The future is here: The 3D virtual fashion show

On Friday, fashion tech company Bigthinx, will livestream a fully digital 3D virtual fashion show.

Together with Fashinnovation, Bigthinx is taking fashion virtual, meaning models and garments are created using 3D digital design techniques, then rendered and animated, all based on actual product designs and correct measurements.

Back in May, ready-to-wear label Hanifa staged a digital fashion via Instagram Live, featuring 3D renderings in place of models. Designed by Congolese American Anifa Mvuemba, a total of six looks from the brand’s Mvuemba’s Pink Label Congo collection were seen “floating” on screen.

How it works

Bigthinkx B2B business model plugs into retailers’ e-commerce sites so shoppers can explore a range of garment sizes on their avatar before purchasing. According to Forbes this is pivotal in solving the problem of high return-rates from online shopping and reducing the likelihood of shoppers buying a product in multiple sizes, where returns are inevitable.

Backed by the Prada Group, Bigthinkx Banglore founders Chandralika Hazarika and Shivang Desai set out to disrupt the global fashion industry using Artifical Intelligence (AI) and computer vision for virtual people, digital clothing, immersive fashion shows and transformational virtual shopping experiences.

By digitizing the human body with data on anatomy, shape, clothing size, fit and drape, Bigthingx enables brands to personalize shopping and envision designs.

“While we don’t have the fashion background, what we bring to the table is the ability to adapt and integrate new technology quickly,” Desai told Forbes in an earlier interview.

Digital solutions for brands

One of its bespoke software solutions, called Lyflike, can create human avatars for virtual fashion shows, photo-shoots, e-commerce and in-store shopping. It is easy to imagine why this software can benefit brands and retailers. Using Lifsize technology, 3D body scans and forty four precise body measurements and ratios can be calculated from just two smartphone images to predict accurate sizing for mass customization of clothing and made to measure fashion.

No time for last minute changes

Most ‘real’ fashion shows see designers, stylists and seamstresses work until the very last moment to make collections catwalk ready. For a virtual fashion show, designs must be completed weeks in advance in order to allow for the digital process to animate, render and create a presentation that is, above all, realistic and credible.

The show can be seen by registering via fashinnovation.nyc.

This article has been updated on 9 July 2020, correcting who has done the first virtual fashion show.

Image via Bigthinx; article source: Forbes