Can Immersive Technology Threaten Influencers, Models and Photographers?
Creator of Singapore’s first virtual fashion influencer weighs in
AR enhances reality with digital technology, while VR transports the physical into the digital space. Both are immersive technologies. To avoid confusion, immersion technology* will be the standard reference phrase for this story.
Upon discovering Singapore had created its first virtual fashion influencer, I expired, inspired—we do have great creative talent. I wasn’t much informed about the phenomenon (I only knew of Lil Miquela); catching up on preliminary reading, however, it quickly became acutely important the need to pre-emptively explore what immersive technology could mean for fashion and marketing future.
I reached out to chat social media manager and Lasalle to-be graduate, Reyme Husaini, about his FYP project and plans for his virtual influencer, Ava Lee Gram.
Ava
M: Tell me about you.
R: Studied “Fashion Media and Industries” in Lasalle. I’m a fashion communicator: social media, content creation, art direction, styling. Now, focused on digital marketing, media curation. I’m driven by social causes in Singapore.
M: Who’s Ava?
R: Her name’s an acronym for “Artificial Virtual Android”. She’s half-Chinese, half-Malay — racially ambiguous. She’s forever 22, a virtual Virgo, change-seeker. She could be anyone you wanted her to be, for relatability. She’s meant to fill loopholes in media.
I first thought virtual influencers were a novel idea, but research shows a lot of positive impacts to having them. You can customise her backstory, personality, look. I did market research on what people wanted, think is lacking in Singapore’s influencer scene. Ava can be a beacon sparking conversations about social issues in Singapore.
Virtual influencers are a very new idea. Just recently were there Maya Gram, ambassador for PUMA, and Audy Bleu, influencer/ambassador for Martell. Brands can customise these influencers to their values.
M: Were there concerns?
R: Virtual influencers can’t represent humans. But take bands like Gorillaz and cartoons like Barbie, people still relate to them. Barbie represents girls in her time.
M: How developed is Ava?
R: She’s still assimilating to social media, people are starting to get to know her. She’s customisable. She’s an environmental activist, and if people want her to vegan, she can be.
M: So she will evolve based on what her audience want?
R: Yep. She targets the young, social media generation. Millennials and Gen Z’ers.
M: Tell me about the technology behind Ava.
R: It was a huge learning curve. Looked for 3D designers, animators, but time was too tight for anyone to be willing help. There’s modelling, sculpting, X-Ray, rigging, to bring Ava to video would mean animation too.
M: Does Ava exist in a virtual vacuum—a world that looks like ours—our are we supposed to imagine she lives among humans?
R: That’s up to people to interpret.
Virtual influencers came to prominence because of Lil Miquela, who was “hacked” by another virtual influencer and forced to learn she was virtual. It was an ironic take on how influencers are sellouts. She became an influencer after.
M: So Lil Miquela is a sellout?
R: *laughs* A lot of brands work with her.
M: And the trend is that virtual fashion influencers work similarly to human influencers—they’re “paid” to wear brands’ virtual clothes.
R: With virtual clothes, it depends on the technology behind the influencer. Some use a real person wearing real clothes before superimposing the virtual influencer’s features on.
Audience
M: Do you think people care who decides Ava’s actions, behaviours?
R: Maybe, but I think people are more concerned about what virtual influencers’ messages are. In my market research, people wanted her racially-ambiguous and with a heart-shaped face. They were also passionate about activism for the environment, race, mental health and LGBTQ rights.
M: Can people trust Ava?
R: They can trust her. I want to be transparent about my creative process. Even her name acknowledges that she’s a simulation.
M: Is the fantasy lost if Ava is “revealed”?
R: That’s up to her followers to decide. Ava is as real you think she is.
M: Will Ava accept brand collaborations from whoever will pay her to wear their stuff?
R: Ava has her identity. Right now, she works out, she’s into athleisure.
M: Does being virtual make it difficult for Ava to say no?
R: No.
M: I think people have already been skeptical of influencers, which forced them to put #sponsored #ad on paid posts. Ava can be whatever you want her to be…
R: Physically, I was able to create Ava according to what people wanted. Personality wise, however, she’s her own person.
M: Can Ava’s race be enough of a diversity statement for brands?
Future
M: Can virtual influencers/immersive technology threaten jobs in fashion?
R: In some ways, virtual influencers are not that different from human influencers—they project unattainable beauty standards. Is a human person’s highly edited “real” life any much different from a virtual influencer’s reality?
M: That’s a sad reflection of our culture.
R: Also, “Uncanny valley” by Masahiro Mori dispels replacement of human jobs. Robots can become more appealing, but only up to a certain point.
M: If Ava is “forever 22”, is she an influencer that audiences will outgrow? Does she mature, read the news?
R: She grows with the social climate, but she lives in “plastic immortality”. Like Barbie.
M: Where do you want to take Ava?
R: She’s still in her initial stages of development. She’s a change-seeker. I want her to become a household name in Singapore and Southeast Asia.
M: Is it possible that Ava can effect change?
R: I hope so.
*Immersive technology
- The following fashion seasons will be heavily disrupted by Covid-19. With more brands going digital-only, some will choose to do virtual fashion shows, potentially eliminating showrunners, H+MUAs, models, influencers
- In light of virtual shows, influencers and models may find alternative revenue streams in the form of avatar licensing, allowing brands to use their likeness for virtual collateral
- Virtual luxury clothing has also become a thing; its latest venture into video games has allowed gamers to pay for better style, acquiring new consumers with a price-friendlier, alternative to “wear” fashion
- Fashion influencers will increasingly not be sponsored clothes, and made to “wear” virtual clothing to shoot social media content, which will be further lobbied for under the guise of sustainability
- Fashion stylists who have realised the value of working remotely because of Covid-19 will adopt avatars to work with ecommerce platforms and/or freelance as virtual stylists and/or personal shoppers for international clients
- With brands migrating from physical retail to ecommerce, innovation around bringing garments “to life” will flourish, e.g. Tanvas exploring feeling textiles on touchscreens, while Zozo (albeit defunct) developing a size-measuring suit for enhanced shopping accuracy
