Iris Montesclaros Agcaoili

YOU LOOK AI MARVELOUS Written by ​Iris Montesclaros "How do I look?" is one question we never thought, but hoped, we could ask a robot. In the past year, Echo Look was launched in the United States and soon, people had a new best friend named Alexa to turn to when it comes to their #OOTD's. It is powered by information from several fashion specialists from around the world and by its "basic" trove of knowledge about current and past trends in color, cuts, and style, not to mention brands and celebrities that carry and inspire these trends. As we are bombarded with new information every day about fashion, it is hard to keep up with trends and more often than not, we find ourselves purchasing pieces here and there, that have caught our eye, and happened to be within a few scrolls and clicks to add to cart; thinking to ourselves how we lack the time to understand what really goes on in fashion, and how we are just these plain mortals who have settled for the closest, “best” and most accessible thing to be worn. But as the fictional fashion goddess, Miranda Priestly - who, let us not forget, manifested in the body of THE Meryl Streep - has been quoted to say, “...it’s sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you're wearing a sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room from a pile of stuff”. You browse through your photos for the perfect throwback and you can't help but notice that your hairstyle, your clothes, ​even your skin, changes through time in almost unconscious accordance with the encompassing aesthetic movements which ruled the past years. Somehow you feel deceived, and feel as though these style decisions were not entirely made by you- that in hindsight you realize your look has already been ghostwritten for you. Furthermore, you wonder if what you are presently wearing and presenting will be something you scoff and cringe at in 5 or 10 years. If there are things that AI might change in the coming years is that it might support this already huge thing in fashion right now: anything goes. That our clothing and style choices will not be dependent on what is only available and, seemingly, a limited trend but instead provide a never-ending plethora of options, independent of a trend. It may serve us with choices based on our own preference of style, through data as simple as the images we pin on Pinterest or double-click on Instagram. On an opposing thought, AI might actually enforce trends even more- and efficiently at that. With its eye on fashion week runways and RTW empires’ releases, artificial intelligence will be able to already put together a look, based on its immensely updated knowledge of what is currently on-trend, then match it with the budget, color/cut preferences, size, body shape of someone seeking its counsel. With fashion considered as an art form, how do we really trust that the algorithm of AI will catch up with the creativity, emotional pulse and disruptive moments considered sublime in the world of style? Fashion icons such as Chloe Sevigny, Kate Moss, Cara Delevigne, Jared Leto, Jeff Goldblum, and A$AP Rocky, all celebrated for being inventive, unique and sartorial lone wolves, created moments in fashion that were the definition of je ne sais quoi. Will these French proverbial X-factor moments be easily reproduced by artificial intelligence? Creative consultant and fashion show director, Melvin Mojica, chimes in his thoughts reflecting that AI has yet to learn the creative spontaneity that fashion thrives on, “The Japanese have this concept, or philosophy, of Wabi-Sabi, which is finding beauty in imperfections. I think that is what AI cannot compete over, or it generally lacks. Happy accidents happen all the time in fashion, and I think that’s one of the very human things that keep the industry interesting and exciting.” On a much closer view of the population’s general consumption of fashion, we have now almost completely relied on digital information- which most likely could be the result of AI utility- that comes in the form of style apps, online magazine subscription, trend forecasting sites and the photos that trail on your Instagram feed, from your personal favorite style celebrities who you follow. Our knowledge about trends almost stems off of our subconscious through being bombarded constantly with images on social media and being re-educated of what looks good, without so much of a glance at what other ​actual people are wearing on the streets. I mean, who would, when everyone is looking at their phones. But how do we apply these trends that come off our little screens? Interestingly, recently, a London-based style startup, Intelistyle, roamed the halls and streets of London Fashion Week. With their AI-driven algorithm, Intelistyle sought out to learn what were the rules of fashion in this space during this time, based on the style of 27 different and obviously chic individuals among the fashion week goers. They were then presented pairs of outfits, from which they should choose the one they prefer better. What the subjects didn’t know was that one pair is AI generated and the other one is human-generated, curated by an Instagram style influencer. A staggering 70% percent of the subjects chose the AI-generated outfits. While the AI machine surely didn’t know what the individuals’ stories or mental states were to have their own particular styles, it certainly must have picked up, in zero amount of