While all eyes were glued to the Met Gala this week, the event’s accompanying Costume Institute exhibition quietly introduced emerging tech into its experiential playbook.
Open to the public from May 10, the “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” installation invites visitors not only to see the clothes on display but also to smell, hear, and speak to their original wearers.
How? Using artificial intelligence, obviously.
The final item in the exhibition is a wedding dress designed by Callot Soeurs, worn by New York socialite Natalie Potter wore on her wedding day in 1930. It features a custom chatbot modeled after Potter’s personality.
Created in partnership with OpenAI (the company behind ChatGPT), the bot is designed to engage in conversations with onlookers, answering questions about the dress, Potter’s life, and her wedding day. OpenAI trained the tech using letters Potter wrote, along with newspaper articles and documents from the same time period.
According to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the tech was deployed as a means of “reawakening” the piece, which hasn’t been worn in 94 years. It marks the first time the institute has ever used AI in one of its exhibits. Visitor response will gauge how the museum can harness machine learning for future retrospectives.
Light projections, 3D renderings, and Proto holograms have also been used to digitize designs that have lain dormant for centuries, created in partnership with fashion publication ShowStudio and auction house Christie’s.
Though still in its early stages, institutions are increasingly testing the potential of Web3 tech. Last year, The British Museum partnered with the Sandbox to bring its relics to the metaverse, enabling visitors to learn more about their origins “from the comfort of their own home.”
Meanwhile, The Metropolitan Museum of Art teamed up with Roblox on its “Replica” project, which allowed players to try on various art-inspired wearables, including Van Gogh’s straw hat from the painting Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat.
Both museums’ foray into virtual destinations signals a shift in how organizations engage with hyper-online Gen Alphas, who are more receptive to digital-first experiences and adept at navigating online personas.
For The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the use of technology takes visitors on a sensorial journey through fashion’s rich tapestry of design while keeping one foot firmly planted in the real world.
Though Web3 tech was primarily used for entertainment purposes during its beta phase, the industry is entering a new era — one where Web3 can be tapped for educational and informational experiences too.
Meta Bites#
Wanna, a Farfetch-owned AR company, is fleshing out its new virtual try-on service for handbags. On May 6, the platform launched an interactive feature for Valentino’s Garavani Vsling bag in partnership with the maison. This collaboration marks the first time a luxury brand has integrated the VTO technology for handbags onto its official website. Users can try on five different colors of the bag using their smartphones’ front and rear cameras.
Dolce & Gabbana has teamed up with augmented reality spearheaders Ffface.me to bring the house’s beauty products to the virtual realm. Two years after bringing its beauty line in-house, the label marketed its new collection to shoppers via Ffface.me’s AR makeup stations. Ffface.me has previously partnered with Mugler and Prada Beauty to promote their new products.
Premium outerwear label Templa will release a 500-piece capsule collection of NFC-connected snow boots in partnership with phygital label Another-1 on May 13. As part of the “Unworld” footwear drop, an NFC chip is embedded into each boot. When scanned, the tech provides its wearer with product information, a unique NFT, an authenticity guarantee, and access to exclusive digital content.