Google Photos Wardrobe finally makes the ‘Clueless’ closet a reality

There is no way to talk about Google Photos’ latest feature without invoking Cher Horowitz. In the movie “Clueless,” Cher opens up a program called Dress Me! on her desktop PC that sorts through her separates and puts them on a virtual version of her until it makes a successful outfit that she then pulls from her closet.

Now the Wardrobe feature from Google Photos is set to do pretty much the same thing.

Wardrobe uses AI to go through photos of you and create individual snapshots of the clothing and accessories you wear. You can then browse them by category (tops, pants, skirts, jewelry, etc.), create an outfit, and click “Try it on” to dress an image of you. You can also save outfits for future occasions, share them with friends, and create moodboards.

This Wardrobe feature will be available this summer, starting with Android devices and then moving to iOS.

It looks to be the most promising in a long line of attempts at similar technologies.

Movie magic made real

The “Clueless” closet has been a dream of millennial women for over 30 years, and Google is not the first company to try to make it a reality. There have been countless attempts that have come and gone.

I receive a press release every few years that swears that the technology touted is finally the one and neither I, nor the market, have ever found it to be the case.

Right now you can download apps like Indyx, Whering, and Stylebook that either directly claim inspiration from “Clueless” or garner references to it in press coverage, but they fall short. They all require that you take photos of each item in your closet yourself and none of them let you put the assembled outfits on an image of you before you experience the hassle of trying things on IRL.

There’s a cost involved with each of the apps. Indyx and Whering offer some very basic features for free and then add on things like social sharing, moodboards, and outfit planning as in-app purchases. Stylebook is a flat $4.99.

Amazon attempted a hardware-based solution with the Echo Look, introduced in 2017. It used a camera to take photos or videos of you in an outfit so that Alexa could render a style judgment on it and offer fashion advice. I reviewed the Echo Look when it came out and felt that though it held the promise of declaring an outfit a “Mis-Match!” like the fictional Dress-Me! did, it ultimately didn’t deliver.

Using the Echo Look was not the smoothest; it required that you stand and model five feet away from the camera, which is a challenge if you live in a small space. It also came with considerable privacy concerns because not only were you taking countless photos and videos of yourself and delivering them to Amazon, they were all sent to “fashion specialists” at Amazon for review.

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The Echo Look was $199.99. I say was, because Amazon discontinued the device in 2020 and rendered all existing Echo Looks useless.

If Google Photos’ Wardrobe works as advertised, the fashion-focused feature will be frictionless. Not having to take photos or videos of your wardrobe or yourself and being able to try things on virtually will save countless hours over other solutions. And best of all, the feature is free.

While a lot of what’s promised in movies doesn’t translate to real life, there will be lots of people (and by people, I mean me) hoping that Wardrobe does.