CHRISTIE LAU: Challenging How Fashion Is Seen & Experienced at the Central Saint Martins’ BA Fashion 2022 Show

Christie Lau’s digital fashion collection — presented on the runway as human-sized QR code boxes — opened doorways to the metaverse at this year’s Central Saint Martins BA fashion show.

It was a provocative, uneasy fit. The humor behind the collection’s statement on fashion and technology is clear.

“It’s a digital, absurdist take on the everyday context. I think that digital fashion is becoming omnipresent in the fashion industry, yet it hasn’t been properly integrated within a runway show format,” said Lau.

The designer’s digital work challenges how fashion is seen and experienced. “Through my QR code cubes, I hope to subvert what fashion is and can be, by removing the context of fashion away from the physical body and placing it onto digital bodies.”

Escaping beyond physical limitations, Lau also addresses the accessibility of the experience. “I want digital fashion to feel ‘real’ to the wider audience, hence I chose to display my digital garments through the medium of augmented and virtual reality.”

I-D.Vice.com named Christie Lau one of “The 10 CSM graduate designers you need to know.”

Christie Lau’s full statement can be found below. 

Christie Lau’s full statement:

On the Fashion show, I debuted my digital garments on QR codes printed on 3 giant white boxes, worn on models on the runway. When scanned, they will take the viewer to an Instagram filter where they can see an animated digital human wearing my full look through their phone camera. I further showcased my looks as a virtual reality experience on Unreal Engine, with each look displayed within its own curated environment. I also debuted my digital garments as body-tracked Snapchat filters, allowing anyone to be able to wear my digital designs. My inspiration for the collection comes from the mismatched reality seen through the lens of machine learning. I wanted to reimagine mundane daily environments and recognisable everyday characters as a game style experience within the metaverse. Within the collection, I reinterpreted everyday garments so that they can only exist digitally, whether it’s a floating hoodie, or a houndstooth blazer where the houndstooth are reinterpreted as flying moths. It’s a digital, absurdist take on the everyday context. I think that digital fashion is becoming omnipresent in the fashion industry, yet it hasn’t been properly integrated within a runway show format. Through my QR code cubes, I hope to subvert what fashion is and can be, by removing the context of fashion away from the physical body, and placing it onto digital bodies. I want digital fashion to feel “real” to the wider audience, hence I chose to display my digital garments through the medium of augmented and virtual reality, because you can really interact with the garment, whether it may be a virtual try-on accessible through your mobile devices, or as a fully immersive VR experience.