This Model is Not a Real Person: How AI is Shaking Up Fashion
The Guardian
ENRICHED
Details
- Date Published
- 1 June 2026
- Priority Score
- 1
- Australian
- Yes
- Created
- 31 May 2026, 06:00 pm
Description
We ordered a dress modelled by artificial intelligence so you don’t have to
Summary
The fashion industry is increasingly adopting generative AI to create 'sculpted' digital models and digital twins for e-commerce advertising. While these tools offer smaller brands greater agility and cost-effectiveness, they raise significant concerns regarding consumer transparency and the accurate representation of physical products. The discourse centers on industry self-regulation and disclosure labels rather than catastrophic risks, highlighting the immediate societal shifts in labor and authenticity driven by frontier generative capabilities. This case study of Australian retailers like The Iconic demonstrates the localized adoption of AI within creative sectors and the emerging norms for responsible commercial use.
Body
8:38This model is not a real person: how AI is shaking up fashion – videoFrom digital twins to models ‘sculpted’ by programmers, generative AI has been popping up all over the fashion industry. When an Australian e-commerce retailer started using AI-generated models to sell products, lifestyle editor Alyx Gorman had to see if the garments were more than mere pixels.The Iconic, which sells the dress worn in this video, said in a statement: ‘Where AI-generated imagery is used to advertise products for sale on our platform, our expectation is that it is clearly labelled and that the product itself is represented as accurately as possible for customers.’ Meanwhile, Atoir, the designer, said: ‘The Australian fashion industry is highly competitive, particularly for independent brands. We believe that when used responsibly, tools like this can help smaller businesses to operate with greater agility while still maintaining the creative standards and product integrity that matter to both the brand and the customer.’Explore more on these topicsFashionAI (artificial intelligence)Australian fashionAustralian lifestyle