EXPLORING THE POTENTIAL OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN FASHION DESIGN
My Year 2 final project, 'The Singularity,' explored AI's emerging use and its societal impact. Inspired by a Popular Mechanics article claiming the singularity might arrive in seven years, I reflected on our relationship with AI in creativity. With the stigma around AI-generated art, I aimed to investigate whether AI could inspire and provide abstraction/inspiration rather than simply serve as a shortcut to the end product...
My aesthetic blends late 90s to early 00s optimism, inspired by early smartphone technology, with a weathered style- addressing today's AI revolution. I seek to create a post-punk vibe that captures attention and highlights the need to stay grounded amid current physical and spiritual disconnection.
My process integrated various AI tools available online, with a primary focus on DALL-E. I merge aesthetics from punk, Y2K, and scientific imagery of the human form to craft a new yet familiar vision of the future.
PROCESS
To design around AI, I wanted to approach it in a similar way—by taking previous ideas from various sources and constructing my own. I gathered a significant collection of discarded clothes from friends, charity shops, and a selection of militaria and deadstock materials from Ringrose Fabric, which I sorted into piles for each outfit.
The term "singularity" refers to a black hole—an infinitely dense region of space from which nothing escapes, making its contents a mystery. This concept parallels the daunting idea of AI surpassing human intelligence. Julian Roberts created a subtraction cutting technique, where two holes in fabric connect to form a tunnel, representing the negative space of the body. This method was ideal for exploring this idea- but was better practiced physically rather through 3D rendering software.
I used an image of the spinal nervous system to inspire DALL-E, uncovering a daunting vision. I printed the results, tore them up, and collaged outfit concepts influenced by the abstract forms. I input these ideas into DALL-E, but refining them to match my vision proved challenging, leading me to conclude AI had fulfilled its usefulness in my design process.
I aimed to capture a primitive, uncanny aesthetic by selecting random symbols from AI-generated outfits and revisiting my source material. One icon stood out—a pair of figures from the Fruitger aero era, which used 3D shading to create an existential feeling.
I also incorporated a skull image, generating variations until settling on a design with a hand bursting from the dome, reminiscent of a mohawk, exploring the concept of control.
ADAPTATION
The project aimed to blur the line between the natural world and the digitally generated one. I took inspiration from Fruitger aero graphics, which juxtapose natural, soft imagery with technology and artificially rendered shapes.
Aphex Twin has one of my favourite logos, described as ‘amorphous'—meaning without form. This concept was a game changer for me when examining these half-real AI generations, as I had never asked it to imagine something that wasn't actually anything...
Using Aphex Twin's logo as a baseline, I asked the AI to render a series of amorphous shapes. I then used the edit tool to select areas I found most intriguing, generating further distorted iterations.
I also experimented with a five-sided star motif as a different starting point, leading to the creation of the strangest shapes—reminiscent of Rorschach tests—constantly sparking new discoveries whenever I shared them with friends.
After selecting my favourite shapes, I sharpened them in Photoshop and collaged them with photographs of flora from the #EdenProject and butterflies from a local butterfly farm. These ethereal pieces were assigned to each outfit and inspired the dye and print colours on my #Upcycled materials.
For the outfits I created, I laser-cut the respective amorphous shapes and used them as stencils for fabric spray paint.
design
Tearing and smashing previously loved garments together—all of these pieces had meaning to me or my friends in a previous life.
I wanted to explore how one garment could be repurposed as another, so I spent time in the studio deconstructing garments and draping them on mannequins (and myself) to reinterpret their shapes.
The Kiltdress—composed of two shorts and a kilt morphed into an asymmetrical dungaree—is held in place with a belt, allowing it to be worn as a skirt by simply removing the top section.
The Trishirt—three shirts opened at their side seams and sewn together as one—flows as a lustrous piece of fabric that becomes increasingly complex with multiple arm and head holes, offering endless ways to twist and adorn it.
The Wrapskirt is composed of five deadstock military canvas sleeping bag holders. These utilitarian devices provided plenty of buckles and clips to reattach in new ways, which offer enough flexibility to fit any size.
The Wrapshirt combines stretch, knit, and woven fabrics aggressively stitched together using pleats, gathering, and smocking to distort the original form. Upcycling multiple garments into one gives the wearer freedom to style the piece as they choose, encouraging personal expression.
cONFORM
In this module, we were tasked with creating a tech pack for one of our pieces—these are detailed front and back drawings along with technical specifications that you’d send to a manufacturer to ensure they produce the garment according to your vision.
This process typically doesn’t apply when upycling, as each piece is unique to the garments you choose to reinterpret.
However, to meet the brief, I created a technical drawing of the garment as fully laid out as possible and specified the dimensions of each sewing line, as well as the placement of studs and spray paint designs.
Throughout the following year at university, I discovered new ways to represent these instructional tech packs for zero waste and upcycled creations, adapting them to fit the sustainability ethos while maintaining accuracy for production.
INTEGRATE
My friend Luka Peacefield and I simultaneously found ourselves experimenting with new tools to push the boundaries of our respective mediums. We realized that a collaboration would be a powerful way to challenge ourselves creatively, and a video would best express the details of our process:
“Amapunk" is a collaborative piece bridging fashion and music to explore a new tributary of punk. Focusing on individualism and sustainability, this audio-visual work represents the inspiring concepts, processes, and outcomes of our entire creative journey.
Quinn Marshall focused on fusing garments together using Zero Waste techniques to create recycled, genderless, seasonless, and wasteless clothing influenced by a wide range of aesthetics.
Luka Peacefield built a framework using fashion vocabulary, which was augmented and applied to music. These terms informed creative decisions within his composition, creating a reciprocal cycle of inspiration. Both musician and fashiondesigner informed each other's creative flow with concepts, perspectives, and techniques.
CLICK TO WATCH THE COLLABORATIVE VIDEO
Now, the clothes…
TRISHIRT
kiltdress
wrapshirt
WRAP SKIRT
