In 1995 everyone, well at least every girl, wanted to be Cher Horowitz, the clothes, the shoes, the cars, the mobile phone and the Beverly Hills mansion. Most of all, though, we wanted her computerised closet, in an era where teenage communication was going digital picking out your clothes with the aid of a computer was the height of cool. I attempted to make my own version, with Paint on my Windows 95 PC, as you can imagine to little success. I attempted to make a book version, but it was cumbersome and, well, not quite the same thing. The years passed, the mobile phone became as common in high schools as having a hairbrush in your handbag, the revival of the high street brought catwalk fashion to the masses and the Internet, then a luxury, made its way into every home. Yet, despite the advent of Skype, digital cameras, the Blackberry and the Wii still no version of Cher’s closet. It seemed destined to become one of those future promises on which the world never made good, like time travel and the hover board.
However, that is about to change with Xbox 360's Project Natal, a remote-less console that, as the advert below highlights around the 2.20 mark, can also function as a video conferencing and shopping tool. The teenage daughter, needing a dress for a party, tries out one her friend has picked out for her moving it on to her body and checking it out as the visualisation on the screen moves as she moves. Slightly more advanced than Cher’s version, yes, but the fundamental problem remains, how long would it take to upload all your clothes into such a program? I for one will be sticking with the traditional method, but that is not to say I will not be having a go at the combat games. The traditional wardrobe may not be made redundant anytime soon, but the stress reliever may well be.
