Visualise for a moment being an aspiring designer, dreaming of working with luxury fashion houses, and building the next brand to go down in fashion history. Imagine the exhilaration of being handed the opportunity to speak directly to individuals in some of the highest ranking positions within the industry. Social media’s seamless strides to align with technological advancements prove it’s a great time to be a designer.
With improvements in software, the incorporation of AI, and web of social media connections, the ability to co-create on a global scale has never been more accessible. In an article on “co-creation and its benefits”, Amitava Banerjee explained that “co-creation opens your innovation process to a wide range of voices that would typically never be involved.” The relevance of the online space continues to hold a highly regarded, yet highly criticised seat at the table. By 2024, a prediction of a whopping $7.14B is to be spent by brands on influencer marketing, with the market size of global influencer marketing expected to be worth $22.2B by 2025. Digital co-creation has allowed citizens, creatives, and brands to form progressive dialogues that have been the driving force behind some of the most notable industry shifts. Matters of inclusivity and diversity are taking centre stage, and citizens have been handed a co-pilot role in depicting a brand’s future or lack-there-of.
For designers, the scope of possibility is growing by the day. Digital fashion has peaked the interest of luxury fashion brands over the years with a study conducted by Yanbo Zhang, Chuanlan Liu, and Yanru Lyu found, “Consumers’ perceived social value impacts their general attitudes toward digital fashion and shapes their willingness to purchase luxury brands’ digital fashion products. Consumers’ overall positive evaluations of digital fashion benefit luxury brands’ digital fashion creation and transaction.”.
Within the walls of luxury fashion, social monitoring and listening is vital in remaining global trendsetters. A constant flow of fresh minds is necessary to steer brands into a bright future, and social media has provided this opportunity time and time again. With the explosion of AI generated concepts that often unexpectedly fuse two luxury brands together, brands have now been provided with an overflow of inspiration to draw from and an endless array of designers to collaborate with. While the digital to physical manufacturing process is still evolving, it’s a thrilling peek into what the future holds for the fashion industry.
Could these futuristic designs be normalised in the near future? Only time will tell.
Designers globally have created detailed, often hyper-realistic concepts for brands like Prada, Nike, Louis-Vuitton, Chanel, and countless others. “THE CIRCLE ISSUE 31” of HYPEBEAST featured the revolutionary work of designer Marco Simonetti’s, detailing the impact of AI on the fashion world. The CHANEL X REEBOK “LES EXCLUSIFS” concept, has been described by Simonetti as, “a unique item-based range exclusively available for 10 cherry–picked top tier Chanel clients, with a release date that will be privately disclosed to the select customers only…” further explaining, “The maison will be pleased to invite each one of them to Paris, 31 Rue Chambon to physically collect the items directly from the iconic Coco Chanel apartment, above the long-time headquarters of the same address”.
Trail-blazing designers are continuing to develop eye-catching concepts, like OJB Studio (@ojb_studio) with a shoe design for Prada, Michele Torresi (@micheletorresi) with a captivating Gucci x Nike shoe, and Str4ngeThing (@str4ngething), with a divine fusion of renaissance art and modern luxury.
We’re entering another illustrious year of digital co-creation, and the potential is out of this world. In terms of dreaming big, networking and creating, there’s never been a better time to take action.
Written by Ashley Jade Callahan from GLITCH Magazine
