‘What should I wear?’ Style It app answers fashion’s eternal question

Alicia Silverstone’s character in the 1995 chick flick ”Clueless” had the right idea: Let a computer program pick out your outfits so you never have to stress about what to wear again.

Now there’s an app for that, thanks to software engineer and Carnegie Mellon University grad Henry Kang.

His San Mateo, Calif.-based company Peeka buy is behind Style It, an ios-compatible app that suggests outfits for women based on pieces already in their closet.

“Every morning (my wife) would repeat the same question,” he says. “‘What can I wear today?’”

This was his a-ha moment, he says, that made him decide to apply his research to coming up with a 21st-century version of the “Clueless” wardrobe builder.

Here’s how it works: Download the app and take a photo of a piece of clothing you own. Within three seconds the app will pull available items from more than 450 retailers such as Macy’s, Nordstrom and American Eagle to curate 10 different outfits to go with the photographed piece. If a user likes the suggestions, she can purchase them through the app, and Kang’s business earns a commission for the sale.

While there are lots of apps out there that aim to help women maximize their wardrobe, the technology behind Style It and the speed at which it functions are what make it unique.

“The technical difficulty of what he is doing is significant,” says Martial Hebert, a Carnegie Mellon University professor and the director of its Robotics Institute who served as one of Kang’s Ph.D. advisers.