Remember whenRihannadressed as a giant blunt for the cover of Dazed’s 30th anniversary issue?Of course you do! Well, now, you have a chance to own the iconic,Jawara Alleyne-designed dress as anNFT.

The designer has teamed up with fashion technology platformBrand New Vision(BNV) to give away 10 limited edition non-fungible token versions of his joint dress, which he meticulously remade from pattern to piece. With the aim of democratising the NFT arena, each digital dress will be free and available for resale.

“The biggest challenge in transforming the dress into an NFT was getting the pattern to sit and hang correctly on a digital form,” Jawara tells Dazed. “When constructing a garment in real life, you’re molding it through each step to fit your form, whether that’s by how you cut, sew, or press your fabrics. But in a digital world the approach is slightly different, as the methods of construction are different. Wrapping my head around this new approach in order to create the NFT was also quite challenging but exciting.”

BNV says there are two key parts to minting an NFT. “The first is the item itself and anything that can be digitally stored and connected to it. In this case, the blunt dress,” the platform explains. “These can be images and videos, possibly source code or even hidden elements, all commonly referred to as digital assets, plus all the information about the item itself. This can cover such basics as its colour, who created it, and how many pieces exist (actual proof of a limited edition) – this is referred to as Metadata.” BNV adds that the NFT is then stored on IPFS, the Interplanetary File System, which means that “the data will always be available as long as the internet exists”.

“The second part is the proof of ownership,” the site continues. “This is the blockchain element. This is done through our Smart Contract which allows the NFT to be minted, sold, traded, or transferred while always pointing at the Metadata.”

BNV tells Dazed that it was important to give the Jawara dress NFTs away for free – and make them available for resale – because “it’s really early days for digital fashion ownership, especially when working with established and up-and-coming brands and designers to take them into the metaverse”. “Giving away or AirDropping some tokens is a way to encourage engagement from the fashion community.”

According to BNV, unlike “wearables or skins that can be purchased in games” – which are never really owned by those who buy them – “with NFTs, the jacket or sneakers or bag belongs to you and, as in the real world, you are free to do what you like with it: keep it as a collectible, gift it to a friend, sell it on a marketplace or – if really valuable or rare – put it up for auction”. For the winners of the Jawara NFT, says BNV, “in the near future, you will be able to loan it out for a fee or even sell part ownership if you need some cash”.

As the competition draw launches today (October 19), Jawara describes the process of bringing the dress to life as “exhilarating”. “The journey to the final creation was a learning process with NFTs being a new way of communicating fashion,” he continues. “Fashion has always been an industry at the forefront of conversations on innovation, which have allowed for new ways of thinking about consumption. I’m very grateful to have been a part of this project that allowed me to extend the world my work exists in and the way I can communicate that.”