Portal:M & JENN LEE’s Phygital Showroom at LFW SS26: When Fashion Finally Feels Interactive

At London Fashion Week SS26, the spotlight wasn’t on a catwalk, it was on a portal.

Inside Village Underground, Taiwanese innovation took center stage as Portal:M and JENN LEE unveiled a two-day “phygital” VR showroom that blurred the boundaries between the physical and digital worlds. It was part exhibition, part experiment, and perhaps the most tangible sign yet that the fashion industry’s next evolution is about experience, not exclusivity.

Beyond the Runway: Fashion as Interaction

Portal:M’s VR-powered installation didn’t just present JENN LEE’s SS26 Zipper collection; it invited people to play with it. Visitors slipped into headsets and entered a digital mansion where garments materialized through gestures, a gamified exploration of rebellion, protection, and transformation.

This wasn’t tech for tech’s sake. As part of LEE’s tenth anniversary, the experience extended the brand’s long-standing fascination with duality, the push and pull between vulnerability and strength, into an immersive format that made emotion tactile. In the VR realm, zippers became portals, connecting bodies, emotions, and craft through a virtual language of touch and transformation.

“The VR space, with 'zipper opening and closing' at its core, connected the exhibits, inviting the audience to freely explore and personally experience how clothing can be reborn in a digital space,” said Jenn Lee.

Rewriting Fashion Week’s Rules

Over 400 visitors passed through the installation across two days, a crowd that looked less like a front row and more like a future audience. Critics called it “a genuine shift in how the industry works,” pointing to its inclusive access, participatory design, and tangible sense of play.

A standout feature? Completing the VR experience unlocked a 20% discount, proof that storytelling and commerce don’t have to live in separate realities. Add to that live customization stations, digital tote bag design tools, and even acupuncture sessions, and the result was something rare at Fashion Week: an event that felt open, human, and genuinely fun.

This model of interaction, accessible, gamified, emotionally charged, could redefine what Fashion Week stands for. If traditional shows were built for exclusivity, Portal:M x JENN LEE made a case for immersion, intimacy, and imagination.

Taiwan’s Tech Renaissance

Behind the scenes, the showcase also marked a cultural and industrial milestone. Backed by TAICCA and Makalot, and powered by PlayNitride’s Micro LED technology and MSI UK’s high-performance gaming laptops, the event spotlighted Taiwan’s position as both a manufacturing and creative force.

What emerged was more than a show, it was a statement. Taiwan isn’t just producing the future of fashion; it’s designing how we experience it.

 The Future Is Phygital

For the press and industry insiders who attended, one thing was clear: this wasn’t a novelty; it was a prototype. Reviewers praised the installation as a “blueprint for future fashion weeks,” noting how seamlessly it merged storytelling, sustainability, and sales.

There was a reflection and shared recognition that the Portal:M x JENN LEE collaboration had crystallized something the industry has long chased: a way to make fashion feel alive again.

“The future of fashion is not defined by what we wear, but by how we experience it.”

Portal:M’s phygital showroom proved that interactivity isn’t the end of fashion’s narrative, it’s the beginning of a new one

Written by GLITCH Magazine