How much love do you truly have for your favorite brands, and are you willing to stick by them? Many fashion lovers have been struggling with this question more and more as their favorite brands are growing more comfortable with integrating AI.
The world of artificial intelligence has been booming, and it seems to be the hot new trend for companies and brands. Everyone seems to be hopping on the AI craze. From articles to products, it seems to be the simple solution from mundane to expensive corporate tasks, all done with a couple of clicks of a button. Yet, the beloved customers and admirers of these brands seem to be less than happy with these circumstances. Especially as artificial intelligence is invading its way into the art world, and for this article’s purpose, the fashion industry. Increasingly, fashion companies are incorporating AI into their brands, particularly through the use of AI-generated models.
You might be thinking, “Oh, my favorite brand would never,” but it seems more and more globally loved brands are caving to the siren song that is AI models. Take Vogue, for example, the world’s fashion bible, which has just issued its first edition featuring a two-page spread of a digital beauty for its Guess ad. The words on the bottom of the page, reading “Produced by Seraphinne Vallora on AI,” have caused dedicated readers to become furious, cancelling their subscriptions left and right. People are calling this issue “the day modeling died” and saying “it’s like art is dying.” Going as far as to call for a boycott on Vogue for even giving AI this major platform. However, this is not the first time we’ve seen AI models in fashion. Fashion Nova, a hit American fast fashion brand, has fully immersed itself in the AI model realm, with these models sprinkled all over their website. This has also caused a large number of their customers to go elsewhere. Another fast fashion brand, H&M, has used AI in its ads before by digitally cloning models, with their consent. Levi’s also had the idea to use AI models and technologies to promote diversity in skin tone and body types. Guess itself has started displaying loops of the company’s favorite AI models on the display screens outside its stores.
The influx of AI models seems to be just another fashion trend like babydoll tees and cargo pants, but it is so much more than that. The entire fashion industry is being threatened, from photographers and models to set designers and directors; everyone’s careers are on the line with the AI craze, and these major companies don’t seem to care very much. Those six words in the August 2025 edition of Vogue bring major insight into what is happening in the industry right now. There has been a major influx of AI marketing brands like Seraphine Vallora in just the last couple of years. Not only do they threaten the jobs of everyone in the industry, but their extreme use of AI is seriously harmful to our planet. According to a study by Earth.org, it is estimated that just ChatGPT alone generates about 8.4 tons of CO2 in just one year. That’s double what the average person emits in a year! Now think of all the AI software that could be used in the process of creating an AI model. That’s a lot more harm to the environment than these companies are willing to admit!
Another major issue this AI model craze is bringing to light is unrealistic beauty standards. With these models having flawless skin, perfect hair, and a curvier figure than ever, something not even Dr. Miami could achieve for you is raising the question: “Do we really think this isn’t going to impact young girls today?” The fashion industry has always had a reputation for creating unrealistic beauty standards, from VS runway models in the 2000s to even Brandy Melville’s “one size fits all” motto, but to fully create something no human could achieve is just setting these young women up for failure. We have already seen grown women getting plastic surgery to achieve the look of these flawless AI models. It really makes you think about how today’s youth will be affected by this so-called “perfect beauty”.
Words by Mia Scialdone
Graphic by Eve Friday