Style Mate: New Device Helps Visually Impaired Choose Matching Outfits

Alexandria, VA – Picking the outfit of the day is never an easy choice, but it became especially difficult for Angela Harris after she became legally blind almost six years ago. “Even if I had a certain color shirt, I still didn’t know what color it [really] was,” Harris said. “I would still have to go down the line feeling, ‘What is this? What is that?’”

Although Harris’s wardrobe became more organized and color-coded after her diagnosis, she said owning clothing that incorporates complex designs threw a wrench in her goal to coordinate a matching outfit. That’s why Harris set out to create the Style Mate, which recently received its patent.

“There’s gonna be a button you can put on the tag of your shirt, and it’s a sensor,” Harris said.

“So when you take your device, [which is] the size of a remote, you’re going to speak into it and say what it is.” With the setup complete, Style Mate can then accurately describe what it’s looking at.

“Say you have a red with yellow stripes Bloomingdale’s shirt,” Harris said. “I would say ‘red and yellow striped Bloomingdale’s shirt.’ So anytime that I walk into the closet, I pick up this device, and when I point it at one of my [corresponding] items, it’ll tell me exactly what I said.”

Beyond saving time, Harris said the Style Mate can help alleviate the headache of current methods people with visual impairments use to identify their clothes. While there are many options available, Harris said no method has fully clicked with her. “People talk about putting safety pins,” Harris said. “I’m not gonna remember that all the time.”

Because the Style Mate incorporates user-coded voice memos, Harris said it’s more straightforward than other high-tech alternatives. Harris said she’s a fan of her Meta Glasses, but not the biggest fan of their apparel advice. “If I say, ‘Hey Meta, look and see what I’m holding,’ she’ll tell me you have a shirt. ‘Hey Meta, what kind of shirt?’ She’ll tell me what kind. ‘Hey, Meta, what color? She’ll tell me the solid color. But you have to keep asking over and over again to get the specifics,” Harris said.

A self-described clothing lover, Harris has organized a fashion show spotlighting blind models for the past two years. She said she hopes the Style Mate’s existence will help dispel stereotypes that those with visual impairments don’t have a sense of dress.

“Some people don’t have stuff like [Style Mate], and they walk in and they think that they have something that matches,” Harris said. “[It’s] not on purpose that they’re coming out looking any kind of way. They don’t mean to do that. They don’t have the device to assist them with those types of things.”

While she originally thought up the device to aid her own wardrobe worries, she believes it will be especially useful in providing visually impaired children and seniors with some extra independence. Harris also hopes to someday extend the Style Mate’s capabilities to be able to recognize household objects besides clothing.

Once the device hits shelves, Harris said she is most looking forward to the ability to nix the dress-up rush before an evening out. “[For] those spurs of the moment when your husband or your significant other calls and says ‘Let’s be ready by the time I get home,’ this is gonna help so much,” Harris said.