I’ve been thinking a lot about fashion and tech lately. Well, obviously. I’ve been brainstorming ideas of how tech can be utilized in fashion weeks across the globe. However, I’ve been so focused on virtual reality fashion that I completely missed another major player: augmented fashion.
Coming up with a completely unique and original idea can be difficult in any industry. What hasn’t been done yet? What is there a need for? It’s slightly easier when it comes to tech and fashion. It’s still a relatively new industry with endless possibilities. And that’s not just me being overly enthusiastic.
What fashion week aims to do is give audiences a truly captivating experience—an in-depth look at a designer’s collection. But what if you could go farther?
Recently, Steven Tai and ILMxLAB presented a ground-breaking augmented fashion experience at London Fashion Week that did just that.
Live models were showcased on a runway wearing looks from Tai’s Autumn/Winter ’18 collection. The models posed in front of a screen which showed the same runway. Also on the screen was a real-time CGI avatar who wore the collection and moved around the stage with the models. Sounds interesting, right?
This use of augmented fashion allowed the audience to see what the collection looked like in real life as well as in a digital rendition. As a result, it created a much more engaging show. Attention spans are only getting smaller and we need to keep audiences focused and entertained.
Before Steven Tai‘s presentation, an actor in a motion capture suit had to have their movements tracked in real-time. This allowed the on-screen avatar to move immediately behind the physical models, striking poses just after they did. The avatar also changed clothing to showcase different garments from Tai’s collection.
In order for the clothes to be changed on the avatar, they first had to be digitized and then rendered in real-time. This obviously takes a lot more time and effort than just sending your clothes down a runway on live models! However, Steven Tai’s appetite for fashion technology shows off a panache for taking risks in the industry.
The show examined the idea of the physical world living alongside the digital world. And it was truly fascinating! After all, don’t we augment ourselves every day anyways? You know you love those story filters! Don’t even try to deny it.
But what can we expect to see next in the world of augmented fashion? I’m hoping we’ll see it popping up at more fashion weeks around the world. Once we create space in fashion week for new technologies, the industry will be virtually unstoppable. (No pun intended.)
