Jack Blog
May 16th, 2014 By Caspar Mason
The Oculus Rift seems to have single-handedly dragged the world of consumer VR into the 21st century, thanks to a staggeringly successful Kickstarter campaign that saw a funding target of $250k and $2.4m pledged (relevant).
One of its failings is that is does make you look a bit stupid while wearing it…so the content needs to be amazing. UK retailer Topshop have risen to the challenge with their AW 2014 ‘Topshop Unique’ catwalk show. Five headsets, in the window of their Oxford St flagship store, allow competition winners to get live streamed, 360 HD footage of the show.
It answers a similar question to the one we had for the 2014 Wella Trend Vision show: how do you create a digital experience for a catwalk show that truly engages a wider audience? How do you make sure that it’s up there with the live experience and not just a poor second?
They’ve done it well. You can get the best seat in the house, with models in front of you and high-ranking fashionistas just behind. Or go backstage. Or a bird’s-eye view of the venue, watching a timelapse of the build. Add in live tweets, UGC images and AR elements that bring out the creative theme and you have a digital layer for a live experience that almost makes you wish you weren’t there.