Innovations in all glory but the fashion world should have more ice in its stomach
During the weekend began it rings in my inbox.
“Have you seen this?” my followers wondered indignantly.
The messages were accompanied by pictures from the Swedish photographer Daniel Stjernes Instagram account. He had discovered that the fashion company Filippa K plagiarized two other photographers in its latest campaign, which was also AI-generated.
The whole story is embarrassing, not only because of the plagiarism situation, but because of this: there is absolutely no reason for Filippa K to use AI.
The pictures, as taken developed by the Swedish agency Alter.id with the help of the AI platform Gyodi, depicts men and women moving in barren Swedish nature in the summer.
So they do not imagine in a place far away, a different climate from ours or during a different time period. They could have been filmed in the Stockholm archipelago in one afternoon.
Of course, you can interpret it as an attempt to save money as well. Right now, many big clothing brands, such as Mango and H&M, are implementing AI to save money. Especially in e-commerce, the AI model has become popular because streamlined workflows can quickly increase efficiency and thus profitability.
In addition, the fashion world loves to jump on new technology. It’s in the nature of the industry, because news value trumps everything else.
But it had been dressy if you didn’t throw yourself at the first best innovation all the time, hoping to be ‘down with the kids’. For a while, all fashion houses would launch NFTs, all Swedish clothing chains would have Clubhouse mingling or build houses in the digital Metaverse.
What did those projects generate? Not a piece of shit.
That money could have been invested in paying real photographers, models and stylists to create something genuine and authentic.
Old school? Yes. Unfashionable? On the contrary.
Because if there’s one thing this fad has proven, it’s that AI is a tool, not a source of new and unique ideas. And you don’t have to use a tool just because it’s there.
In some cases, it’s actually better not to.
Emily Dahl is a fashion scientist, journalist and presenter – you can see her in “Modeinferno” on SVT Play.
