photo the style bar 2011
Will people ever embrace virtual shopping over the fun & eternal magic of the real thing?
At Barcelona’s The Brandery in January, amongst the examples of new ideas in retailing were two futuristic concepts: the Magic Mirror and the Virtual Changeroom.
Not the first time I’d heard of them, but the first time I’d had the chance to see it all explained up close and with a real live model (read: screen) in front of me.
Call me romantic, but I have to say that I didn’t really get it then, and I don’t really get it now. Or call me old-fashioned, but for me it simply can’t compare with trying on the real thing. Sure, I get it as a concept to cull down your choices if you have ten things to try on and don’t want to waste time with the ones that won’t suit – but do you really want to miss out on seeing how the fabrics feel against your skin, and being able to twirl around and check out how it looks on you from various angles, including – let’s be honest girls and boys – bending over, sitting down, and in our red carpet pose?
Indeed, the Magic Mirror – or Macy’s ‘Magic Fitting Room’ as the New York department store has cleverly called it – is pitched as a way ‘to try on clothes without having to put them on’.
Macy's Magic-Fitting-Room
With the help of a camera and some very fancy technology, you can ‘see’ what the garments you select will look like on, some kind of swishy effect of the fabric as if you really had it one, & even how the colour suits you – some versions even let you take snaps and send them to friends via Facebook, email, or text for a second opinion if you are not sure (or perhaps to share in your unbridled excitement?)
One of my main concerns is the good old ‘hanger appeal’ paradox, when something looks simply fabulous on the hanger or like a tired old dishrag – until you get it on. We have all been caught by this one before. And as for not trying it on, how many times have you bought something in a rush or at a busy sale without a quick visit to the fitting room, only to find it completely wrong and the colour totally atrocious on you when you got it home?
Virtual Changeroom, from Barcelona-based virtualtwo, is much the same concept, but with even less contact with the clothes you are being tempted to buy. Items are displayed either on tactile screens or online, with Facebook, Twitter & i-Phone & i-Pad applications for uploading to friends or social media. (Again with the social media angle, and although it’s true women have always counted on their friends for advice when they are shopping, what about your relationship with the clothes????)
Retailers can put them into malls, shops, airports: anywhere customers can browse the products and – as far as I can gather – buy the merchandise then and there – like a portable shop!
It’s all pretty snazzy, and has been embraced by such fashion juggernauts as Diesel in their Madrid store. I can certainly see it as a way to showcase your collection when the real thing is not within shouting distance and you want to get peeps to get excited and pay you a visit – but if you are actually in the store to buy a pair of jeans that fit (and we ALL know how hard that is), can you really not be bothered to try them on?
To be honest all it really does is make me nostalgic for old stores, selling specialty items the old-fashioned way.
Luckily this is still a part of European retail landscape as well – like my favourite little glove shop, Guantes Victoriano in Carrer Mallorca, in Eixample, Barcelona…
photo the style bar 2011
All those fabulous colours and textures, and how well the virtual hands make them look ;-P Doesn’t it make you want to try them on, to feel the leather, wool, or fur lining against your hands, stretching your fingers across your face as you practise shielding yourself from intrusive paparazzi?
So there you have it – my take on vintage or virtual – what kind of shopper are you?
Happy (vintage or virtual) styling!!
Rubi
