The world-renowned French fashion company Balmain has officially unveiled its “Virtual Army” campaign complete with 3 lifelike digital models, known as Margot, Shudu, and Zhi which will be used to promote the brand’s latest fashion designs.

For starters, Balmain is a French luxury fashion house that was founded by Pierre Balmain in 1946. 

It currently operates 16 stores, including the one recently inaugurated in Los Angeles, and plans to open additional outlets over the next 5 years.  Balmain was born in 1914 in France. His father owned a drapery business and his mother and sister owned a fashion boutique where he often worked after his father's death in 1921. He attended the École des Beaux-Arts in 1933-1934 with intent to study architecture but instead ended up spending the majority of his time designing dresses. After working for atelier Robert Piquet as a freelance artist and spending time with Edward Molyneux, he left school to work for him. He released his first collection in 1945 and his first fragrance, Jolie Madame, in 1949. Pierre Balmain was known as "a king of French fashion" and outfitted stars including Ava Gardner and Brigitte Bardot, the Nicaraguan first lady Hope Portocarrero, and Queen Sirikit of Thailand.

Shudu, is known as the “world’s first digital supermodel” and boasts almost 140,000 followers on Instagram.
“Anyone and everyone is always welcome to join Balmain army’s growing ranks – they need only share our bold spirit of adventure as our new virtual icons, Margot, Shudu and Zhi who mirror the beauty, the rock style and the confident power” reads Balmain’s official campaign statement. This is all made possibly by a collaboration with CLO Virtual Fashion, whose 3D designers input data from each item of clothing into a program and tailored the dresses to each model’s measurements. 

As amazing as this technology may be, it has come up against some scrutiny online. On Instagram comments such as  “Never going to be as good as real people with real souls behind the eyes. Not a fan,” & “No disrespect to the art of animation but this is just not right,” are amongst a slew of consumers who just may not be ready for the future of VR in the world of fashion.

We hope you’ve enjoyed how Balmain is bring Virtual Reality Fashion to life! What is your view on these new digital supermodels? Are they truly the future of the fashion world? Join the conversation below!