As fashion reinvents its marketing, communications, and retail platforms, combined with the potentially disruptive impact of the metaverse, XR, NFTs and digital fashion, there is a major online industry segment rapidly emerging. Initial consultation and planning on the strategic Fashion Museum development has raised an area of important research related to the digitisation of existing assets to 3D environments and the business implications when translating IP and rights onto immersive / digital platforms.

In this 10 month practice-based Fellowship Gabby Shiner-Hill will be exploring the digitisation of existing fashion assets and applications in the digital realm at Bath Spa University, Fashion Museum Bath and in collaboration with CAMERA.

Sally Ann Houghton, lead on fashion innovation for Epic Games said: “the complexity of cloth simulation in order to generate an impression of weight, tactility, flow etc is a very current research area rather than solved problem.”

What would an industry leading exploration of the digital representation of existing fashion and fabric assets within immersive environments comprise? What are the affordances, barriers and opportunities when seeking the high-quality translation of archive onto new platforms?

The assets of the archive are owned by Bath & North Somerset (B&NES), with no apparent requirements on permissions for use. However, a strategic focus on digitising assets and the resulting increased visibility may raise hitherto unanticipated questions in this area.