Paris Hilton has launched her first avatar drop in The Sandbox, featuring 5,555 avatars inspired by her fashion legacy. The avatars are not only visually striking, with signature accessories such as DJ headphones, Sliving gloves, and fantastical fairy wings, but also playable across all experiences in The Sandbox’s metaverse, offering users a chance to embody Paris Hilton’s distinctive style in a virtual realm.
To learn more about Paris’ avatar collection, Metaverse Post interviewed Mathieu Nouzareth, CEO of The Sandbox in the US, and Cynthia Miller, the director of web3 and metaverse at 11:11 Media, Paris Hilton’s media content company.
The most notable part of this collection is that it reflects Paris’ own fashion-forward reputation, Nouzareth explains. Paris Hilton collection features 11 unique one-of-one creations, which represent a few of her most iconic looks: Her Marc Jacobs Met Gala couture gown; Aquarius Queen, inspired by the fact that she’s a proud Aquarius; a Disco Ball Head avatar, inspired by her love of nightclubs, DJing, and parties; a blue butterfly dress inspired by one of her Halloween fairy/pixie outfits; and an avatar inspired by “Alice in Wonderland” and jumping down the rabbit hole to enter the wild and topsy turvy land of the metaverse.
As a bonus, the 11 lucky holders of these looks will receive a free VIP ticket to Paris: Live in Concert on June 7, 2023, at the Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles – a sold-out show where Paris will perform with some of her closest friends.
The Sandbox Partnership with Paris Hilton’s 11:11 Media
Paris Hilton, also known as the Queen of the Metaverse, has been a pioneer in the web3 space for much longer than people know or give her credit for. 11:11 Media forged a partnership with The Sandbox last year at SXSW as an extension of her metaverse exploration.
Paris has been an incredible advocate for the fun and creativity that the metaverse provides, Nouzareth added. “We’ve been working closely with her and her team to define new ways to engage players in The Sandbox and to expand the ways that she brings her unique perspective to the metaverse.”
The Sandbox and 11:11 Media also share a vision for a world unencumbered by the limitations of physical reality. The metaverse enables everyone to explore an infinite realm of human imagination and creativity, where we can choose the experiences and creations we want to live.
“Those are the qualities that brought Paris to the metaverse — and ones that we want to live by as we continue to expand her world in The Sandbox,” Nouzareth said. “We also share a love for avatars and an understanding of how critical they are to self-expression in the metaverse. Once someone owns a Paris avatar, there will be all kinds of additional utility and avatar enhancements that will unlock in the future. With Paris’ creative mind and playful spirit, we can’t wait to show what’s next in Parisland.”
Avatar Style Inspired by Paris Hilton
Paris Hilton and 11:11 Media wanted to showcase Paris’ iconic outfits through the years, as well as the signature accessories she’s known for.
Each look was carefully curated and chosen among the many iconic fashions that Paris has had over the years. Whether it’s sitting front row at a fashion show or modeling the latest fashions herself, Paris is frequently at the forefront of fashion.
“From her stunning Oscar de la Renta wedding dresses (plural!), her Marc Jacobs look for her debut Met Gala appearance, as well as epic Halloween costumes and her trademark Sliving gloves and sparkly DJ headphones, this collection captures the playful, stylish spirit of Paris Hilton. We weren’t afraid to lean into whimsy and be a little irreverent with these designs,” Miller added. “Translating all of those looks into voxels while keeping true to details isn’t easy. Paris was involved and hands-on with this collection, especially the 11 rare 1/1s, which was just such a fun, creative process.”
Avatars in The Sandbox Forge a New Path in the Metaverse
Since the avatar collection is playable, anyone who owns a Paris avatar can play as their own customized Paris avatar in The Sandbox. According to Nouzareth, this is a super fun way for players to find others in the community that shares the same interests. Playing as Paris also gives them a chance to be someone else and embody some of that playfulness that she’s so well known for.
As the collection evolves and the community grows, there may be opportunities to drop avatar enhancements, such as accessories and digital fashion, that unlock even more pathways to creative expression from owners.
“We wanted to allow her avatar holders to instantly play with their new Paris Hilton avatars, so we are reopening her popular Parisland experience on June 5th – the same day as the grand reveal of her avatars. The Sandbox is also offering a 200,000 SAND prize pool that’s token-gated for avatar holders, so they can run around in the virtual game, complete quests, and win SAND. It’s a great way for those who are new to the ecosystem to get a feel for what digital ownership truly means in The Sandbox.”
“On a bigger level, I’m constantly amazed by the creativity of the gamers and creators in The Sandbox’s ecosystem, so I’m sure they’ll incorporate Paris’ avatars in ways that we haven’t even dreamed up yet!” Miller shared.
Metaverse – The Exciting New World
Paris Hilton’s project demonstrates to creators, brands, and IPs that the metaverse is the future of immersive entertainment: the opportunity to tell new kinds of stories, lean into digital ownership in meaningful ways, and champion creativity. As Miller said, an avatar is the first step in embracing your limitless identity in the metaverse. Digital fashion, gamification, virtual worlds, collaborative storylines, and new forms of content all follow – Paris has always been at the vanguard of this exploration.
“I think we’ll see a lot more companies jump into the space as they realize that brand-building demands a new playbook,” Miller added.
While the metaverse has been around in some form or the other for quite some time, this latest incarnation is still quite new. So it will take time for more users to become familiar with it, to take the time to experience, explore, adventure, and discover.
“The best thing we can do to broaden the appeal of the metaverse is to create experiences that resonate with users. By working with notable brand partners and empowering creators to build their own experiences, we create opportunities to get people hands-on in the metaverse. After all, it should be about fun and discovery, full of new things, notable experiences, and engaging games. Like most gaming platforms and social networks, the metaverse is only as good as those experiences — and that’s what we’re laser-focused on right now,” Nouzareth shared.
According to Miller, Paris has a truly unmatched power to be a bridge into web3 and the metaverse for brands and her fans.
“We’ve already seen remarkable stats from her “Parisland” game in The Sandbox this spring, and the sheer numbers of new users and wallets she directly drove with that experience. When it comes to her avatar collection, we’re seeing lots of interest from Paris superfans that may not necessarily have been into NFTs previously; so I’m sure we’ll see lots of onboarding and cross-pollination between the Paris community and The Sandbox’s community,” Miller said.
Paris Hilton’s avatar collection is a celebration of self-expression and creativity with Paris’ fans and The Sandbox community, who are more engaged than ever. The collection is currently available for mint through an allow list.
Source: mPost
