Google’s Doppl App Knocked My Socks Off: Virtual Fashion Just Got Personal

Virtual fashion try-ons aren’t a new concept — but Google’s latest experiment, Doppl, brings a surprisingly personal twist to the experience. With a few taps, you can now generate short, animated clips of your AI likeness modeling outfits pulled from across the internet. It’s not perfect, but it’s a big step forward in blending fashion, artificial intelligence, and personalization — and it hints at some intriguing future possibilities.

Meet Doppl: Your AI Style Twin

In just under 10 minutes, I tried on five entirely different outfits — or rather, my AI stand-in did. Doppl, Google’s new testbed app, lets you generate stylized, animated clips of yourself dressed in looks you find online. The app’s selling point is simple: upload a full-body photo of yourself and a screenshot of the outfit you want to try, and Doppl does the rest. It’s still early days, but even in its current form, the app delivers a blend of novelty and potential that’s hard to ignore.

Using it is refreshingly straightforward. Just grab a screenshot from Instagram, Pinterest, or another online source showcasing an outfit you want to visualize on yourself. Pair that with a well-lit, hat-free, full-body image of you standing in a natural pose. Doppl then generates a static image of your AI avatar wearing the outfit — and after a short wait, you can animate it. Your digital twin might wave, smile, or flash a peace sign.

How Well Does It Work? Expect Quirks.

My first test run featured a basic photo of me in a T-shirt, shorts, and socks. I selected one of Google’s sample outfits to get started. The app rendered the white-and-blue striped shirt fairly accurately, but it took liberties with the bottom half — replacing the intended skinny jeans with red shorts and wrapping them oddly around my calves like leg warmers.

A second outfit I tested included distressed jeans. Doppl again fumbled the pants, only showing the upper portion while inexplicably extending the shirt to my shorts’ length. The result looked like an unfinished mannequin model — technically impressive, but visually awkward.

The strangeness peaked when I uploaded an outfit cropped from the knees up: a striped shirt paired with long shorts. Doppl shrank the shorts into an almost comically short version and gave me AI-generated bare feet. Surprisingly, this happened even though the original image didn’t include any footwear — which suggests the AI engine is improvising to “complete” the look.

Digital Style, Real-World Guardrails

Beyond the occasional fashion faux pas, Doppl comes with content restrictions — and that’s a good thing. Attempts to upload images showing more revealing outfits, such as bikinis, were blocked. My colleague, Marina Galperina, also discovered that uploading an image of former President Donald Trump was a no-go. Clearly, the app’s developers have implemented some boundaries to prevent misuse, like creating deepfakes or inappropriate visuals of public figures.

Another odd quirk: when Marina and I uploaded mirror selfies, the app noticeably slimmed our body shapes. Our digital doubles ended up looking like bobblehead versions of ourselves. Interestingly, this didn’t occur with professionally shot full-body photos, suggesting that Doppl might respond differently to camera quality or angles.

A New Frontier in Personalized Fashion?

Google’s been exploring virtual try-on tools for years. Earlier iterations allowed users to upload a photo and try on various clothing items found through Google Search — things like shirts, pants, dresses, or skirts. But Doppl takes this to another level by supporting a broader variety of outfits from all corners of the web and turning them into short video clips.

What makes Doppl particularly interesting isn’t just the novelty — it’s the personalization. The app lets users see themselves (or a close approximation) in clothes they discover online, adding a fresh dynamic to online shopping and digital self-expression. If Google smooths out the kinks, this tool could become a staple in the fashion discovery process — or even the foundation for more immersive virtual wardrobes, social avatars, or influencer collabs.

Final Thoughts: A Glimpse of What’s Next

Despite the hiccups — the occasional floating pants, disappearing socks, or bobblehead effects — Doppl hints at something bigger: the convergence of AI, fashion, and identity. As personalization becomes central to everything from social media to e-commerce, tools like Doppl might pave the way for a new kind of interaction with our digital selves. Whether for shopping, storytelling, or just creative exploration, it’s easy to see how this tech could evolve into something more dynamic, inclusive, and fun.

You can try Doppl now by downloading the app on Android or iOS. Just be prepared — your socks might get knocked off too. Or replaced by AI feet.