Hello there, everyone! Today, I’m delving into the fascinating realm of artificial intelligence and how it’s affecting the fashion business, specifically fashion design. Hold on to your seats because this episode will be part Q&A, half storytelling, and a dash of yelling. AI, or artificial intelligence, is making waves in a variety of industries, but let’s focus on fashion design for now.AI is doing amazing things in the fashion industry, from optimizing digital marketing to improving customer experiences. It’s even improving retail operations. Today, however, we’re focusing on AI’s role in design and development. To be more specific, AI is fundamentally machine learning. Consider it the digital brainpower that powers chatbots and other AI applications.

So, let’s make a quick comparison. When you search for something on Google, it returns pages and pages of links connected to your query. If you Google “Henry VIII’s wives,” you’ll find anything from study papers to museum exhibits. But now, because to artificial intelligence, notably chat GPT, you can ask a query like, “Tell me about all of Henry VIII’s wives and how they died,” and it will write an article synthesizing the facts from those links.

Now let’s talk about fashion. Designers frequently get inspiration for their designs from many sites, such as Pinterest. Assume you want to create a trench coat that looks like armor and is colorful and sparkly. Typically, you would gather reference photographs, sketch, and even use Photoshop to composite your ideas. However, AI can provide a shortcut. You can tell an AI tool like Mid-Journey, “I want a trench coat inspired by the ‘Cars’ movie,” and it will develop AI representations by combining photos of trench coats, armor, bright colors, and shine.

This is when the analogy with calculators and lengthy division comes into play. AI supports in the early phases of fashion design in the same way that calculators help with sophisticated math when you’ve already acquired the basics. It aids in the generation of concepts and visualizations, but it does not completely replace the design process.

Fashion design is more than just coming up with great ideas. It’s all about putting such concepts into wearable clothing. You must assess whether it is practical, how to make it, what materials are required, and whether it is appropriate for your brand and customers. AI can aid with ideation, but it is not a replacement for a good human designer.

There’s a link to an article regarding G-Star Raw’s usage of AI in design in the description. It’s an excellent illustration of AI as a design tool, demonstrating that human hands are still required for cutting, ironing, and sewing the outfits.

Let’s start with a popular question: Can AI make everyone a fashion designer? No, not quite. Designers are more than simply single-item producers; they are visionaries who create cohesive collections, push creative boundaries, and blend art and business. They construct brands through seasons, combining tradition and innovation in a way that AI cannot.

AI is incapable of managing an atelier or inspiring a workforce. It cannot read a model’s movement during a fitting to identify whether or not a dress has that particular something. AI is a tool for developing renderings based on prompts, and the better your prompts, the better your AI.

So, can AI-generated ideas be used to start a business? Yes. Can you earn a living? Perhaps. However, this does not qualify you as a designer. Now, here’s a little backstory: I had a classmate in college who was dating an NFL player, and she had to decide whether to spend spring break in Hawaii with her boyfriend or work tirelessly on her senior collection, a critical time for fashion students.

Most of us in fashion school didn’t take conventional spring break trips because we had collections to finish. However, she selected Hawaii and lived in the present. Later, she secured a design assistant position that was not what she had hoped for. It entailed going shopping, replicating designs, and returning products. She resigned since it was not genuine design work. She made the brave decision to forge her own path.

Life is a journey full of twists and turns. Some people pursue specific ambitions, such as running a marathon. Others choose other paths, seizing opportunities and occasionally shifting course. It is acceptable to modify your opinion at any time.

The fashion industry is growing, with AI as a useful tool, but it cannot replace human designers’ creative creativity. So don’t worry, fellow designers; your distinct vision and skill will always be in high demand.

And there you have it—AI’s involvement in fashion design and the significance of staying on track. Thank you for tuning in to this episode. Until next time, keep designing, creating, and embracing your journey, wherever it may lead you.