Meet Jamie, the robot that tells women what to wear

AUSSIE woman Antonia Bolla knows the problem you face every morning when you’re getting ready. She’s sure she’s got the solution.

Antonia Bolla is one half of Jamie & I, the virtual stylist that promises to revolutionise how women shop.

WOULD you let a robot tell you what to wear? Antonia Bolla thinks you will, and has won financial backing to make it happen.

In the not-too-distant future, the fashion-mad entrepreneur predicts, busy career women will rely on artificial intelligence to update their wardrobes.

Smart phones will alert them to the perfect outfit for that upcoming wedding, dinner or night out before they’ve even started thinking about going shopping, based on a complex algorithm that knows exactly what they will like — and wear with confidence.

Sound too good to be true? It’s already happening, with a “virtual stylist” launched by the University of Sydney Business School student earlier this year.

Ms Bolla, who developed the idea while taking part in the university’s start-up incubator program, won a $10,000 cash injection for the project and turned it into AI-powered online fashion platform Jamie & I.

Along with her sister Lidia, the IT brains behind the venture, Ms Bolla created a website that hones in on shoppers’ unique style preferences after taking them through a few simple visual questionnaires, giving them personal outfit recommendations they can buy in just a few clicks.

Would you let a robot tell you what to wear?

It all started when the young business student had a bright idea on the ferry.

“I was living in Manly and was running out of my place to go to a friend’s birthday party,” Ms Bolla said,

“You know when you’re running around, looking in the closet, and you just have nothing to wear, you just don’t know what to put on.

“So I just put something together and ran out the door, then on the ferry I was listening to Spotify’s discover weekly playlist, the list it puts together based on what you like. They’re always so on point, and I thought ‘that’s exactly what I need for fashion’.”

Whereas major online retailers are so overloaded with product that discerning shoppers must filter through pages of search results to find the item they want, Jamie & Me aims to present a succinct list of personalised recommendations.

“You start out all excited, but then you click through the next three pages and you’re over it, because there’s such an information overload,” Ms Bolla said.

“We’re more focused on getting the right outfit for the customer, so you can login and you have just a curated selection of outfits that is all tailored to your personal style.”

Shoppers are asked to take a 10-minute quiz to work out their unique style code.

Lidia Bolla wrote the algorithm for digital stylist venture Jamie & I.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Visitors to the Jamie & I site are asked to take a 10 minute quiz to determine their style persona.

They’re shown a range of outfits and asked to click on the styles they like.

Further checks establish what types of looks shoppers are actually likely to wear — as opposed to admiring from afar — and a star system is used to rate different aesthetics.

The process is designed to be playful and easy, with demographic questions phrased in the most diplomatic way; shoppers are asked: “How old do you feel?”

Once the data has gone through the Jamie & I algorithm, subscribers are sent outfit recommendations that they can buy on the spot, sourced from boutique designers such as Sydney’s Ixiah, who have partnered with the platform as a way to increase their exposure.

And, just like Spotify, it is designed to get more accurate as time goes on.

“It keeps on learning about you as you use it,” Ms Bolla said. “So every time once you receive an outfit, you give it a star rating as well.”

Eventually, she plans to develop an app that can synchronise with members’ smart phone calendars, with outfit alerts sent out for upcoming events.

It’s a concept Ms Bolla hopes to scale up and help expand the local fashion industry’s global reach.

“We think Australia has a really great landscape of little unique brands and we see lots of demand in Europe for these kinds of labels,” the Swiss-born entrepreneur said.

“It’s those smaller labels that we want to support and help customers find them, creating this little ecosystem of people who love great style.”

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