Fashion & AI Forecasted Shifts

AI Surrealism

The year 2025 will see the beginning of the imagination age in which new technologies will be used as a creative tool for storytelling and dreaming up new futures (Bell et al, 2022). Surrealism is an art movement that began in the aftermath of World War I in the 1920’s, it explores the power of dreams and the subconscious (Tate, 2023). Now over 100 years later, history is repeating itself with the rise of AI surrealism in the midst of a global polycrisis. “By 2025, creativity, imagination and dreaming will be necessary outlets for releasing tension and anxiety arising from the polycrisis” (Rees and Rocca, 2022). The growing reliance on technology, is fuelling consumer desire for fantasy and surreal aesthetics as a means of escaping reality, demonstrated by the 45% increase in sales of fantasy books following Covid-19 (Humphrey and Tan, 2023; Falcon and Covington, 2023).

Digitopia

Building on AI Surrealism, the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) and the widespread availability of tools will expand the realm of possibility in terms of creativity, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy. WGSN predicts immersive fantasy worlds and ethereal aesthetics to take accessories and footwear by storm for A/W 24/25. Driven by the growth of AI, virtual worlds, and an increasing emphasis on creativity as a method of problem-solving, digitopia encompasses mystical aesthetics and new design possibilities (Collins, 2023). Digitopia, will give rise to sophisticated, intricately crafted digital designs reminiscent of classic elegance and quiet luxury, aimed at minimising waste and driving innovation (Saldana, 2023). Future campaigns will embrace the phygital (physical and digital) as a layered reality through augmented sensory experiences (Hall, 2023).