Virtual reality gets an incredible amount of attention these days for good reason. As it’s developed into a more refined technology, it’s become useful in an enormous variety of ways that extends well beyond the headline-grabbing video games at the center of the VR world.
Fashion, it is now clear, will not go untouched. To this point, VR has had a fairly limited impact on the world of design and retail, but few expect this to last. Already there are some fascinating experiments and early examples of VR affecting the industry, and these early instances are showing us a clear path to a near future in which the technology matters a great deal to those who care about fashion.
It’s likely that in this near future, there will be dozens of ways in which VR and fashion intersect. For our purposes now though, we’re looking at three of the most exciting possibilities.
AR Fashion Sampling
Technically this isn’t virtual reality, but AR – or augmented reality – is basically in the same family. The difference is that in AR programs you still mostly see the world that surrounds you in real life, with a few augmentations, whereas in VR everything you see is a construct. Some believe that AR will ultimately be more useful in fashion specifically because of the idea of sampling products. As one write-up phrased it, augmented reality is poised to help shoppers see how items look on them, without having to place orders and then make returns. This is easiest imagined with accessories. Say you’re looking at new bracelets and you just can’t tell online which ones will look best on you. Rather than having to go to the store, or order a bunch only to keep one, you will be able to use AR to simply select one, aim your phone at your wrist, and see your arm
as if the bracelet is on. Really, it’s a simple but very exciting concept.
VR In Dressing Rooms
Some have predicted that VR dressing rooms will replace high street retail, and it could be that this is the case in time. Right now though, we’re in an interesting place where VR tech exists, but isn’t nearly widespread enough to relegate all shopping to the home. Stores will want to get out in front of this technology, and for that reason it’s reasonable to expect that more and more of them will offer VR dressing rooms within stores (with some companies already having experimented a bit in this space). The idea is that you’ll still need to go to the store, but once there you’ll have a whole new customer experience in which you can enter a VR program and try out virtual looks from the store’s entire catalogue, potentially even beyond what’s in stock in the store. Then you’ll simply fill a virtual shopping cart and either put the items on order or collect them at checkout, if they’re
in stock.
Virtual Runway Shows
Aside from shopping, VR may also change the way we engage with fashion shows. Here we look to sports as an example, because there’s starting to be quite a lot of chatter about the idea of viewing sports “live” through VR, for betting purposes. A competitive range of providers at the top of the bookmaking business leads to a lot of innovation in this space, and the idea is that people can use VR to feel as if they’re part of the action rather than just making bets on a computer screen. This sort of live event VR has interesting implications for fashion as well. Betting won’t be part of the equation (well, it could be…), but the very same technology could allow true fashion lovers to “attend” runway shows all over the world, simply by strapping on a headset. It is in theory a whole new way to interact with the pinnacle of the industry.
