A new Amazon patent has now surfaced which looks to showcase a mirror that allows a person standing in front of it to see how they would look wearing different outfits, without actually having to try on the outfits in the first place. The patent was filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office with a Jan. 2, 2018, date, although it seems the original filing dates as far back as 2015.
Although this is a mirror, and at the fundamental level reflects what it sees, this mirror is one which looks to provide the user with a ‘blended reality’ reflection. The mirror is described as achieving this through the employment of various other pieces of tech (cameras, displays, projectors) working in the background to capture the image of the person and then transmit back a digital image of the different outfits. Furthermore, it would seem the digital representations could go well beyond the actual outfits, as the patent describes the mirror’s ability to show the wearer, in the new clothes, in a new environment – essentially highlighting how a user will not only look in a new outfit, but how they might look in that outfit, at a scene matching that outfit. For example, beachwear at the beach, office attire in the workplace, or a party dress at a social gathering.
While this may seem a little far fetched, and taking into consideration patents do not naturally equate to the arrival of a product to market, Amazon has seemingly been looking to make various inroads with the fashion retail segment lately. One of the most recent of which – and one which could be interpreted as a rudimentary version of this product – is Amazon’s Echo Look. This is a product Amazon first announced midway through 2017 and was largely marketed as a fashion assistant device. One which can capture images of a person and provide style tips on what clothes / look would best suit the wearer, as well as providing 360-degree imagery of how the person looks in their current garb. While there is still a gulf of difference between the Echo Look and what Amazon is describing in this latest patent, the similarities are also there to be seen, and if nothing else, lends further credence to the possibility of Amazon pushing forward with its blended-reality view mirror, or a product like this.
