The London Fashion Week was the main thing happening this weekend. Even though the event was quite lacking in regards to wearable tech, this past week showed some hope with a selection of new gadgets being introduced to the market on the platform.
On the other hand, the New York Fashion Week which had been sponsored by Intel, proved to have more accessories and smart clothing to show to the eager enthusiasts compared with the other events. At the London Fashion Week, the focus so far has been on the way to showcase designer collections and get people talking about the same. This comes after the focus on camera jackets and payment wearables in last year’s event which was quite successful by all measures.
A Fashion Show on Mixed Reality
In the New York event, the new designers streamed their shows live in 360 degrees with the use of VOKE and Intel. A look at the gear is quite impressive, I must admit. For those of us who got to try the gear at the event or immediately after, we were all amazed by its capability and the experience itself.
For the London event, the VIPs at the show, Martine Jarlgaard, had a privileged to view the show in a world’s first Microsoft HoloLens. Although the result is just static images at the moment, the future looks brighter as we could see holograms models walking in front of you at the event. Though it sounds out of this world, progress is being made in the area and very soon this may come to be a reality and certainly be a benchmark in the industry. The ripple effect of such technology in the industry would be incredible.
AR Mannequins
Lyst came with a new, but slightly weirder use of AR. Lyst made use of iPads to dress human mannequins that were standing semi naked in a shop window for the London event. The aim behind this slightly weird undertaking was to create volumetric AR which displays the colors, textures and the way fashion garments move correctly. Though clever, you have to admit that this is abit weird. However, the significance of this cannot be overstated as it is a milestone when it comes to the use of VR in other areas apart from the traditional uses we are all accustomed to. It will be interesting to see the evolution that will result as more people explore newer and even weirder uses of the VR.
The Rise of Chatbots
In the near future, chatbots and smartwatches could go together like J and PB. A case in point is Burberry which live streamed the show, though not in 360 degrees. This particular fashion house has been making use of the Facebook Messenger chatbots to allow their fans to make interactions with their collections. For now, they are offering emoji’s, animated sketches and mini games. For the coming season, we will recommend that some AR or VR is used for this type of content. This is bound to increase the interest of the target market pushing people to discover more ways to make use of chatbots and to integrate them into more areas. I am especially excited to see the integration of chatbots in other websites in the coming months.
Topshop; No smart clothing as of yet
Topshop is definitely leading in the race in the wearable tech arena as a result of its wearable tech competition, Top Pitch, which was won by Loomia, a smart textile startup during this summer. It was therefore very soon to see safety-inclined smart clothes or heated jackets on the catwalk for the SS17 Unique show from this fashion house. However, the best days are still ahead for this fashion house and we will be keenly looking to see the next big thing that they bring to the arena.
Conclusion
The London event is supposed to close on the 20th and we hope that more experiments and new products will be showcased on the catwalk as the event comes to a close. After the event is done, the fashion enthusiasts will move over to Milan followed by Paris which are quite slow when it comes to fashion tech collaborations. However we expect some action in the area of VR as Vogue Italia is partnering with Huawei. We will definitely keep you updated on this and more as the tech companies continue to stretch what’s possible.
