Can 3D enhance fashion imaging?

by FNA posted on 02 Sep 2010

RICHARD SMITH

3D is making a comeback after its heyday in 1950 Hollywood movies such as the House of Wax starring Vincent Price and Alfred Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder. Now, however, it’s not just limited to TV or the cinema but is invading computer screens, TV’s and more significantly prestigious fashion magazines.

3D is created by shooting two images of the same object simultaneously from two different angles about 6.5cm apart which is the distance between a person’s eyes. This can be done with still photographs or moving images and is supposed to reflect reality as we see it on a day to day basis.

The September issue of Vogue Italia from Condé Nast Publications has ventured into the “third dimension” and even provides readers with a pair of 3D glasses so necessary to appreciate the 3D effects.

Vogue Italia’s editor-in-chief, Franca Sozzani, commented that “there is still plenty of room to make print editions more and more attractive”. She could hardly say the opposite and it remains to be seen if this novelty lasts and whether it will catch on with the public for any length of time.

Even though Vogue has taken the plunge using 3D technology it is not out on a limb. In recent months, even here is “far off” Venezuela there has been a proliferation of TV commercials advertising 3D plasma TV’s and 3D computer screens.

For the X and Y Generations 3D could be a novelty waiting to be explored but does it really enhance fashion images to the extent that they are far superior to the incredibly sharp digital photos produced nowadays both in print and in millions of pixels on your computer screen? Beauty and even 3D is in the eye of the beholder!

Then there is the question of the 3D glasses with one lens red and the other blue. Are people really going to carry these around when you maybe want to browse Vogue Italia in the dentist’s waiting room?

Technically and optically 3D can give that extra dimension to fashion imaging but will it be a trend that will stick in the public’s imagination? This is an open question but here at FNA we have to congratulate Franca Sozzani and her team at Vogue Italia for entering into unknown territory with model Miranda Kerr on its pioneering 3D front cover.

Perhaps there is even scope for visual displays at fashion shows in 3D? At the September Fashion Access fair in Hong Kong?

Now, where are my 3D glasses?