F.F.-H. Nah (Ed.): HCIB/HCII 2014, LNCS 8527, pp. 307–315, 2014. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014 The Performance of Self in the Context of Shopping in a Virtual Dressing Room System Yi Gao, Eva Petersson Brooks, and Anthony Lewis Brooks Centre for Design, Learning and Innovation, Department of Architecture and Media Technology, Aalborg University, Niels Bohrs Vej 8, 6700 Esbjerg, Denmark gao@create.aau.dk Abstract. This paper investigates the performance of self in a virtual dressing room based on a camera-based system reflecting a full body mirrored image of the self. The study was based on a qualitative research approach and a user- centered design methodology. 22 participants participated in design sessions, semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire investigation. The results showed that the system facilitated self-recognition, self-perception, and shared experience, which afforded an enriched experience of the performing self. Keywords: Virtual dressing room, mirroring, self-perception, self-recognition, shared experience, hedonic shopping experience. 1 Introduction In this paper, we investigate how a virtual dressing room facilitated the performance of self in terms of self-recognition and self-perception to identify how potential shoppers organize such interactions and experiences. In line with [1] online shopping is considered as a creative and social activity incorporating diverse meanings where both shopping and commodities invoke personal as well as collective interests and motivations. The study illustrates in different ways that the virtual dressing room system user interface invoked certain interactions that are afforded by the technique of mirroring in line with [2]. This on-going research is financed by the Danish National Advanced Technology Foundation to realize a turnkey solution of a Virtual Dressing Room (VDR), which should reduce customer purchase returns. In this regard, the practice of shopping clothes online is considered as framed by shoppers through the influence of affordances and personal agency. This is in line with [3], who states that: “When the behavior of the computer is coherent and the application is designed so that a human interactor knows what to do and receives clear and immediate feedback on the results of their actions, the interactor experiences the pleasure of agency, of making something happen in a dynamically responsive world.” [3, p. 100].