Paris Fashion Week has adopted AR kiosks that offer visitors a digital version of the look.
In addition to attending the physical shows and presentations of Fashion Week, guests can now experience the digital version of the designer’s look through the AR kiosk at the Sphere showroom in the Palais de Tokyo.
AR Try-Ons on Full-Length Mirrors
The neon-lit green kiosk features full-length AR mirrors. Using an integrated touch screen, visitors can select and try on a range of young designers, including Chet Lo, Andam fashion award winner Louis Nouchi, Gabriel Harri (musicians Sam Smith’s own designer), and Celine Kwan (for Lizzo custom clothing).
Once a photo is taken, visitors can style it with virtual stickers, which can then be downloaded to a smartphone via a QR code or printed out. It’s almost as if they were in a photo booth. They can also purchase digital clothing through the DressX marketplace.
A Cultural Activity as Well
The event is a collaboration between Hong Kong-based fashion curating platform Fabrix and DressX, and is the brainchild of Fabrix founder Shin Wong.
“It’s very Hong Kong,” she explains. “The idea for the kiosk came from the Japanese sticker selfie kiosk, which is an integral part of the broader Asian culture. They have hundreds of different themes and are very fancy; teens can go there with their friends to take selfies and post them to social media or print them out as stickers.”
She sees this activity as a “cultural activity” as well, noting the importance of seeing fashion within the broader cultural landscape.
FabriX is Hong Kong’s pioneering digital fashion initiative, organized by PMQ. The pilot program is founded to nurture and prepare young fashion designers from Hong Kong to be future-ready. It’s a practive response to the new reality brought about by digital fashion, the Metaverse, and NFT marketplaces.
Better Collaboration among Creatives
Beyond bringing new design talents to the fore, FabriX exposes the participants to collaborations with a community of digital and technical experts, the new ecosystem that breathes life into digital fashion. This cross-pollination of ideas, knowledge, and skillsets is essential to developing Hong Kong into a thriving digital fashion capital, including a digital retail platform – DRESSX.
“I still see the physical body of work as very important, and I don’t think that can be replaced or taken away,” she said. “However, I think using digital technology as a tool to enhance their storytelling can help to generate sales.”
For emerging designers in particular, she believes the data provided by such AR campaigns can also help them understand which pieces are more popular, allowing them to make more informed decisions about color and quantity.
