This is still in the early stages, so don’t be surprised if you don’t see the feature when you open up Snapchat. The company introduced this feature during its latest yearly Creator Summit on Thursday (via The Verge). The company is looking to experiment with a feature that will let people try on clothes in AR.
You’ll be able to dress up in different outfits on Snapchat
The way this will work is pretty straightforward. When you go to your Explore tab, you’ll see a new tab up top. It will say Dress Up, and when you tap on it, you’ll be able to select an item of clothing to “wear”. When you select the item, you’ll then use Snapchat’s AR lens to try it out. The lens will work to varying degrees of success depending on the quality of your camera’s hardware and your lighting conditions. You’ll be able to try on different types of clothing from shoes all the way to full dresses. Obviously, if you want to try on full dresses, you’ll need a full-body view of yourself. From there, you’ll also be able to take a snapshot of how you look and share it on different social media platforms (chances are that one of those platforms will be Snapchat).
So, is this a fun tool or a ploy to sell you stuff?
Both! Snapchat’s head of AR strategy and product marketing, Carolina Navas stated that there’s a “really core utilitarian use case that we’re also focused on driving.” This means that if you try on shoes from American Eagle, you’ll also have the option to buy them. We can’t doubt that Snapchat is making deals with fashion retailers. They are so that they can put their items on the Dress Up tab and on people’s AR body parts; hey, business is business! While that’s true, Navas also made this statement. While there is a utilitarian angle to this, “there’s also a huge area of fashion that’s all about self-expression and asking friends for advice and having fun with friends.” Basically, when you’re using this lens, you can just have fun and try on stuff. You can try on clothes and share pictures with your community and express your love for fashion. We’re not sure when this feature will come out, as the company is just testing it out at this point. When it comes out, you’ll be able to find it in the Explore tab.
