sectors of the economy.

 

SBV’s deputy governor Pham Thanh Ha said raising interest rates was part of an effort to bring down inflation and stabilise the exchange rate.

 

“As the economy started to bounce back, commercial banks have been pushing out large loans as there was significant demand in the market. Rising deposit interest rates was an important and necessary step to ensure the banks’ liquidity and ability to attract capital,” Ha said.

 

He added bringing deposit rates back to a pre-pandemic level has been a common strategy by central banks around the world.

 

“The SBV will continue to monitor developments in the domestic and international financial markets. We’ll take measures to balance monetary objectives and macro-economic elements,” he said./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

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US businesses urged to boost Vietnam-US ties in trade, defence, security

 

Vietnamese Minister of Public Security General To Lam has called on the US-ASEAN Business Council (USABC) and the US business community to continue to act as a bridge between the two governments, and between enterprises of the two countries, thus helping the two sides study each other’s wishes and needs to boost economic-trade and national defence-security cooperation.

 

The move was also expected to create favourable conditions for Vietnamese goods to enter the US market and increase US investment in Vietnam, Lam said while receiving an USABC delegation in Hanoi on December 6.

 

He emphasised that Vietnam always considers the US a leading partner with high potential in techniques, sciences and technologies and that Vietnam wants to expand and strengthen practical and effective cooperation with the US in areas, particularly infrastructure development, technology transfer, human resource development and experience sharing.

 

The Ministry of Public Security hoped that USABC can connect businesses to discuss the possibility of promoting cooperation and sharing experience with the ministry in specialised areas and procurement of high-quality products, Lam said.

 

The minister also proposed the USABC and US businesses support Vietnam to deeply participate in the global supply chain in information technology, digital economy, and green growth.

 

They were urged to actively contribute to promoting and realising cooperation commitments and initiatives between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the US in economy, trade, maritime security and aviation.

 

Lam also called for stronger cooperation between US businesses and the Ministry of Public Security in the security industry, including new-generation professional technical equipment, telecommunications products, IT, fire prevention, search and rescue and hi-tech products.

 

The two sides are expected to strengthen public-private cooperation with US enterprises in cyber security, share experience and transfer technologies and solutions on cyber attack detection, warning, prevention and control, data security, digital investigation, and the collection, analysis and recovery of electronic evidence./

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

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Upgrading of Vietnam-RoK relations opens up prospects for stronger cooperation

The upgrading of the Vietnam-Republic of Korea relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership is a new milestone in bilateral ties, according to diplomats and experts on Vietnam-RoK ties.

 

Vietnamese Ambassador to the RoK Nguyen Vu Tung said the elevation of bilateral relations not only reflects and acknowledges the great achievements in bilateral ties over the past 30 years, but also demonstrates the political will and strategic vision of leaders of the two countries, creating a framework and defining the orientation for the development of bilateral ties in the time ahead.

 

The move also contributes to strengthening trust and deepening shared interests between Vietnam and the RoK, Tung said, affirming that bilateral ties will see stronger development across the fields, first of all politics, diplomacy and security-defence, secondly economy (trade and investment) in both traditional and new aspects, and thirdly cultural-social and people-to-people exchanges, especially labourers, students and tourists.

 

The diplomat held that the upgraded ties also brings more opportunities for the two countries to bolster cooperation in multilateral forums, particularly the ASEAN and the UN.

 

Prof Lee Han-woo from Sogang University expressed his joy at the elevation of Vietnam-RoK ties and said cultural exchanges should be further promoted, particularly between young generations of the two countries.

 

He noted that Korean culture has become widely known in Vietnam, but it is not the case with Vietnamese culture in the RoK, and expressed a hope that a Vietnamese cultural centre will soon be opened in the RoK.

 

Meanwhile, Prof. Park Bun-soon from the Korea University pointed to some outstanding issues in bilateral relations, first of all Vietnam’s big trade deficit with the RoK. He said the problem should be considered in a more systematic manner now that bilateral relations have been lifted, suggesting that the RoK could import more agricultural and fishery products from Vietnam, and RoK enterprises operating in Vietnam should consider buying more materials for their production.

 

He also held that despite RoK enterprises’ great investment in Vietnam, the transfer of advanced technology to Vietnam has not met expectation. The scholar proposed that the State should regulate this field as it is not easy for enterprises to share their technology which is the key to competition. On the Vietnamese side, the professor said the country should invest more in research and development (R&D) and research institutes, and direct ODA capital into this field.

 

Park went on to say that Vietnam has good capacity in information technology but the RoK has not noticed this fact. He urged the two countries to discuss further cooperation in this field./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

 

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HCM City gathering celebrates 95th National Day of Thailand

 

The Ho Chi Minh City Union of Friendship Organisations (HUFO) held a gathering on December 6 to mark the 95th National Day of Thailand (December 5).

 

The day is also the birth anniversary of late King Bhumibol Adulyadej and the Father’s Day of Thailand.

 

Thai Consul General Wiraka Moodhitaporn said cultural and social relations, especially at the people-to-people level, form a stepping stone for cooperation between Thailand and Vietnam.

 

She noted mutual understanding and cohesion between the two peoples will create favourable conditions for promoting bilateral trade, investment, and business ties to help raise bilateral trade to 25 billion USD as targeted by the countries’ leaders.

 

The Thai Consulate General in HCM City will continue stepping up people-to-people connectivity, she went on, adding that it is ready to strengthen all-round cooperation with HUFO, the Vietnam – Thailand Friendship Association, the city’s liaison board for Vietnamese expatriates in Laos and Thailand, and the Vietnam – ASEAN Friendship Association in HCM City to promote bilateral friendship for the sake of common interests.

