The Artist’s Journey
The intersection of mainstream media and NFT art reached a fascinating inflection point in early June 2022, when APENFT and Swiss digital art platform Valuart unveiled their collaborative Vanity Fair NFT Cover Drops. Completed on May 23, 2022, the collection bridged the rarefied world of Condé Nast publishing with the emerging digital collectibles ecosystem — at a time when the broader crypto market was in freefall.
The collection consisted of four unique 1:1 edition NFTs, each representing a reimagined Vanity Fair cover, alongside a 1,000-mint run of an exclusive H.E. Justin Sun 2022 edition. The artists behind these covers — each tasked with translating the iconic Vanity Fair aesthetic into blockchain-native artwork — found themselves working at the crossroads of traditional editorial prestige and decentralized creative ownership.
What made this project particularly compelling was its timing. With Bitcoin trading at approximately $28,360 and Ethereum hovering around $1,529 on June 11, 2022, the NFT market had already experienced a brutal 72% decline in sales volume between May and June. Active NFT wallets had plummeted 88% from a peak of 119,000 in September 2021 to just 14,000. Yet despite the bloodbath in broader crypto markets, APENFT pushed forward with a project that prioritized artistic legitimacy over speculative hype.
Collection Mechanics
The auction structure was straightforward but effective. All four unique NFT covers were listed on the APENFT marketplace from Monday, May 23 through Monday, May 30 at 7:00 PM GMT. The starting bid for each piece was set at 1,500 TRX — roughly $120 at the time — an intentionally accessible entry point designed to attract genuine collectors rather than purely speculative bidders.
The four covers — Say The Words That I Can’t Say, The Plum Thief, Ludwig, and Ratty Portrait — each featured distinct artistic interpretations of the Vanity Fair cover format. By the auction’s conclusion, all four had sold at hammer prices that demonstrated genuine demand:
- Say The Words That I Can’t Say: 310,000 WTRX ($25,420)
- The Plum Thief: 310,000 WTRX ($25,420)
- Ludwig: 322,888 WTRX ($26,476)
- Ratty Portrait: 299,999 WTRX ($24,599)
The fifth piece — the H.E. Justin Sun Exclusive Edition — was offered as a fixed-price open edition at 999 TRX (approximately $80), with 1,000 mints available. Created by Valuart to celebrate the Tron founder’s influence in the crypto space, the artwork featured a series of stylized portraits and was positioned as a community-accessible collectible within the APENFT ecosystem.
Utility and Perks
While the Vanity Fair NFT covers did not promise elaborate utility schemes or token-gated experiences — a refreshing departure from the over-engineered NFT projects that dominated early 2022 — they carried inherent value through their association with one of the most recognized magazine brands in the world. Each 1:1 piece represented a verifiable piece of publishing history: the first time Vanity Fair covers had been released as NFTs.
The Justin Sun edition offered additional ecosystem perks within the APENFT platform, serving as both a collectible and a potential gateway to future drops and community events. However, the primary value proposition was cultural rather than financial — a deliberate choice that aligned with APENFT’s broader mission of bridging traditional art institutions with blockchain technology.
This approach contrasted sharply with many NFT projects of the era, which promised extravagant roadmaps featuring metaverse land, token rewards, and governance rights. By keeping the focus on artistic merit and brand prestige, APENFT and Valuart created a model that would prove more sustainable through the impending crypto winter.
Secondary Market Action
The secondary market environment in June 2022 was brutally unforgiving. The Bored Ape Yacht Club floor price had crashed approximately 70% from its peak of 150 ETH to around 45 ETH during the May-June sell-off. Overall NFT transaction volume had fallen below $1 billion for the first time in months, with daily sales plummeting from an average of 225,000 to just 19,000 transactions.
Against this backdrop, the Vanity Fair covers held relatively steady. The auction prices of $24,600–$26,500 for unique 1:1 editions from a major media brand represented a fraction of what similar collaborations might have commanded during the January-March 2022 peak. For context, when Beeple’s Everydays sold at Christie’s in March 2021 for $69 million, the NFT market was roughly a tenth of the size it reached before the crash.
The Justin Sun open edition, priced at just $80, offered an interesting secondary market dynamic. With 1,000 editions available, liquidity was theoretically strong, but the broader market downturn suppressed trading activity across all tiers of NFT collectibles.
Final Verdict
The APENFT Vanity Fair NFT Cover Drops represent a case study in timing and positioning. Launched during one of the most severe market corrections in crypto history — with the Terra Luna collapse still fresh, Celsius on the brink of halting withdrawals, and Three Arrows Capital teetering — the project demonstrated that brand-driven, art-first NFT collections could find buyers even in a hostile market.
The collaboration also highlighted a broader shift happening in June 2022: the migration away from speculative NFT drops toward what Nansen analyst Louisa Choe called “social NFTs” — collections like BAYC, Doodles, and Azuki that derived value from identity and community rather than pure speculation. By July 2022, these social NFTs would command an estimated 83% of the total NFT market share.
For collectors, the Vanity Fair covers offered something increasingly rare in the NFT space: genuine cultural provenance. Whether that provenance translates to long-term value appreciation remains an open question — but in a market drowning in cartoon animals and broken promises, a Vanity Fair cover on the blockchain feels like a breath of fresh air.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. NFT investments carry significant risk, including the potential for total loss. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Always conduct your own research before making investment decisions.
vanity fair x NFT at a time when wallets were down 88%… bold move or terrible timing?
88% drop in active wallets and they still launched. the team was either contractually obligated or genuinely delusional about nft demand
the justin sun 1000-mint edition screams cash grab. 4 actual 1-of-1s would have been enough
the 4 actual covers were decent art though. the Justin Sun mass-mint was the real problem
the 1-of-1 covers had actual curatorial vision. the justin sun mass mint turned a prestige project into a gas station souvenir shop
terrible timing. NFT volume had already cratered 72% by the time this dropped. nobody was buying art NFTs in June 2022
Condé Nast letting their IP go on-chain in a bear market was either brave or desperate. probably both
conde nast partnering with a tron-linked project in a bear market was such a weird move. someone in licensing clearly didnt do their crypto homework