#don’t circulate AI art unless you are also willing to raise awareness of what it’s missing and where it fails

[eternally--mortal]

This is an AI rendering. The problem with AI renderings in costuming and in clothing design is that AI begins at a completely different place than actual designers: It doesn’t consider the materials necessary, or the time it would take to construct the project, or the structuring of the dress. Yes, it’s beautiful, but a good designer begins with a budget and works from a knowledge of fabrics and structure. If you asked someone to put together this dress, they would not only have to take the time to ‘reverse engineer’ how to do it, but they would have to start from scratch in figuring out whether it’s possible to simulate the colors and textures and layering while maintaining a structurally sound gown. They would have to compute the extra cost for the color work and addition of details.

Yes, it’s beautiful, and it’s likely that a reasonable construction plan could be formed for a dress like this, but the time and the money spent on such a dress would likely outweigh a shop or a consumer’s desire for the gown to be made as it was designed.

A lot of designers are very upset right now because posts like these are flooding our spaces on social media—to the point that non-designers who do not understand the job are claiming that Costumers and Designers will become ‘obsolete’ in the face of AI. This is particularly maddening when AI is being fed the works of humans and then constructing images that would require outrageous cost and work to re-design in a workable way and then construct.

It’s normal for designers to draw from each other and become inspired by existing works. There’s a reason why fashion designs aren’t copyrighted—it allows the industry to remain fluid and to base itself in a common cultural zeitgeist without unnecessary possession over a particular cut or pattern. In fact, you’re not likely to get in trouble for draping a Couture dress unless you try to pass it off as the work of the original Couture company—because the logo and the branding are copyrighted, and the design sketches are copyrighted, but the style and drape and cut of the dress itself is not copyrighted.

The problem with AI is that it doesn’t innovate in the way that humans do. We draw from the same sources and make something new and carefully considered and wearable and, most importantly, buildable within reason of the resources available to us. AI doesn’t do that. It re-mixes existing work without the human touch of newness. It doesn’t consider the ‘how’ of building. It doesn’t consider the expense or the people involved in the process of creating the dress. And, the faster a computer designs a dress, the faster work the ignorant consumer base is going to demand of the construction team.

Sewing is a specialized skill that takes a good eye, a knowledge of industry precedent, a knowledge of textiles, an awareness of timing and budget, and so much more. People are already overworked to the point of burnout in this industry. Please please please, do your research and familiarize yourself with the process so that you can better respect the artists involved. Yes, AI is beautiful—but it will never be human. And it’s already doing a great deal of harm to how people perceive the human parts of the design and construction portions of the industry.