How Could Virtual Reality Influence Fashion?

Up until not that long ago, virtual reality seemed like a distant and abstract entity that touched the lives of those who were into IT, techy gadgets and even science fiction. Fast-forward several years later and we find ourselves attached to virtual reality on a daily basis through our phones, various apps they provide, different smart devices, and even social media. Speaking of social media and our celebrity-obsessed culture, it doesn't hurt to mention that famous people use various means to influence the public and have a tremendous effect on fashion, design, style, and the way we perceive what is beautiful. Just take a look at some of Celebrity Snapchats for instance and you’ll see what we are talking about.

In terms of virtual reality, its impact on fashion is huge in areas such as retail, fashion experience, and design, and we’ll take a look at just how it can influence our fashion choices.Virtual Reality in Retail In 2014, LCST created an app that lets you see different shoes on your feet through the lens of your smart phone without actually putting any shoes on. You don't even have to hold them in your hands. For Christmas shopping in London in 2016, Blippar created a 360° shopping experience that was set up like a treasure hunt for Santa’s reindeer. Shoppers could access it from any smart phone, and more than 140 stores participated in it.Although virtual reality in fashion is still in its early stages, one of the things that are expected in the near future is creating mirrors in which you can ‘try on' any garment before actually getting a hold of it.Virtual Reality and Fashion ExperienceMimeme is a fashion app for smart devices that will let its users wear clothes that they do not physically own in virtual reality. This particular app and many others that will be built in the future will let you put on any piece of clothing that you’ve never even laid eyes on in the real world, see how it fits, match it with various other fashions and compare it to what you usually wear.This kind of experience will expand any fashionista’s views and let her be a tomboy one day, a classy ballerina the next day, and a street styler the day after. Even people who are not overly obsessed with fashion will be able to 'get their hands’ of styles that they never would have tried on in the offline world, which will undoubtedly influence their taste and choice of clothing when they actually do dress.Virtual Reality and DesignIn the world of design you can enter a virtual reality with headsets and create designs in 3D, test your ideas, play with layers of design all you like and eventually make a decision that will appear in the offline world as the finished product. Fashion design in virtual reality can range from art projects that will never see the light of day outside of virtual space to creating designs that can go into production as soon as they are created. Not only can virtual reality speed up the creative process, it can inspire ideas never before seen in the real world.