Dubai-based Virtual influencer Meta Kira has more than 3,000 Instagram followers. 

Like many real-life influencers in UAE, she often shares pictures posing in front of the Dubai Eye and Dubai Marina’s skyscrapers. She travels on vacation, where she shows off different swimwear on exotic beaches. She has been to Zanzibar and the Maldives. She also attends many web3 and crypto conferences for networking opportunities. Yet unlike many virtual and real-life influencers, Meta Kira doesn’t have an army of assistants or household name brands backing her. She’s the product of a one-woman production headed by fashion designer Yunna Albegova. 

“Kira was not originally meant to be an influencer,” Albegova told me recently.  

Virtual social media influencers are nothing new. The first one was Lil Miquela in 2016. It was created by a Silicon Valley startup called Brud, which was later acquired by blockchain company Dapper Labs. Since then, it has become a growing industry. According to Virtual Humans, there are more than 200 active digital influencers. Its database shows that they are owned mainly by fashion companies, technology startups and ad agencies.  

Meta Kira

Meta Kira is different in that sense. It is the brainchild of one freelance designer trying to break into the exclusive world of fashion. Albegova, 35, has been living in Dubai for 11 years and used to work as a tourism agent. She strived to make a career shift, but it was not easy. 

“I tried to get a job as an assistant or an intern in the fashion industry, but I could not find anything,” Albegova said. Moreover, there are the usual barriers to experimenting with designing clothes.

“In physical fashion, you need fabrics that may be expensive, you need sewing machines, a place of work. It is a lot of money,” she said. 

In 2019, Albegova traveled to the Netherlands, where she studied at the Amsterdam Fashion Institute. There, she was intrigued by digital fashion, where one can start a brand with nothing more than a laptop and imagination. She soon became a freelance 3-D designer. In February 2022, she created Kira as a model to wear her digital fashion designs. “It was just a way to make my portfolio stand out from all the other super-talented digital designers out there,” she said.

Kira’s friendly smile and purple hair impressed Albegova's friends, and they encouraged her to create a dedicated social media feed. There was one problem: there was no clear plan, no strategy nor market study for a target audience. 

“I think that’s the difference between me being a freelancer and an agency,” said Albegova, “I was making decisions based on what I feel is beautiful.” 

Kira’s backstory is that she comes from the Metaverse, is knowledgeable about web3, blockchain, NFTs, and virtual reality, and is meeting humans to learn more about the reality of this world.

As Kira harnessed more followers and fans, she started attracting collaborations with different events and designers. At one point, she dabbled into politics and cut her virtual hair in support of Iranian protesters and women’s rights. 

“I am just going with the flow. I want Kira to become a full-blown influencer,” Albegova said. ”She will comment on more social and political issues in the future.” 

Albegova has still not been able to monetize her creation. She offered virtual dresses as NFTs on OpenSea, in which holders get digital files that allow them to retouch, customize, and personalize them to their taste. 

Such a process would require advanced knowledge of design, and the audience for it is small. She is currently testing ways to promote her creation more broadly, such as offering Kira’s followers an opportunity to put on their favorite virtual dresses by submitting photos. 

Albegova may not have the resources and marketing knowledge of an agency. Still, she believes virtual freelancers created by independent artists will have their share in the market sooner or later. 

“There is a lot of interest from brands and huge advancements in virtual fashion design that is happening right now,” said Albegova, “In my school, half the students were dedicated fully to digital fashion.”