Watching the red carpet and seeing all the incredible dresses and outfits is one of the best parts of awards season and this week’s BAFTA Film Awards ceremony will be no different.
What will mark a departure from the norm however at Sunday’s event will be some of the more technical aspects of fashion. Presenter Maya Jama of Radio 1 fame is going to be sporting a rather unique dress on the red carpet: a 5G-powered augmented reality (AR) dress created by designer Richard Malone, using EE’s 5G technology.
AR refers to the tech which superimposes computer-generated images over real life. Whilst to the normal human eye Jama will be sporting a powder blue couture dress – made from ethically sourced fabric including ocean waste and recycled wool – but turn a smartphone on it and the dress will come to life. Film fans will have the chance to see this transformation as EE will be placing a Samsung Galaxy Fold 5G smartphone along the red carpet to demonstrate the action.
“My work is generally all about the human touch – we’re a small team in my atelier, working by hand – and this project has allowed me to integrate technology into my work in a completely new way,” said Malone.
Malone has some other tricks up his sleeve when it comes to the design of the dress. It took over 250 hours to complete as it is made up of six layers in total and contains more than 12 full body-length wires and 18 sensor bulbs. The sensors will be tracked in real using EE’s 5G network which will allow Jama to interact with the dress itself.
Though there are other AR clothing brands out there, such as Carlings and Virtual Super Land, whose digital creations do not need 5G to work, EE says that the real-time 3D rendering that will transform the dress digitally needs the boost from the next-gen mobile network due to the complex computing taking place which needs the low latency benefit offered by 5G,
Unfortunately, EE won’t reveal exactly how this will all look – you’ll have to wait till Sunday evening to see the magic.
The mobile network loves to splash out on its tech at the BAFTAs. At last year’s Film Awards, it enlisted the help of digital supermodel Shudu in a custom-designed Swarovski gown to help viewers at home shop looks from the red carpet. Shudu acted as an AI stylist, detecting details regarding the outfits and then recommending alternative versions to fans at home on EE’s Instagram account.
Speaking about this year’s stunt, Pete Jeavons, director of marketing communications at BT and EE said: “This year, we will open the red carpet of the EE BAFTAs using our award-winning network and its unique capabilities to turn red carpet fashion on its head, as we bring together physical and digital fashion to create the world’s first 5G powered AR dress.
“In a never-before seen moment in film awards history, we will be using our network to show how the seemingly impossible can be made possible through 5G technology, giving fans a taster of the future of fashion.”
Scroll through the gallery above for more images of Maya and Richard’s fittings.
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