time, on measurable, predictable and comprehensible elements that can be repeated in future behaviors and combined that information with its stored knowledge of trending pieces on the market today- a very tedious process that human attention may ​not be able to fully take into record and execution. Charcy Evers, one of New York’s top trend forecasters and retail consultants, declares that while AI is developing its knowledge about fashion and building its capability to predict element trends faster than you can say “fresh off the runway”, humans still take center stage in the arena of trend forecasting, in the development of the true understanding of style evolution and even in the technological progress that aims to service consumers better when it comes to style. “Human emotions and memories play a huge role in the creative process of designers, stylists, people who love fashion, and ultimately, all consumers. Emotions are what drive several consumers in their choices of the clothes they wear. When trends come about, businesses work with choice trends which their specific market responds to”, Evers said. And while our emotions and personal stories of style inspiration may not be quantifiable in binary language yet, expressions of those emotions manifest in our pick of colors, textures, cuts and those things that AI can pick up, as just expertly shown off by Intelistyle in London Fashion Week. When it comes to creative design and production, AI has lent its increasingly omniscient hand to designers like Mak Tumang- whose popularity recently skyrocketed for dressing artist, beauty queen and philanthropist Catriona Gray, as she competed and was crowned Miss Universe last December- with his modern interpretation of Filipino iconography into haute couture. Tumang shares, “This unprecedented blend of humanity and technology makes the design process more exciting. With the use of artificially intelligent applications in the market, I am able to execute my design vision better and more realistically, especially when it comes to the tiny details.” He adds, “The increasing artificial intelligence, that technology offers to the current design and production process, allows products to be designed more quickly AND accurately. I think, the increase of productivity of the designers, in terms of execution of the garments, will be a huge positive result of artificial intelligence in fashion”. When asked about what could be the negative effects of AI on the fashion industry, Tumang answers, “...[however] employment of pattern makers and other human labor will be affected.” Meraj Qazi, a former digital sales director for Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal, shares his observation on how human labor and creativity figures in an increasingly artificially intelligent milieu in various industries, including fashion. Qazi relates, “I'm starting to see a split in how humans and machines are working together. In high repetition/low creative work, like manufacturing or radiology and accounting, the algorithm takes the lead and the human needs to be there as a failsafe, simply because the risk is too high to entirely automate the process. You will always need a human present to double check edge cases, and more importantly to take over when the system fails.” Qazi then points out where he observes the dynamic switches, “On the flip side, highly creative work such as fashion design, writing and creative management will be human-led, and the algorithm is there as the failsafe. No algorithm would have recommended Virgil Abloh's garish LV designs that have become hugely popular, but they can definitely add information to those decisions by identifying social shifts and product opportunities.” It is hugely fascinating to review what fashion has received in benefits from technology and what the possibilities are for its production, messaging, evolution and distribution because of artificial intelligence. It is equal parts intimidating and exciting, but it also strikes a cautious feeling in our scarf-wrapped hearts that while AI will certainly make for a more efficient, more tailored, and more precise fashion experience, in an incredibly invisible but almost sentient stylist phenomena, it may also take away the spontaneity from the way we used to dress up, which would be the same way navigational apps has slowly taught us to get from point A to point B, and made us forget the careless joys of walking and purposely getting lost in the streets. Also, a huge shift in the way we converse and operate about fashion has already begun to happen because of the interconnectivity of all platforms and disciplines in the production and marketing process of fashion and other fields. And while machines are slowly taking over measurable human work, people have and will still continue to take the lead in the creation of fresh and innovative ideas, that will continue to always be inspired by human stories, emotional responses and sentimental memories. So before we all expect a world that looks like the movie Her, in terms of fashion, know that Alexa still doesn't have the final say on how dashing you look today. At the end of the day, through the clothes you pick out from the rack, or your closet, and, maybe, with the assistance of a virtual Tan France- who is starting to learn your outward, elemental and fashion preferences to make sense of what you ​may want to wear next- right now, only YOU can tell YOUR sartorial story.