The fashion industry is characterised by relentlessly fast rhythms, but so is technology, that's why, you may argue, fashion and technology go well together.
Recently we have seen new and exciting developments for what regards digital fashion collections, but another technology that has been explored by the industry is AR (Augmented Reality).
The latter offers the possibility of merging the real with the virtual and, while there have been designers such as Marga Weimans and Anrealage that explored the possibilities of AR in their fashion collections, this medium has mainly been employed in the last few years to offer innovative shopping experiences to consumers or improve marketing campaigns.
Between 2013 and 2017 most projects focused on AR concentrated indeed on providing AR-enabled changing rooms that allowed clients to try on for example a garment in different colours by swiping a mobile phone's touchscreen (Uniqlo) or dressing room-like environments for customers to try on a wide range of clothes (Gap) and make-up as well (MAC and Sephora).
Last year, various brands came up with VR and AR projects (quite often employing Apple's developer platform ARKit, or Google's Arcore that allow smartphone integration).
Zara launched AR displays in stores that allowed customers to hold their mobile phones in front of a sensor on the displays or shop windows and buy the looks; H&M experimented with AR during the preview of is designer collaboration with Moschino using Magic Leap One glasses.
In 2018 Gucci offered customers that purchased good in designated stores to view scannable ads with interactive campaigns enriched with AR animations; this year the brand launched instead an AR tool to try on the Ace sneakers enabling consumers to post a picture a social media or to instantly buy the style.
Besides, in May Louis Vuitton showcased at VivaTechnology in Paris a partnership with the Snapchat network that gave visitors the chance to take away a virtual Louis Vuitton product created using a Snapcode that unlocked a digital version of the Keepall bag in augmented reality.
But more brands and fashion houses have jumped on the AR bandwagon: from L'Oreal providing Amazon with its AR technology ModiFace (acquired in 2018) that helps consumers testing make-up, to Puma that launched its first augmented reality shoe, the LQD Cell Origin Air, covered in 2D QR codes that give access to AR experiences (games, filters and other effects), once scanned with a mobile phone camera.
A few months ago, French luxury brand Dior enabled consumers to try on sunglasses via their smartphones thanks to an AR filter that could be accessed through Instagram Stories. The experience allowed consumers to add the DiorSoLight sunglasses, a Dior-branded headband and different backgrounds to their pictures and share them (fans of the brand may remember how the maison experimented with VR as early as 2015 installing in selected stores a visor that costumers could use to walk backstage at one of the label's fashion shows).
There are some obvious benefits from AR integrations, including a boost on social media (certainly in the case of Dior's sunglasses or Gucci's Ace sneakers), even though using this technology for enhanced shopping experiences seems more useful. Perhaps the most interesting projects regarding AR are the ones that provide transformative experiences for people to enjoy fashion in a more personal way, like the one launched a while back by London College of Fashion's Innovation Agency, FIA.
The latter joined forces with augmented reality pioneers HoloMe to allow people all over the world to experience the London College of Fashion MA19 graduates runway in the form of an AR live experience. This experience enabled users to superimpose the models on the environment surrounding them (models walked in front of a classic green screen background before stepping onto the runway that was taking place at the Queen Elizabeth II building in Westminster, London).
Experimental approaches such as this one may reinforce the concept of fashion democratisation as ordinary people are not just allowed to watch a runway on their smartphones, but they can transport it in their own environments and get immersed in it.
While the runway is a theatrical experience and critics may still want to see a show in person to touch the garments and examine them better, the time has come to start considering the AR option more seriously as something that may allow brands to reduce their carbon-footprint (if more fashion houses would offer better AR experiences maybe the numbers of people getting invited to shows could also be reduced).
This is definitely one of the paths to the future and some brands are already considering it: British online fashion retailer Asos launched in June this year Virtual Catwalk with HoloMe, an AR feature that helps customers visualising products in real life environments.
It looks like AR conceived as an engagement solution, as a service to implement an experience such as shopping (mind you, this experience also helps brands that may realise when people try on a garment but don't buy it that maybe something is wrong with it - which leads us to the importance of data in fashion) or watching runway shows, is here to stay and shape the reality around us. The next step for AR? Being intergrated in a better way into craftsmanship processes: you can bet that, sooner or later, we will all be talking about the power of augmented crafts in fashion.
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