Does This Digital Projection Make Me Look Fat?

Last week, designer Nanette Lepore began testing a new breed of interactive mirrors in her department at Bloomingdale’s in New York. While these reflectors look like any other fitting room partner, they actually function as a three-part, high-resolution digital screen that projects a virtual image of selected fashions onto the potential buyer. The resulting image is then forwarded to a special webpage, where logged-in friends can post their opinions about the ensemble. Lepore plans to install these mirrors in her New York, Tokyo and Las Vegas boutiques, apparently in hopes that her shoppers will utilize this new technology to further develop their dependent personalities. While I’m intrigued by the technology behind this new dressing room addition (developed by IconNicholson, an interactive design firm), the overall theory behind it’s current use is almost appalling to me– what woman wants to– or has the time to– sit around and give fashion advice from behind a computer screen? Girls shop together for a reason, and I don’t see much potential for similar psychological benefits in this rather impersonal connection. This has value as a novelty, maybe, but I’ll be shocked if it’s granted a more meaningful assessment.