world first design conference a 'virtual' success

The first virtual world-based fashion design conference in history was held earlier this month on December 3.

The Fashion Research Institute hosted "Threading the Needle: The Future of Fashion Design", a free conference for fashion design students and new designers.

The conference was created to gather fashion industry leaders to present their views on a range of topics aimed at helping a global audience of new designers 'thread their needle' and launch their careers.

A number of avatars spent an informative and entertaining afternoon in the 'ScienceSim' attending the Threading the Needle conference organised by Shenlei Winkler of the Fashion Research Institute.

Using a free Skype number, it was easy to hear the talks whilst watching the presentations in the virtual conference room or visiting the exhibition stands. The presenters and audience were an interesting mix of industry and academia and included virtual world novices as well as advocates for the technology.

The novelty of the venue did not detract from the quality of the presentations and the speakers were of a high calibre including Kerry Bannigan (CEO, Nolcha Fashion Week); Fiona Jenvey (CEO, Mudpie); Beth Harris (Director of Digital Learning, MOMA-NYC); Crosby Noricks (Founder, PR Couture); Suzie Norris-Reeves (FHEA, Head of School, Southampton Solent University); Elaine Polvinen (Professor & Coordinator – Fashion Textile Technology, Buffalo State University); Michiel Thissen (Founder, Mythos Consultancy); Shenlei Winkler (CEO, Fashion Research Institute); Steven Zucker (Dean of Graduate Studies, FIT).

Suzie Norris-Reeves, Head of The School of Design Southampton Solent University UK, said "For the speakers it was a journey into the unknown, as the reliance on technology was key to the success of the presentations and information flow. I do believe 3D and virtual technologies are as important today as the world wide web was only 10 years ago. Virtual world environments will one day be main stream, enhancing the way the fashion industry 'does business' both operationally and collaboratively."

This was an innovative approach to holding a fashion conference using a virtual world and bringing together speakers on subjects as diverse as designing your brand identity, trend forecasting, social networking and developing real life product prototypes in virtual spaces.

Dr Julia Gaimster Head of eLearning London College of Fashion said "This is definitely an approach with potential; it will tick lots of boxes with cash strapped business and universities with restricted staff development budgets. Plus it is kinder to the planet, no travel necessary, I logged in from home!"

Fiona Jenvey, CEO of Mudpie, shared some interesting thoughts on the development of the virtual world in relation to the fashion industry. Jenvey believes the reality of giving a conference in the virtual world of ScienceSim is as big a step for the real world as the move from hand delivered post to email.

"Twenty five years ago email was unimagined by most of us and something that a few scientists in a basement at IBM were involved in. The reality is that body scanning technology that enables the virtual shopper to create a realistic virtual self (avatar) is already available, thereby allowing the 'shopper' to check the fit from all angles," Jenvey commented.

This opens up all kinds of possibilities for garment design and manufacture. Firstly, samples could be entirely 'virtually' designed and developed as 3D prototypes in a virtual environment and realized on the virtual runway before becoming a finished material product in the real world. Less time and resources are then wasted on travel and materials within the product development cycle.

Jenvey continued, "The only limitation to the reality of virtual shopping is self image- the average female is not ready to accept the virtual 'reality' of her own body image as seen from every angle - this will take more than web 4 or 5 or even ScienceSim to solve! Until then the 3D delights of the virtual grocery store is the next likely commercially successful development in internet shopping!"