The whole process takes about two minutes, and, with the electrobeat music, feels more like a go-go club than a fitting room. Unfortunately, you have to stand still for the technology to work. Then, logging on to the Lands' End website, you can use your image as a virtual model to try on clothes and make sensitive decisions like going with colour or staying with black, boxers, briefs or thongs, things you'd love to try but dare not tell. During my fitting, I did a great imitation of Tom Cruise in Risky Business, dancing in my underwear. The computer system fails.
Technicians scramble to correct the malfunction.
I try not to feel responsible for the fatality. Lands End spokewoman Anjali Sridharan recovers heroically. They get to see how they'll look in an outfit with the best possible sizing, without standing in the middle of a crowded store panicking. The company have already compiled 1.4 million customer profiles. The Lands' End Virtual Model caravan tours North America.