Imagine stepping into the shoes of a fashion model preparing for a grand runway show at London Fashion Week. Now, visualize doing this without physically being in London, instead using the power of Augmented Reality (AR). This is not a figment of the imagination, but a reality brought to life by London’s Design Museum in an experience fuelled by Snap, the creators of Snapchat.
Revelling in Three Decades of London Fashion
The exhibition, titled “Rebel: 30 Years of London Fashion”, is a celebration of London’s fashion prowess over the past 30 years. It’s a fascinating journey into the world of fashion, where visitors test iconic runway looks, thanks to AR technology.
Exhibits include the ‘swan dress’ worn by Björk at the 2001 Oscars, the Steven Stokey-Daley outfit sported by Harry Styles in his ‘Golden’ music video, and the inflatable latex suit donned by Sam Smith at this year’s BRIT Awards.
Backstage Pass: A Virtual Dressing Room
The ‘Backstage Pass’ area of the exhibition uses AR to recreate the hustle and bustle of pre-show preparations. Here, visitors can interact with AR vanity mirrors, trying on hair and makeup looks featured in the shows of London Fashion Week designers.
Each AR lens is a faithful reproduction of one of nine hair and makeup looks from the respective designers. These range from the bold face paint showcased by Charles Jeffrey Loverboy for spring 2018 to the Richard Quinn floral motorcycle helmet from his fall 2018 runway show.
Technology Powering the Experience
The AR lenses use machine learning to create photorealistic hairstyles. Makeup looks are created using facial tracking technology, which understands the construct of different faces. The technology even simulates how light interacts with reflective surfaces, such as jewelry.
This same technology was used by Snap in partnership with Tiffany & Co. at the Saatchi Gallery, where visitors could virtually wear the famous 128.54 yellow-carat Tiffany Diamond.
The ‘Backstage Pass’ exhibition combines Snap’s technology with Apple’s iPad Pro tablet hardware, designed by Snap’s Paris AR studio. Visitors can activate each different lens experience via hand-tracking technology, selecting their chosen look via the vanity mirror’s touchscreen.
All the designers featured in the exhibition, including Alexander McQueen, Christopher Kane, Erdem, Kim Jones, J.W. Anderson, Molly Goddard, and Grace Wales Bonner, are alumni of NEWGEN, an initiative by the British Fashion Council to support emerging UK fashion design talent.
The exhibition, which runs until February 11, 2024, is a testament to the convergence of fashion and technology.
With technology continually evolving, who knows what the future holds? Maybe one day, we’ll see this AR technology integrated into platforms like cryptoview.io, providing a seamless and immersive fashion experience.
