We're all waiting eagerly for the debut of Sony's Home beta virtual world for PlayStation 3, but the company's at work on something equally interesting called Dress, which is billed as 'interactive fashion software'. Developed in Japan, it lets users create original fashion designs, see how they look on avatar models, and then (eventually) upload them to a community via the PlayStation Network.
Meanwhile, Sony is working with Japanese fashion brand PUMA by Mihara Yasuhiro, incorporating the latter’s outfits into Dress so that users will be able to try them on their avatars to see how they look. I assume this means Dress is a two-way process - besides creating their own clothing, users will be able to download clothes from participating fashion brands, to get a closer look at them. Yasuhiro’s Spring Summer 2009 collection will be the one featured in the service.
It’s a really intriguing idea, and still unclear whether Dress will be a standalone game sold in boxes, a digital download from Sony’s PlayStation Network store, or be integrated into the Home virtual world. Or all three! Fashion has long been a potential source for Web 3D and avatar-based services, although many floundered when they tried to blend dressing up avatars with actually purchasing products. Will Sony go down that road? It sounds like we’ll have to wait until next year to find out.
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