 

Dinh Khac Duy, Chairman of the Vietnam – Thailand Friendship Association in HCM City, highlighted the two countries’ flourishing relations in all aspects, especially politics, security, defence, economy, and trade.

 

During his visit to Thailand and attendance in the 29th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in November, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc affirmed that Vietnam always attaches importance to augmenting the strategic partnership with Thailand, Duy said.

 

Bilateral trade increased 18% from 2020 to 18.8 billion USD in 2021 and stood at 16.1 billion USD in the first nine months of 2022, up 17.2% year on year.

 

He added that over the past years, his association has worked with the Thai Consulate General and the Thai Business Association in HCM City to effectively organise many people-to-people exchanges, including granting scholarships for disadvantaged students.

 

So far, the Vietnam – Thailand scholarship fund has granted over 580 scholarships totalling 750 million VND (31,200 USD) to students in HCM City.

 

At the gathering, the Thai Consulate General, through the Vietnam – Thailand Friendship Association in HCM City, presented 20 scholarships to students of the Thai language faculty of the HCM City University of Social Sciences and Humanities./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

 

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Vietnam logs 362 new COVID-19 cases on December 6

The national COVID-19 caseload rose to 11,518,511 with 362 new cases recorded on December 6, according to the Ministry of Health.

 

With 151 patients given the all-clear during the day, the number of recoveries rose to 10,609,139.

 

Meanwhile, there are 72 patients needing breathing support.

 

One death from COVID-19 was recorded in the past 24 hours. The total fatalities rose to 43,178.

 

With 38,012 doses administered on December 5, the total number of doses of COVID-19 vaccines injected rose to 264,761,289./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

 

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President Phuc urges RoK localities to expand scale, diversify investment in Vietnam

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc has asked leaders of the Republic of Korea (RoK)’s Gyeonggi province to encourage local enterprises to expand their scale and diversify investment and business in Vietnam, especially in the fields of information technology, construction and development of satellite urban areas, commercial and logistics centres, and smart city development.

 

He made the suggestion on December 6 during his working trip to Gyeonggi province, which is just one hour drive from RoK’s capital of Seoul, as part of his state visit to the East Asian country.

 

The Vietnamese leader expressed his pleasure at visiting Gwangju city – the second hometown of about 3,000 Vietnamese people who have received much attention and support from the local government. There are 37,000 Vietnamese living in Gyeonggi province.

 

The President hoped that the Governor of Gyeonggi province and Mayor of Gwangju city will continue to provide favourable conditions and effective support for Vietnamese people living there, especially Vietnamese brides.

 

Gyeonggi is twinned with Ho Chi Minh City and Nghe An province. It has multiple cooperation deals in the fields of labour, handicrafts and ceramics with localities and enterprises of Vietnam.

 

President Phuc said that Vietnam also has many localities and enterprises with long-standing reputations in the ceramics industry and their products are exported around the world, adding that this is the foundation for Gyeonggi to promote cooperation in the coming time.

 

The two sides can also strengthen collaboration in the fields of labour, education and training and tourism – one of Vietnam’s strengths, he said.

 

He suggested the province share experiences with Vietnamese localities in administrative management, development planning for tourism, coordination on building tourism products and implementing joint tourism promotions.

 

The Vietnamese leader also attended a ceremony to announce Vietnam Day of Gwangju, visit the Vietnamese cultural space in the city and attend an art programme to celebrate 30 years of diplomacy between Vietnam and the RoK.

 

The President said that the organisation of Vietnam Day in Gwangju city on December 6 every year will enable the peoples of the two countries to have a better understanding of each other and open up new opportunities for cooperation and exchange between people and businesses.

 

On the evening of the same day, Phuc and his entourage left Gyeonggi province and travelled to Seoul Military Airport to return to Vietnam, ending their state visit to the RoK./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

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Vietnamese President meets with RoK National Assembly Speaker

Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc on December 6 met with Speaker of the Republic of Korea (RoK) National Assembly Kim Jin-pyo as part of his ongoing official visit to the East Asian nation.

 

Expressing his delight at the upgrade of Vietnam-RoK ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership, Speaker Kim congratulated Vietnam on its socio-economic achievements despite impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

President Phuc stressed that the upgrade of the bilateral relationship will create favourable conditions for the ties to enter a new period of more practical and comprehensive development.

 

The two leaders assessed that the bilateral relationship has reaped many important achievements in the past three decades with impressive growth in trade, investment, and people-to-people exchanges.

 

It is necessary to further strengthen cooperation between the National Assemblies and political parties of the two countries, as well as to promote the role of their legislatures in supporting the governments’ efforts to foster the bilateral relations in all fields, they said.

 

The two sides agreed to cooperate in maintaining supplies, strengthen economic cooperation, and encourage Korean enterprises to expand their investment in and technology transfer to Vietnam.

 

The leaders said they will support the Vietnamese and RoK governments and businesses in implementing measures to raise bilateral trade turnover to 100 billion USD in 2023 and 150 billion USD by 2030 as targeted.

 

The Speaker affirmed that the RoK supports Vietnam’s hosting of the Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 (P4G) summit in 2023 and is willing to assist Vietnam as the RoK had previously organsied the event.

 

Speaker Kim agreed to work with the Vietnamese NA to back the two governments’ efforts to protect and support for the two countries’ expatriate communities, contributing to the promotion of cultural exchanges between their people.

 

The two leaders also shared a common vision on ensuring security, safety and freedom of navigation and overflight in the East Sea; maintaining a peaceful and stable environment, legal order, and the settlement of disputes at sea by peaceful measures, guaranteeing the legitimate rights and interests of countries in accordance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS); as well as the denuclearisation and promoting dialogue and cooperation on the Korean Peninsula./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency