How AI is influencing the future of luxury fashion
A couple of years ago, around the dawn of Covid-19, an intense conversation emerged across management and business sectors about Artificial Intelligence's (AI's) potential to transform various industries. As the world adjusted to reduced human interaction and fewer in-person experiences, both essential and non-essential companies pivoted rapidly — producing face masks and embracing digital platforms. It marked a turning point in the broader wave of digitisation, one that has since reshaped many sectors, including fashion.
Jacquemus' giant Le Chiquito bag, placed in the middle of the road, for instance, broke the Internet and set the tone for a wave of fashion and travel brand marketing. Around the same time, luxury brands were debuting their seasonal collections via Zoom links, offering virtual runway experiences. Even regional labels like Saiid Kobeisy embraced the shift by producing AI-generated images of their couture worn by digital models, signalling a new era in visual storytelling.
In 2023, we witnessed the start of AI Fashion Week in addition to the usual quarterly shows.
When you work in fashion long enough, you learn that change doesn't always enter with a bang. Sometimes, it slips in quietly, sits around the corner, and listens before making its move. As with most shifts in fashion, change didn't arrive with a bang. It crept in quietly like an invisible layer beneath the surface. From Balenciaga to Valentino, major houses have begun using AI to conceptualise campaign imagery and experiment with digital narratives — not to make fashion feel futuristic, but to make it feel timeless in a new medium.
How AI Is Being Used
The beauty of AI lies in its capacity to sift through the vast expanse of publicly available data to pick up on emerging micro-trends. These can often be traced to influencers, celebrities, or niche communities. AI can monitor these key figures and social groups, identifying upticks in certain styles or items. This information is invaluable for brands as it provides real-time insights into what is gaining traction, allowing clients to pivot quickly and capitalise on these micro-trends before they hit the mainstream.
Then there's the way heritage is being handled. For maisons like Dior or Chanel, archives are gold. AI is now helping to sift through decades of sketches, textiles, and silhouettes, making it easier for design teams to revisit and reimagine pieces from the past. It doesn't cheapen the process; if anything, it sharpens it. Dior has gone one step further with Astra, its AI-powered platform that looks at customer data to better predict what clients actually want. It's still Dior, still exclusive, still bespoke — but with a slightly smarter engine running in the background. And let's not forget names like Iris van Herpen, who's been ahead of the curve for years, blending machine-led design with couture-level craftsmanship. Her work proves that technology and handcraft can coexist without compromising on either.
AI is poised to transform fashion design as we know it. With its ability to generate unconventional, out-of-the-box ideas, the creative process is no longer limited by human bandwidth alone. One designer recently demonstrated this shift through a custom-made dress — initially drafted using AI and later brought to life with the help of skilled tailors. The final piece was a near-perfect replication of the AI-generated concept, signalling a future where design and production could be seamlessly fused through technology. 'AI is set to transform fashion design, enabling more out-of-the-box creativity and faster execution. I've already seen it with a custom piece I created — the AI draft and final design were nearly identical. We no longer need to do photo shoots all the time for content creation. Ghost mannequin photos will be easily done, especially if we already have the picture. We can just replicate it through AI and make endless creative content with that,' says Kanessa Muluneh, serial entrepreneur and founder of MULU Fashion Academy.
Intermingling Of Both
Máire Morris, CEO of the Dubai-based Morris Global Consulting, chimes in the discussion: 'AI can greatly support the business side of couture — from streamlining internal processes and marketing to researching archives or simulating fabrics. 3D body scanning could also enhance fit precision. But couture is, at its heart, about handcraft and human connection. No machine, however advanced, should replace the artistry or the lifelong trust between a maison and its client. Some things, like couture, deserve to remain sacred.'
With excitement and hope, Muluneh says: 'I think AI can revolutionise the world of luxury fashion. Especially when it comes to visuals and content. It can already fully replace humans and create endless creative possibilities…' On a deeper level of seaming and tailoring, and design ideating, she thinks there's a lot of potential for AI in the space. Motif generation from text prompts for visualisation purposes has become a real time saver. It also aids in exploring archival collections and simulating designs on various base fabrics, allowing for quick experimentation with scale and colour. Additionally, the fast conversion of hand drawings to vector files significantly reduces the time previously spent on these processes.
Indian fashion designer Manish Malhotra adds: 'AI can be a remarkable ally in motif visualisation by accelerating the journey from inspiration to intricate design. It allows us to input a mood, a cultural reference, or even an emotion, and watch it evolve into visual possibilities — motifs we may not have imagined through traditional sketching alone. For a designer rooted in storytelling like myself, this opens doors to re-interpret heritage with contemporary fluidity. AI doesn't just replicate patterns; it reimagines them, merging archives, textile histories, and geometry into one frame. It's intuitive, iterative, and inspiring.'
The Crossroads
But luxury has never been about mass-producing garments simply good enough to wear on a night out, has it? In fact, I'd argue that luxury is about how it makes you feel. It taps into your inner self-image and mirrors what you want to project. Some may invest in a piece for the design, others because they believe in the brand's vision, some to support craftsmanship, and others to own a timeless ensemble that can be passed down.
'AI will probably play a significant role in developing and creating elements of design, such as motifs, structure, and sourcing unique elements to include in the final product. But for haute couture to remain true to what its moniker stands for, the human element cannot be replaced,' says Dipesh Depala, founder of Dubai-based luxury fashion PR company The Qode.
He continues: 'I don't believe that AI will revolutionise haute couture. Which, by its very nature, requires the human element — the genius and creativity of an individual, not an app. A haute couture customer traditionally has a relationship with the creator. That is a crucial part of the haute couture process, which can't be replaced by AI. What we may well see is a hybrid, where AI helps to enhance rather than replace.'
AI certainly has helped fashion evolve — it has made the industry more accessible, more visual, and easier to engage with across generations. But if you've spent any time around those who truly understand and invest in luxury, you'll know this: they're not looking for shortcuts. They don't want fast, easy, or generated. They want intention. They want something that takes time, thought, and craft. AI might help with reach and positioning, but it will never replicate the quiet power of something made with real hands and a clear vision. The true luxury consumer isn't buying into convenience — they're buying into legacy.
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