Calvyn Justus on Why AR Fashion Will Be Everywhere
With a background that spans the worlds of international modeling, Olympic athletics, and now turning heads in the digital fashion world. This young South African artist, now based in the creative hub of Los Angeles, spent the pandemic lockdown diving headfirst into 3D tools and software, immersing himself in the possibilities of melding physical and AR fashion. Meet an exciting new voice, Calvin Justus.
We love your mixed reality videos, with garment pieces flying in and constructing themselves. Please walk us through the work process!
– Working with 3D excites me with how much possibilities we have to display designs, utilizing 3D and AR, I’ve been experimenting with unique and original ways of not only displaying my final garment designs but also showing the process of how they were created as well as how the garment is constructed, often looking for new ways to show the pattern cut or how the stitching comes together, giving the consumer a fuller experience and 360 understanding of the design. I use software called CLO to create the animations.
What opportunities do you see for digital fashion to expand? Will DPC be the main area of growth or will skins, artwork and avatars make a comeback after the metaverse backlash?
– From my perspective, the big areas for digital fashion to make an impact are, garment presentation, garment authentication, garment marketing and social media content, a more sustainable and eco-friendly workflow in realizing a finalized product as well as digital identity, whether it’s avatars or game skin/cosmetics/accessories. As I create my clothing brand, I’m finding huge opportunities on the marketing side to really innovate and experiment with how the product is perceived and introduced, I truly believe every single fashion related brand or service will have to adapt to some degree of digital integration of their workflow, marketing and product display.
There’s been a lot of “AI fatigue” in the digital art world, with some artists moving to platforms that promise AI free content. As a digital fashion artist, what’s your take on this? Do you see AI tools as overcrowding the space or enhancing creative possibilities?
– I only see AI as a tool and part of the workflow process, assisting with visualization and mood boards, in some instances assets for content or marketing. I don’t think AI results should be used as a finished or finalized product, It is a great aid in helping you get to the final product though. I also think there needs to be more understanding on the difference between AI and 3D, where a lot of 3D artwork is mislabeled as AI, whereas 3D takes far more skill, understanding and time to achieve a result.
How do you yourself incorporate AI tools in your workflows?
– I utilize AI to create visual mood boards when pitching concepts, or to get an idea across that is hard to explain. I also use it to help visualize garment sketches and references for designs I am working on. AI can also be extremely helpful with planning and executing the administrative side of design, assisting with calendar, email and copy related tasks. I am constantly experimenting with AI to see where else it can aid my creative process.
What other technologies are you currently experimenting with?
– Mostly 3D and AR – finding ways to show my 3D art and designs in the real world, not necessarily always in real time, but also from a content perspective, helping the digital designs feel real yet breaking physics, in creative and unique scenes. 3D printing is the next space I want to start experimenting with and educating myself more about.
Imagine a “dream team” of digital artists from various disciplines. Who would you include and what problem would you solve together?
– I’m fortunate to be apart of an amazing collective of designers called the SYKY Collective, everyone in the incubator has different skillsets and styles, focusing on different parts of the industry, together we form a very well rounded team that is currently pushing the industry forward, tacking subjects such as, AR display, Digital to physical production, eco-friendly garment production alternatives ect.. The digital fashion space is very friendly and welcoming, I love collaboration and have a really exciting project related to bringing my digital designs to life that will be unveiled in the next few weeks, so keep an eye out!
Where would you like to see the digital fashion art world progress to in the next 5-10 years in terms of creativity, exposure, or monetization?
– I think even before 5 years we will see massive disruptive changes in the fashion industry influenced by digital design, I think 5 years from now, AR is going to be a daily occurrence in everyone’s lives as well as owning their digital outfits and avatar identities, I think it will also have a much bigger role in production and initial garment design. I can see a world where we all have AR glasses, seeing exaggerated versions of real outfits coming to life/animating or changing in AR, I’m also very curious to see how the gaming world advances to include it more.
