Edward Crutchley unveils augmented reality runway collab

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Feb 18, 2022

As Fashion Month continues, designers are increasingly diving deep into tech innovation and the latest to do so is Edward Crutchley.

Showing his AW22 menswear and womenswear collections on the first day of London Fashion Week on Friday, he also showcased an industry first collaboration with Augmented Reality platform Zero10, allowing digital replicas of two catwalk looks to be worn on-screen in full 3D as soon as they were shown.

Crutchley said he’s worked with 3D rendering in the past “but [Zero10’s] expertise and commitment to digital craft really took the process to the next level. I really believe that this is how fashion will exist, with digital and physical fashion both being equally valid as the artisan craft of the future”.

The company said that the “world-first allows users to wear and share items from the catwalk in real-time in full 3D using Zero10’s innovative blend of body tracking, segmentation, fabric simulation and rendering technology which allows materials to look and move realistically offering the most accurate digital representation of physical clothes in the market”.

Crutchley has always been know for being open to new ideas in materials and technology and the company added that the link-up with Zero10 is a “showcase for how the metaverse offers an environment for designers to execute what could previously only be dreamed of, more comprehensively realise their creative vision, and still make this instantly available to their audience in a cost-effective and zero-waste way”.

But it also stressed that it’s not about leaving craftsmanship behind: “This collaboration puts craftsmanship first and raises the technique, touch and talent of behind-the-scenes digital creators in the studio to the role of artisans. Each item requires over 40 hours of labour to produce, echoing the atelier through detail, finish, and flair of execution at the heart of the separation between ten-a-penny digital garments, and something elevated towards true luxury”.

Anton Grigoriev, Head of Design at Zero10, added that he wants to quash the assumption around digital creations that they’re purely technical items created for practical purposes. “This couldn’t be further from the truth,” he explained. “From ideation to realisation the process requires immense creativity to overcome to properties of the source material much like any other art form, just that our source material is code rather than cotton, canvas, or clay. Careful handling of the process with an artistic touch can create digital items which are highly sensitive and full of emotion, which can be aggressive or soft, delicate, or robust, euphoric”.