It should come with no surprise when I say that today’s fashion industry and culture around fast fashion are negatively affecting our environment and our bank accounts – not to mention the often negative side effect on our mindsets toward clothing and its relationship with our self-identity. Countless studies, blog posts, activist groups, and university clubs have done the evidently difficult task of tackling the industry’s growing carbon footprint and trying to slow down fashion. To shop sustainably and mindfully, we have to take so many things into account – the source of the fabric, who is making these clothes, whether these workers are treated with respect and fairness, and the longevity of the piece (how often and how long we can wear it). Sustainable and mindful consumption presents a number of difficulties and is often imperfect. I have personally struggled with my consumption and have repeatedly questioned whether purchasing anything ever is any good at all. We can’t deny the ecstatic feeling we get when we wear new and fashionable clothes, but that shouldn’t stop us from mindfully and sustainably consuming.
Which brings me to… AI fashion, or rather, virtual clothes. In place of actual fabrics and textiles, digital fashion gives us the opportunity to purchase new pieces and wear them…online, and only online. So how does it work? It seems a common practice among the virtual clothing stores I looked through was to submit a scanned photo of yourself in the pose and setting where you want you and your virtual clothes to be. It takes lighting, body shape and posing into account to recreate the image with your new virtual outfit.
Virtual fashion allows a more sustainable alternative to the consumption of clothes as it takes the manufacturing and polluting stages out of the fast fashion cycle. It also rids us of the anxious process of having to get rid of our old clothes that we don’t wear so often anymore. After browsing through some virtual clothing catalogues, it is also apparent that each item is a unique, runway-esque piece that can give you an edge to your aesthetic without wearing an overly marketed outfit, and assure that you really stand out, at least online. The level of creativity that I saw looking through the virtual closets was unreal and unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. Digital clothing allows fashion designers an other-worldly capacity to make anything out of anything. There is no limit to the kind of fabric or material that is used because, after all, it is all virtual. Aside from all these positives, just the idea of customizing my real body as if I was a Sim character really piqued my interest.
Of course, with any positive comes a negative, and virtual fashion is no exception. With a process so complicated and relatively new, scanning a picture for your desired outfit will present some imperfections, whether it be a piece of your hair edited poorly, or a section of the outfit fitting awkwardly. It also seems like a good outfit, whether it be IRL or virtual, can still hurt our bank accounts :( . Websites such as DressX require you to purchase the outfit each time you want to wear it, which isn’t so desirable considering some of their outfits can cost up to almost $300. Like anything in life, I also feel like virtual fashion has the ability to turn into something ugly. There is something so beautiful about thrifting and wearing an outfit that makes you feel good IRL, without the worry of whether you have a strong online presence based on your crazily unique digital clothes.
Below are a couple of websites to browse through exactly what I have been talking about.
DressX
XR Couture
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