NOVELMODELS™

EBIT™'s Spectrum of Footwear [E010]

"Digital fashion and art collective EBIT (Enjoy Being in Transition) has launched its first collection of virtual-only footwear in the metaverse. Co-founded by Simon Whitehouse, the CEO of Eco-Age, EBIT aims to shine a spotlight on promoting mental health through art, fashion and music. And since May is Mental Health Awareness Month, this launch is designed to address an often-kept topic and how digital support can translate into real-life help.

Launched on the dematerialised digital marketplace, EBIT showcased the "Spectrum of Footwear [E010]" collection, a debut range of 10 metaverse-ready digital shoes and sneakers that draw inspiration from the spectrum of mental health conditions. According to Whitehouse, the elements of each style transform and overlap in sequence, subliminally referring to the way medical professionals diagnose mental illness.

For the promotion campaign no famous influencers, but characters with ethical values, stories to tell and devoted to inclusion, represented by Novelmodels, founded by Adrenus Craton." -- [Article by  L'OFFICIEL Italia, June 8,2022]

Michael Angelo's Story continued...

Most of my life, I was told that getting an education was the only way I was going to succeed in life. I was reminded every day by my mom and can still hear her voice now when I think about it. I have always known the benefits of getting a good education, so I did my best to make my parents proud. 

The deal was pretty simple with my parents⏤get the grades and you can venture out and explore other interests. As long as I was working hard at school, I was allowed to do other things, things I felt have made me the well-rounded person I am now.

This balance worked well, until one day it didn’t. The Christmas of 2015, I lost my dad, and my whole world came tumbling down. My sister and I lived in London at the time, with our dad, and due to her work, our mom lived in Paris. After our dad’s passing, we had to relocate to Paris, which meant I had to say good-bye to my school, my friends, and the other connections I had made while living there. I felt as if I had been stripped away of everything that made Michael, Michael. Everything happened so fast, I never really had time to grieve what I had just lost. I got really angry, my self-esteem took a hit, and I fell into a depression for a few months. During those months, I just stayed in one place barely ever wanting move or inter-act with people. Once I could finally bring myself to get up and move out of the house I discovered a football pitch not far from my apartment. I hadn’t played football in months so, I felt I should just watch for now. I would come and go every day until one day the coach asked if I’d like to join in a session. From there, I made friends and gained a reason to leave home.

Once I got into school, making friends was really tricky, seeing that there was a language barrier, but as time went on I found my little clique of people. We barely understood each other, but we connected on things like sports, music and fashion.

In terms of my education it was hard trying to keep up with everyone, seeing that I barely understood what was happening. I felt unintelligent and continued to beat myself up for months for not being able to learn the French fast enough.

After almost a year and a half of this, and losing interest in school, I was finally allowed to come back home to continue my studies in English (Ghana). My family called me lazy and ungrateful for giving up being in Paris, but I felt I didn’t need to be there and stood my ground.

In the time that I’ve been home I’ve managed to grow my modeling career into something I can be proud of, with more wins to come. I’ve become a part of various foundations and businesses and have turned myself into a role model for other young people who might not have taken the orthodox path to success. My foundations focus on giving children and young adults access to opportunities to learn new skills and broaden their horizons (www.futureleadersinspired.org;  @futureleadersinspired). In a society where education was seen as the ‘end all, be all’ I found success in the things that made me happy, and that was criticized a lot especially by people close to me.

I’m watching myself become my own man, and I’m proud of myself for being in a position to create a safe space for kids to both get an education, but also to find interest in other things. 

Ning's Story

(New York, USA)

Photo by Adrénus Craton

As the world recovers from this global pandemic, it is more important than ever to maintain a posi-tive mindset and view in order to progress towards a better future for the current generation and generations to come. However, the trend of “fast fashion” has promoted wasteful textiles that con-tinues to deteriorate our environment and the lives of the youth today. In an already stress-abun-dant world and as climate change continues to affect the quality of our resources, I’ve realized that the ignorance of mindless shopping can take a huge toll on one’s own brain personality, or in other words, our mental health.

So, what does a healthy mental state look like?

To me, a peaceful mentality is something that embodies you completely – from the way you dress to the way you act to the color theme you portray on your Instagram feed. It is like seeing a light at the end of a tunnel and having the urge to run towards it. It is having an interest and engaging in your hobbies. It is a drive and motivation to want to attempt the impossible and follow your biggest dreams and aspirations. 

However, it doesn’t always have to be all rainbows and sunshines – a healthy mindset is also the ability to be resilient despite the challenges we face and maintaining a good balance between the good and the bad experiences in what we know as “life.”

Growing up, I’ve always considered myself a pretty happy person but never thought much about it. It wasn’t until I fell into a depression that I realized I took my happiness for granted. I came to realize the importance of my mental health and that what I had was irreplaceable. Back in the early months of 2020, I was taking a huge step in my life as I made the move to the Big Apple by myself to pursue a fashion career. It was my first time being independent and I was so excited to see what the future had in store for me. However, my plans were cut short when COVID-19 suddenly shook the world and everything went under lock down. I flew home to Houston for quarantine, thinking it would be, at most, a period of three months. During this time, I was unable to do anything worthwhile – I would eat, sleep, and sit on my couch, thinking to myself, “Maybe I am not meant for this. Maybe I wouldn’t go down this path as far as I thought I would.” Time went on and the pandemic did not end, and I was quickly in a state of deep despair. I started ordering food all the time, went on a binge eating spree, and would just constantly be deteriorating myself off of the success of others. I would spend lots of money on unimportant things such as low-value garments and “promotion products” (fast fashion) without knowing that I would feel regretful afterwards as I associate quantity over quality with my own identity. But all bad things come to an end, and with a bit of a push, I was able to return to my current state of mind. One thing I did that helped me was to continue engaging in my interests in my case, I would continue doing dance covers and drawing portrait arts, basically anything that would keep my mind from going deep into the abyss and messing with my emotions. At the end of the day, I know this feeling is temporary and I am not alone in this world. I cannot control the future, and may it just be.

I am excited to collaborate with EBIT™ to experiment with a new era of “digital fashion” – a sus-tainable, eco-friendly way to reach consumers through awareness and sensibility as we make Earth a better place for all.