Style vs craft: Turning AI designs into IRL clothes

Vogue: What then?

Well then, we had to work out how much each padding should weigh. How big the cushion should be. What material, and so on. Which was very technical and I have no hands-on experience in that. So I went to Milan in September 2023 to work with the samples in person and I followed Moncler’s technical lead on the physical creation process.

Vogue: What did it feel like seeing the collection as real items for the first time?

It was magical. I work with virtual reality images, so obviously to see them turning into ready-to-wear that will eventually be in stores, it’s too much to actually process. I can only imagine how many people and resources were mobilised for this to be possible.

Vogue: Your work plays on those themes, right — what is reality? Where does the artist begin and end?

I am aware of how technology can help artists. And whether technology somehow could force artists to obey a certain grammar — like for example with paint, there’s specific ways to use different types of paint to make it work. It’s the same with AI; you should work in a specific way for this AI tool to work to your benefit.

Vogue: How do you figure out how best to use the tools? Do you have a specific way of exploring possibilities and capabilities, or is it more trial and error?

I think that actually goes a little deeper. You end up wondering: is AI thinking? Or does it look like it’s thinking? Is it providing answers based on information already baked in it or is it going off on a tangent to give you another open possibility?

But fundamentally, it’s not sentient. It doesn’t have self-awareness. These kinds of tools give you almost infinite choices in latent, mathematical space. And sure, you can explore that. Maybe human beings cannot handle that large capacity of varieties. Sure. But personal taste really comes into play, and there’s an incredible amount of choosing that the artist needs to do there.

Vogue: So, style remains at the core of creation.

I think that it’s become the key thing. Instead of judging art on the craft, you judge it on taste. Perhaps you don’t need to paint anymore because the machine can do it for you. But what is your point? You’re the one making decisions. You are actually guiding this thing into a final look step by step.