My virtual model: Virtual reality comes into fashion

On a summer evening in 2003, when half of North America was plunged into the most devastating power failure in history, Louise Guay, president and co-founder of the company My Virtual Model (MVM), was deep in thought, contemplating the future of her business. In the past four years, Ms. Guay and her associate, Jean-François St-Arnaud, current CEO of the company, had ridden the same roller coaster as so many other e-commerce businesses. Their company’s greatest moments of glory came in 2000, when Virtual Model was showcased on Oprah, one of the most popular TV shows in America. Within hours of the broadcast, thousands of women visited the site of retailer Land’s End, MVM’s largest client, to create their own model (see Exhibit 1).