Overcoming the creative crisis of the Fashion Industry

Abstract

The paper uses the advent of generative AI in fashion to critically examine the tenets of contemporary fashion design. As an exemplary case study, the work of Demna Gvasalia’s at the helm of Balenciaga is critically scrutinized and discussed as the result of the fashion industry’s ever-increasing speed and high demand of products at every price range. Within a hyper-globalized industry, fashion designers are forced to accelerate their design process with low production costs and high profits in mind. Given the systematic denial of fashion design understood as intentional creation by mainstream luxury fashion labels, fashion’s creative process is already heavily revolving around self-reference and copying, much like generative AI. The integration of visual literacy and academic referencing competences in fashion design education are proposed as strategies to break the cycle of copying and self-reference in fashion and to expand, deepen and diversify the practice of fashion design.