The top model is selling herself and promoting artists.
(Image credit: Bella Hadid / Cy-B3lla)
Bella Hadid has launched an NFT project, and the good news is she's keeping her clothes on, kind of. When a celebrity releases an NFT our minds hurtle back to Madonna's earth goddess vagina, but luckily the CY-B3LLA NFT is a little more classy, artistic, and, frankly,… it's pretty good.
NFTs are the way of registering a digital file on a blockchain to secure it and create rarity – there can only be one true version. Many artists and celebrities have tried to launch NFTs, some we love, such as Takashi Murakami's Flowers while others, like Madonna's collaboration with Beeple, just confused. NFTs aren't the preserve of the rich and famous, try it for yourself by reading our guide: how to make and sell an NFT. For inspiration, read up on Former Final Fantasy artist Yoshitaka Amano's new NFT collection.
Bella Hadid's CY-B3LLA NFT project falls into the camp of 'ones we love'. This is a collection of 11,111 NFTs spread across 10 real-world regions, creating artwork with unique 'geo-based attributes'. From now through to September 1,111 NFTs will be released in 10 different countries of the world, each will have unique aesthetics to that place, created by local artists to that region.
A rare version of each regions CY-B3LLA NFT will be rendered in mono-colour – we love these (Image credit: Bella Hadid / CY-B3LLA)
The first set has launched in Japan, so we get Bella Hadid transformed into a cyborg as the main trait, with secondary traits inspired by manga, minimalism and Shibari – a traditional form of restraining captives, that looks a little bondage-y for our liking.
A neat artistic twist comes from the use of mono-colour. Some rare CY-B3LLA NFTs will be presented as simple mono-tone illustrations to showcase the artist's line art and style. For example, the Japanese-released CY-B3LLA NFTs will only be in white, Sakura pink and red (pictured above).
Bella Hadid has been 3D scanned to create the art for her new NFT project (Image credit: Bella Hadid / CY-B3LLA)
Bella Hadid has been 3D scanned at 4K to create the art for the CY-B3LLA NFT. As well as artists from across the globe the model has tapped into her contacts list to bring a bit of glamour to the project – '90s loving makeup artist Raisa (Rai) Flowers and hairstylist to music stars Grimes and Dua Lipa, Evanie Frausto, are both involved.
This all sounds very swish, but what will you actually get? As well as the 4K digital art of a cyber-enhanced Bella Hadid you'll get exclusive access to the model (though we'd imagine not physically), invites to events as well as access to the metaverse Bella mansion and global treasure hunts. There's also the exclusive CY-B3R GALA – a virtual and physical event celebrating the best of fashion and pop culture in Web 3 that only holders of this NFT can attend.
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This all actually sounds, well, good. The art looks fantastic and I love the fact this NFT will celebrate the talents of local artists around the world. It falls in line with the best NFTs that have a use, and as long as Bella Hadid maintains her interest this project could evolve into something interesting as the metaverse takes off.
If you need to know more about what is the metaverse, then read our guide. For an example of a good metaverse project take a look at Butcher Billy's inspired retro Atari posters. We also have a one-stop overview of everything you need to know about NFTs in our feature: What are NFTs? Take a look at both, the future is looking interesting.
Ian Dean is Editor, Digital Arts & 3D at Creative Bloq, and the former editor of many leading magazines. These titles included ImagineFX, 3D World and video game titles Play and Official PlayStation Magazine. Ian launched Xbox magazine X360 and edited PlayStation World. For Creative Bloq, Ian combines his experiences to bring the latest news on digital art, VFX and video games and tech, and in his spare time he doodles in Procreate, ArtRage, and Rebelle while finding time to play Xbox and PS5.
