Fashion is already jumping on the first Spring Summer 2018 collections, offering recognition of Copenhagen Fashion Week as worthy of global attentions. This blog will, of course, look at what is coming out of that array of design reveals...but not today. Instead we continue covering last week's subject matter. After all, did you really think this blog would bring up something concerning the future without at least adding inspiration beyond observation? Those who have been following since Fashion Observed first arrived know that this blog does anything but.
As mentioned last week, AR, AI and VR have a long ways to go before fashion fully incorporates these into the fabric of the industry. But fashion has not been a stranger to these, either.
Virtual reality, aka VR, has seen fashion dabble in it within the past few years but it has been a landscape barely embraced at this time. Topshop showed their Fall Winter 2014 collection to clients with headsets and a VR presentation. Then 7 For All Mankind created a VR fashion film for their Spring Summer 2015 collection, Rebecca Minkoff did a sample viewing ;in partnership with Google Cardboard for ;their Fall Winter 2015 show and Balenciaga did a VR presentation for their Fall Winter 2016 show when Demna Gvasalia took over. Meanwhile in 2015, Elle Canada did a behind-the-scenes peek at their cover shoot, TOMS took viewers to Peru, H & M played with an interactive VR presentation at Coachella, and Dior created a VR headset for customers to review the latest collections and behind-the-runway exploration. But for all the dabbling, fashion hasn't found a firm place for this technology yet, leaving it as a curious fad more than anything.
Part of this issue lies in the equipment, something the VR industry at large has yet to rectify. The cost of VR glasses is still too high to become an attractive investment for the mainstream while current resolution is not fine enough to make VR fashion-friendly when clients need detail to embrace the experience fully. Once these issues are addressed, then fashion needs to figure how to fully immerse this as a tool worthy of investment. Much the way that opera has broaden appeal by being broadcast in remote locations where opera cannot always travel, fashion will find VR useful for those who want the trunk show experience when not near a collection outpost. Think of it as augmenting the pop-up shop experience where clients can properly review collections more intimately in settings that allow for better marketing without the expense of full retail set-ups or investing too much on travelling trunk show set-ups (at least until haptics become sophisticated enough to further enhance this, and that is another whole article that might be only accessed through Pej Gruppen and its members who are lucky enough to be connected to).
The other end-use lies in the design team. Once design programs are sophisticated enough to allow for high quality textile movement and drape simulation, VR can allow better creative play for design experimentation without sacrificing textile usage, saving a lot of money while allowing for more opportunities for innovation along the way. This is where VR will prove invaluable for fashion.
With augmented reality, or AR, the potential for customer use is more promising, and this goes beyond Snapchat's filters. Topshop dabbled in the early part of the century but the AR at the time was crude and did not satisfy customer needs to the extent it hoped. Years later, Couturier Franck Sorbier had an AR mirror available for trying on his Spring Summer 2012 couture line that at least showed some dimensional adaptation. In 2012, Uniqlo showed off a more developed AR mirror in San Francisco, providing customers the opportunity to see different colours in the dressing room without the customer having to bring in other garments or dress and undress multiple times, a huge convenience for the customer. ;Marga Weimans used a new textile in 2013 during Amsterdam Fashion Week that allowed interaction with apps to augment imagery when viewed through a tablet, something more recently prominently featured by Anrealage for their Spring Summer 2017 collection. Sephora launched an app a few years ago to help virtually try out cosmetics, allowing the customer to see via AR and Converse was also an early adopter for virtual shoe sampling. In publishing, W Magazine just recently put out an AR interactive issue featuring Katy Perry while Nike recently announced a new method of product launching involving a scavenger hunt that features GPS and AR.
This ease into AR makes more sense when looking at what we carry in our pockets and bags: our phones. With an addition of an app, AR becomes accessible to the world around us, something proven during the Pokemon AR phenomenon last year. And there is not shortage of where AR can fit with fashion. For printed media, AR can save that aspect of the industry by tying ad content in unique ways that make having the publication a necessity rather than a resource outmoded by duplication and redundancy. websites can provide virtual fitting rooms for new fashion on demand at one's fingertips not only for immediate use but for added sharing on social media as a way of brand dissemination and, for the customer, a way to gain immediate opinion that may better serve purchase support. And with new textile development, AR can be the added enhancement to broader brand engagement and make the garment more special beyond obvious function.
The problem is apps. Because everyone is so bent on creating brand worlds, too much specialization forces the client base to accumulate all these apps, and thus burdens the customer base to the degree that it can backfire. Have you ever had to swing through all these apps to get the one on your phone you need after saving so many already? It's a drag; some apps languish because there are too ;many that are specialized. Instead, fashion needs to band together to decide on a few apps that will function across many brands and become standardized, like the way we only have a few platforms for logging online. Then the public is more likely to be onboard.
The biggest story we have yet to see is about artificial intelligence or AI and its role with Big Data, and this is no LOL matter. Here is where fashion can become powerful. Many sites are collecting information regarding habits and tastes already. Using this information requires a lot of time and resources to pour over all this information and most design companies cannot or will not allocate that much money to get the information it needs. But with AI, this power becomes more accessible. AI can take all this information and interpret it way faster, providing the kind of insights that allow for designers to modify collections to fit purchase patterns within the markets, gauge real-time responses when testing new design concepts, and in some cases even augment the creative process by allowing AI to introduce new combinations not found in current fashion databases; in effect, new design ideas generated by sifting through Big Data; Stitch Fix has been the pioneer in this very aspect. WTF, you may be thinking. Well, yes, the future is today and it's happening just the way you're seeing it: in a mind-blowing manner.
Fashion will need to invest in accumulation, storage and examination of designs versus purchase history data to stay relevant and connected to their customer base while taking advantage of evolving AI innovation to better observe those who come across the brand to determine whether the customer base they are attracting is adding to growth or walking away because current image and product lines are not connecting and engaging the populace. Some, such as Burberry, have known this from the onset and have fully immersed themselves in tech to their benefit.
But in the end all this tech cannot replace the heart of fashion, which is the creative process. The ;designer has a certain quality that combines artistry and intuitiveness with spontaneity that tech cannot master. The soul, that something special still lies within the hands of the designer and their team, and those who choose to add to their tool belt the tech of the world will succeed...and lead...the world as we march forward into the 21st century.