Target’s avatar fashion show in New York’s Grand Central this week
In September, we reported on how labels like Prada and H&M are getting involved in anime movies like Appleseed: Ex Machina and shows like the Sims 2 Fashion Runway Showcase. This week, Target joined the “in” crowd, sponsoring “the world’s first model-less fashion show”—a holographic experience in which virtual clothes ruled the catwalk, sans the beautiful ladies and gents who usually sport them. The two-day, multi-hour event took place at Grand Central Station, with clothes dancing to the music across a Target-themed stage. Commuters and others passing by stopped for a quick peek, with the occasional few taking out their cell-phone cameras to capture the event.
Target’s show was anything but revolutionary—no one seemed overly impressed. But it’s a perfect example of how avatars are going mainstream, filtering into various forms of entertainment from fashion to facebook pages to film. The latest issue of Wired reports that 3D movies are making a fast comeback: this month, Angelina Jolie’s Beowulf will debut in 1,000 3D theaters across the country; next year in 2009, James Cameron’s $190 million movie Avatar will premiere—a film the producer says will be “Titanic in space.” Avatars are also becoming lead characters on tech-less shows like Law & Order–even delivering news reports on the Fox Business Network.
With virtual entertainment increasingly in regularity, it’s only a matter of time before our avatars on AIM start getting together and planning events of their own. My spiked-hair, tight-jeaned avatar, for instance, is really set on seeing the next U2 concert in Second Life. If you’re down, have your avatar talk to mine and we’ll make it happen.
1 response so far ↓
1 Jim Dorey // Nov 8, 2007 at 3:07 pm
Actually Avatar is due out Memorial Day weekend in 2009, and not next year. For more info on thie movie and other groundbreaking 3D tech - check out my blog at http://www.marketsaw.com
Best,
-jim
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