Wearable World

Metaverse expert and technology futurist Cathy Hackl looks into the future of AR wearables and how they might transform the fashion world sooner than we think.

- CHANDREYEE RAY AND JESSLYN LYE

Augmented reality (AR) may not be new to fashion, but if you ask technology leaders, it’s all set to take over. In 2017, Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke with British Vogue about the future of fashion. In the interview, Cook said he believed AR would eventually transform everything in the fashion industry, from runway shows to shopping. “If you think about a runway show in the fashion world, that’s a great application of AR… you want to see the dress all the way around, you do not want to just see the front.”

Fast forward to today and it might be worth noting that fashion brands are already taking advantage of AR technology—and that we probably have interacted with it, either in-store or from the comfort of our homes. AR-powered shopping experiences, for example, make it easier for customers to make purchasing decisions. Using high-quality images and software to create 3D models of their products, brands hope to make virtual tryons as realistic and accurate as possible.