Try on clothes without undressing

I like wearing new clothes, but I hate oh so much shopping for them. Schlepping from store to store trying on outfits in search of just the right one can be a hassle. I was therefore quite happy to discover, via Techie Diva, that international retailer Metro Group is showing off an intelligent dressing room at the CeBit trade show in Hannover, Germany. The technology lets you try on outfits without taking your clothes off.

Basically, it scans your measurements and lets you see on a projection screen how a piece will look on you (no guarantees on how accurately it represents your booty in those jeans, however). You also get a list of suggested items that go along with the outfit you choose.

The dressing room is part of the Metro Group's Future Store Initiative, which is convening companies from the retailing, consumer goods and information technology industries (Intel, IBM, Microsoft, Cisco Systems and more than 60 other cooperating partners) to elaborate a technology-based vision for tomorrow's store.

Current experiments at the Future Store in Rheinberg, North Rhine-Westphalia (the Future Store Initiative's first major project), include technologies that let visitors write a trial electronic shopping list, which they send to the store via e-mail from home. They can also look into the smart fridge, a new-generation appliance that monitors its own contents and even reminds the user when to go shopping.

Radio frequency identification is also a big part of the picture. The Metro Group has been introducing RFID in stages along the whole supply chain since November 2004.