Mobile-phone simulator helps coordinate an outfit

Choosing and buying clothes via a mobile phone is getting easier in Japan with the launch of a new service that allows shoppers to simulate an outfit before they buy.

Mobile carrier KDDI recently launched the simulator as part of its "EZ MyStyling" online fashion and styling service and demonstrated it at last week's Ceatec exhibition in Japan.

The service is aimed at women and runs as a Flash application in the phone handset. Shoppers are presented with a digital model to which clothes can be added and removed to coordinate a complete look.

In a demonstration, the customer can choose between different tops, outer wear, bottoms and shoes. The hair style can be short, long or a bob, and in some simulations the model's appearance can be changed, to make them taller or heavier, for example.

More details on each of the items, such as colors, sizes and prices, appear on a second screen. Once the desired items are found it is easy to order the entire ensemble with a few button clicks on the mobile phone.

The software behind the EZ MyStyling fashion simulator was developed by Osaka-based Digital Fashion and is based on the company's "Haoreba" fashion simulator for PC and Web applications.

"The software allows you to view a simulation through 360 degrees and freely add items such as bags to coordinate together," said Yasuhiko Sugihashi, manager of the marketing and sales division at Digital Fashion.

The company has taken the simulation a step further on the PC and can now simulate a model not just wearing selected clothes but walking down a virtual cat walk. The same simulations aren't yet possible on the mobile phone, in part because of the processing power required and the additional data needed for a 3D simulation.

The fashion service is the latest simulation to be offered by KDDI. Last year the company launched a hair-style simulator that enabled users to upload a picture of themselves and then try out different hair styles.

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