Is Virtual Fashion Really the Future of the Fashion Industry？ 现实之中缝合幻想，幻想之中隐藏偏见。

✦ This project is a research-driven design inquiry based on experimentation, intervention, and critique.
It focuses on the rapid rise of virtual fashion within contemporary industries, systematically questioning the overlooked ethical frameworks, body politics, and sustainability narratives behind it.
Through three cross-media experiments, I attempt to deconstruct this seductive yet dangerous “promise of the future”:
Is virtual fashion truly more sustainable, more liberating, and more democratic than the physical?

✦ A Three-Part Experimental Framework:
Collisions of Technology, the Body, and Culture

Experiment 1｜Physical Reconstruction of the “Gucci Shoe”
Inspired by the viral Gucci virtual sneakers, I recreated the unwearable NFT fashion item in real life — using paper, foam, and 3D line sketches to handcraft a pair of deliberately ironic “paper shoes.”
I then conducted a “wearability test” on the streets of London, showing them to passersby and asking if they would buy or wear them. The results revealed a significant gap in public acceptance and exposed the elitist assumptions within the “tech-forward” narrative of virtual fashion.

Experiment 2｜Translating Digital Aesthetics to Fabric
I transferred virtual prints — originally created for digital platforms — onto real fabric using heat-transfer printing.
This experiment tested color intensity, resolution clarity, and fit on the human body. The result: a sensory dissonance.
The so-called “screen beauty” often fails to translate in the physical world, reminding us that virtual aesthetics can be more illusion than reality.

Experiment 3｜Virtual vs. Real Bodies
Using Clo3D, I built a series of typical virtual model avatars — tall, slim, and proportionally “ideal.” These were then visually compared with real body data collected from participants.
Many users reported feeling anxious, alienated, or unrepresented.
This revealed a deeper issue: virtual fashion doesn’t free the body — it often reinforces a narrow, algorithmically constructed standard, wrapped in the illusion of choice.

✦ Core Critiques
The False Mask of “Sustainability”
Virtual fashion is often branded as eco-friendly, zero-waste, and pollution-free — but behind the screen lies the hidden cost of energy-intensive servers, massive data generation, and a replication of fast fashion logic.
“True sustainability” has been replaced by a digital utopia.

The Myth of “Body Freedom”
Although virtual platforms promise customizable identities, they quietly impose limits through pre-built avatars, algorithmic biases, and rigid templates.
Rather than dismantling body politics, virtual fashion often reinforces them — invisibly and more powerfully.

The Illusion of “De-materialization”
Virtual fashion claims to transcend gender, identity, and physical limits. Yet mainstream platforms still reflect dominant aesthetics, gender norms, and classed consumption patterns.
What emerges is a new kind of “data discrimination” — where identity is shaped by targeted algorithms and filtered by market logic.
该项目是一场基于实验、干预与批判的研究型设计实践，聚焦虚拟时尚在当代产业中的迅猛发展，系统质疑它背后被忽视的伦理逻辑、身体政治与可持续性问题。通过三组跨媒介实验，我试图拆解这个美丽又危险的“未来承诺”——虚拟时尚，是否真的比实体更环保、更自由、更民主？

✦ 三重实验结构：技术、身体与文化的对撞
实验一｜“Gucci之履”的实体重构
灵感来自社交平台上爆红的Gucci虚拟鞋，我尝试将这双无法穿戴的“NFT时尚物”实体化，通过纸张、泡棉与3D线稿手工制作出极具讽刺意味的“纸鞋”。
然后我在伦敦街头进行“可穿戴性测试”：向路人展示并询问他们是否愿意购买/穿戴，结果揭示虚拟时尚在大众层面仍存在接受门槛，也暴露了其“科技先锋”话语中的精英偏见。
实验二｜虚拟图案的物理转译
将在数字平台上设计的虚拟图像，通过热转印技术转译到实体面料上，尝试还原“屏幕之美”到现实中。
我重点测试了色彩饱和、图案清晰度、身体适配度等因素，发现虚拟设计在进入现实后经常遭遇“感官失真”——屏幕之美未必可穿戴，也提示我们重新思考虚拟审美的虚假性。
实验三｜虚拟身体与真实身体的碰撞
利用Clo3D构建了多组典型的虚拟模特体型（高瘦、比例极致），并与多位真实受访者的身体数据进行可视化对比。
用户普遍反馈虚拟模特所代表的身体形象“令人焦虑”、“不真实”、“无法接纳自我”，反映出虚拟时尚潜在的身体压迫机制：它制造了一个“看似自由、实则单一”的身体模板。

✦ 核心批判维度
“可持续”的虚伪面具：虚拟时尚常被宣传为环保、无污染、零浪费，但其背后隐藏的是服务器能源消耗、数据冗余、以及“快时尚逻辑的延续”。真正的“可持续”，被数字乌托邦所取代。
“身体自由”的伪命题：看似能自由定制虚拟身份，但实际上，背后算法、模板和平台机制在悄悄构建“标准身体”。身体政治不但未被打破，反而更加隐形。
“去物化”的假想空间：虚拟时尚声称打破性别与身份限制，然而主流平台的审美系统依旧固化着主流性别角色与消费等级，甚至出现“数据性别歧视”与“身份定向投放”。