As seasoned analysts closely tracking the red-hot NFT space, our team of experts are always keeping tabs on emerging projects that demonstrate promising potential. One such project that has recently caught the crypto community’ is the Milady NFT collection. Leveraging our extensive knowledge of generative art and experience evaluating new NFT collections, we answer what is Milady NFT, its origins, exponential growth, communal ethos, and controversial aesthetics.
Summary
The Milady NFT collection consists of 10,000 algorithmically generated anime-inspired portraits of women on the Ethereum blockchain. Created by the Remilia Collective, the avant-garde art style of these NFTs evokes mixed reactions but their trading activity and community engagement are hard to ignore. We delve into the origins, art style, utilities, controversies and future outlook of this ambitious NFT experiment.
What is Milady NFT?
Milady NFT is a collection of 10,000 generative portrait NFTs featuring female anime-inspired characters with different visual attributes. They have a distinctive “neochibi” art style fusing Eastern and Western influences while drawing from Tokyo’s vibrant street fashion subcultures of the late 90s/early 2000s.
The collection was created by the pseudonymous artist Charlotte Fang and her team at Remilia Collective. Each Milady NFT is minted as an ERC-721 token on the Ethereum blockchain. The characters feature randomized combinations of fashion apparel, hairstyles, accessories and other traits – leading to a diverse range of quirky and aesthetically unique portraits.
Beyond just profile pictures, Milady NFT holders get access to various perks like VR avatars, exclusive parties, merchandise stores, and a Minecraft metaverse. There’s also a sister collection called Remilio Babies featuring similar male anime characters.
Key Metrics:
- Top selling NFT in past 28 days: Milady #55 sold for $15.2k
- The top Milady NFT sale price in the past month was $15.2k
- The lowest price of the top 10 Milady sales was $7.7k
- The most recent top sale was Milady #2653, which sold 11 hours ago for $8.3k
- Milady #55 is the best selling of the collection over the past 28 days
- There have been at least 3,799 Milady NFTs minted and sold based on the max ID #
- The average sale price of the top ten Milady NFT sales is $9,375
Understanding the Controversial Art Style
The anime-inspired neochibi art style of Milady NFTs has evoked polarized reactions. Supporters admire it as an avant-garde postmodern art movement pushing the boundaries of creative expression.
Detractors dismiss it as ugly, nonsensical and lacking artistic merit. At first glance, the loud colors, disproportionate features, and absurdist styling can appear almost grotesque.
But on closer inspection, one finds thoughtful artistic choices drawing from 20th-century art movements like surrealism, Dadaism and postmodernism that challenged societal notions of beauty and taste. The style blends Kawaii (cute) elements with darker, twisted undertones. There are also subtle nods to revered pop artists like Takashi Murakami and Yoshitomo Nara.
The art style aligns with the current cultural movement dubbed “avant-anime” – which remixes and satirizes anime tropes within a fine art context. Milady can be seen as an experimental and boundary-pushing addition to this movement.
Milady Maker’s trading history
Despite its launch in August 2021, Milady remained relatively obscure until 2022 when speculation went into overdrive:
- August 2021: Milady minting begins, but sales are lackluster for months
- March 2022: Minting sells out as hype begins building in NFT circles
- May 2022: Martin Shkreli briefly uses Milady as pfp, sparking interest
- June 2022: Elon Musk tweets Milady NFT, sending demand parabolic
- Daily volumes explode from under $100k to over $10 million
- Prices surge from 0.05 ETH mint cost to 4 ETH within months
- Total trading volume surpasses $118 million in four months
- Milady market cap reaches top 10 among all NFT collections
This tremendous growth mirrors other meme-fueled crypto manias like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu. Hype eclipsed fundamentals as social signals drove the rapid price rise.
Utility and Roadmap
Currently, Milady NFTs mainly provide artistic and social status value for holders through their futuristic anime design. Their aspirational real-world utilities aim to cultivate an exclusive brand community:
- VR Avatars – Using Milady NFTs as virtual reality avatars and video game characters
- Exclusive Parties – IRL member events at hip locations in LA, NYC, Miami, London etc.
- Merch Store – Custom apparel and non-fungible merchandise for holders
- Minecraft Server – Play-to-earn metaverse with NFT-gated lands and quests
These perks leverage the prestige of the NFTs to promise real-life social and monetary value. And the ambitious roadmap suggests this is just the beginning.
Outlook and Potential
As an early-stage art-centric project, Milady NFTs have significant room to grow. Specific future possibilities include:
- Staking Rewards – Allowing holders to stake their NFTs to passively earn yield
- Breeding -Introducing breeding mechanisms to produce next-gen Milady NFTs with rare attributes
- Fractionalization – Splitting Milady NFTs into cheaper fractional shares to improve liquidity
- Gaming – Integrating Milady avatars into blockchain-based games as playable characters
- Expansion Sets – Launching supplementary NFT collections set within the Milady universe
Implementing such features would transform Milady from a standalone JPG collection into an entire ecosystem. Case studies of top NFT brands like CryptoPunks, Cool Cats, and Doodles demonstrate the power of expanding beyond initial art drops.
Is Milady a good investment?
Despite being relatively new, several signals suggest Milady has compelling investment upside:
- Early minters have enjoyed massive returns, with Genesis mint holders up over 6000%
- The collection floor price has shown remarkable resilience and continues rising above $2000
- Celebrity endorsements and media hype appear here to stay as strong tailwinds
- Future staking, metaverse integrations and other utilities could boost value
- Comparables like CryptoPunks and BAYC show 10,000X potential scale for top brands
- Solid art direction and cultish community provide a strong long-term foundation
However, investors should brace for high volatility as with any nascent NFT project. Near-term prices remain tied to fickle speculator sentiment.
While the recent trading mania carries bust risk, the creative talent and cultish community makes it an exciting NFT project to watch in 2023 and beyond. If Milady can continue capturing attention, it could enjoy similar mainstream staying power as collections like Bored Ape Yacht Club.
Conclusion
As one of most talked-about NFT projects recently, Milady has earned its place among elite NFT collections, sitting on an impressive $130 million market cap. While opinions vary on its controversial art, the broader public attention and surging demand are undeniable.
For NFT collectors and investors, Milady offers a rare ticket into an exclusive brand community with strong future growth potential. And for the NFT space, it’s an emblem of the boundary-pushing creative experimentation that makes the ecosystem so fascinating.
FAQs
Who created the Milady NFT collection?
Milady NFTs were created by digital artist Charlotte Fang and her team at Remilia Collective.
What blockchain are Milady NFTs minted on?
The Milady NFT collection is minted as ERC-721 tokens on the Ethereum blockchain.
How many Milady NFTs exist?
There is a fixed supply of 10,000 Milady NFTs.
Why did Milady NFTs get so popular recently?
Milady gained mainstream traction thanks to celebrity endorsements (Elon Musk), speculation, and its unique anime-inspired art style that stands out in the NFT space.
