Google has stepped onto the catwalk with its launch of Boutiques in the US, a personalised fashion shopping experience which visually analyses a user’s taste to match items they like.
The project was formed after the acquisition of Like.com and was a combined effort between “computer nerds” and “fashion nerds.”
Google aims to use this site to improve shopping for clothes online.
“The way we shop for fashion is different from how we buy cameras — especially online,” said Google in its blog.
“With fashion, reviews and specs are less important; fashion shopping is about discovering something that fits your taste and feels right.
“The web works well for buying cameras and other hard goods, but for soft goods, such as clothing and accessories, it’s not the same as shopping in a store.”
The site lets users build their own personal boutique and get recommendations of products to match their taste. It uses advanced search filters to allow users to search by genre, silhouette pattern, colour families and sizes.
The visual search tool analyses a photo of an item for its colour, shape and pattern to help match similar items.
Boutiques offers images from street style sites to give users ideas for outfits of the products they want, and fashion designers working on the site have written hundreds of style rules that are used to suggest items that match.
Boutiques is available online and on the iPad. Right now, it’s only available in the US, however, Google has said it will expand the service in the future.
