The Institute of Digital Fashion (IoDF) collaborates with industry stalwarts such as The British Fashion Council, NIKE, Balenciaga and the V&A in order to develop a more inclusive digitisation of fashion. This mission stems from your belief that “the semantics of fashion are changing”. What do you mean by this?

Leanne: With 4.54 billion people actively using the internet, a digital age calls for digital connectivity – fashion has been a late adopter of these notions. The semantics of the industry have wildly changed – luxury fashion shows can be watched in real-time anywhere and digital stores are infinite, size no longer matters.

Cattytay: The Institute of Digital Fashion is an emblem for change​. There didn’t used to be a digital fashion landscape within the industry, but now we are exploring how the language of digital can be used to restructure this broken model.

What are your roles at the Institute of Digital Fashion?            

Leanne: I lead business and design strategy with a creative mind, and I educate clients on the artisanal craft that goes into the [digital] work. We are pushing against the idea of digital being a quick fix and building a new, more democratic, sustainable future for fashion which is currently unregulated and biased.

Cattytay: I am the Creative Director of IoDF, with expertise in digital and physical garment construction. I build the ideas with the clients; the standard of the work needs to be ground-breaking: it sits in luxury fashion but with a big vision for the future.

What’s involved in making 3-D fashion models and garments?

Leanne: A great deal of skill, time, care and expertise. We always listen to the client first and then build on the vision with our creative solutions and technical abilities.

Cattytay: When it comes to clothing, this depends on the complexity of the garment itself. There’s the digital construction of the piece – the fabrics, the fastenings, and applying fabric properties and prints. This level of precision is developed by mimicking every detail; to create a truly responsive digital garment, it takes a team of experts. The digital humans we create at IoDF can walk, talk and cry; we aim to push beyond traditional notions of beauty and traditions. When we put digital humans and garments together, we create movement and animation using a database or we use a real-life model wearing a motion capture suit. The movements created by the physical human are transferred across onto the digital human. Digital human replicas are much more sustainable, you can have one replica at multiple shows without models having to board a plane.

How can digital fashion help the industry to be more environmentally and socially responsible?

Leanne: The global state of the crisis from Covid-19 and the BLM movements has radically affected every current of the fashion industry. It’s important for digital makers to really hold up some of the issues that plague the industry. The fast-fashion movement is one we need to push against, not replicate with digital. We have the power to democratise the landscape without adding to landfill while showcasing fashion in new, innovative, sustainable ways.

Cattytay: Our digital e-fits come without traditional sizing constraints – it’s a better approach to industry body standards and sustainability as no fabric is used. There is no substitute for feeling a piece of fabric in real life, but we are able to use tech to problem solve and highlight the creativity and craft behind the garment. We must use digital technology to generate a new form of emotional connectivity, creating a higher quality product that holds both physical and digital layering.

In this time of dramatic change, the move from ‘IRL’ to URL experiences, services and products has only accelerated as people seek out new ways to shop. But what does that mean for the future of fashion and retail? The CEO of the Institute of Digital Fashion Leanne Elliot Young and world-leading 3-D maker Cattytay are two solution-driven pioneers who set up The Institute of Digital Fashion to explore how we might consume fashion for a new sustainable era (a mission we share here at Selfridges with our Project Earth initiative). In celebration of the pair’s London Fashion Week Instagram takeover on @theofficialselfridges and tonight’s must-watch webinar we spoke to the pair (and their digital avatar from the year 2040 – scroll down for more!) about the process of crafting virtual clothing, collaborating with a couture atelier and how digital fashion can benefit both people and the planet.

We speak to The Institute of Digital Fashion’s future avatar

With digital fashion currently in its infancy, we decided to consult the future via a digital avatar from the year 2040, created by The Institute of Digital Fashion. Why? To gain a greater insight into how the processes pioneered by The Institute of Digital Fashion have evolved to solve problems in the present (without a ‘futuristic’ silver sci-fi suit in sight!)

What’s it like in 2040?

Hi, thank you for asking, let me configure…It’s a post-physical reality, we exist in avatar projections. The wider populations have not even reacted to this shift; if you consider the Facetime spark in the late 2000s, it seems people just slip into new tech incrementally. The AI and auto-type functions on phones made a perfect map on the syntax and semantics of humanity so we speak freely in multiple languages and shop by prediction.

How has fashion developed?

Fashion design is augmented and delivered by algorithmic predictions. AI knows more about you and what you consume than your subconscious brain. In this post-human world, elements of the process are not ignored; you can book ‘touch time’, where you can touch fabrics which are then downloaded and recreated by a digital atelier. IoDF has a showroom by appointment that exhibits all the luxury digital moments throughout history.

What does fashion week currently look like?                                                   

Fashion week is a long-retired concept; dressing is led by independent social networks, building live responses to digital ‘garments’. You can try on and engage with your ‘algorithmic configuration’, coders sit beside high rollers and hack live simulations to configure new versions of digital garments. We often tune into ‘our vision’: a curated environment that digitally overlays your aesthetic ideals into every situation.

How is fashion dealing with the climate crisis in 2040?                                

Legislation and transparency are key, we have activist groups that are collectively instigating change. You can instantly trace products right back to the source. Blockchain instigated this, but now you can see how the product you are purchasing affects the planet in live data. We live in an arid landscape that is seasonless, with monumental tectonic shifts plaguing the climate. We all own a piece of the globe and have a responsibility to protect it; the live data feed broadcasts how our actions are positively or negatively impacting this, you are held accountable by the algorithm.