AI is transforming 2020s fashion beyond generative design, while pre-loved culture and fast “core” trends redefine style. But is it for the better?
This article is part of our special editorial series celebrating the 90th anniversary of Istituto Marangoni. In this chapter, we look at how AI is changing fashion and revisit the major trends of the 2020s, shaped by pandemics, new technologies, and the climate crisis.
Artificial intelligence is among us. Just a few years into the AI revolution, the fashion industry is seeing both big opportunities and concerns, while the creative community has mixed feelings. As designers experiment with generative AI, trend-forecasting tools, and virtual models, fashion is entering a new era where technology and creativity sometimes work together and, sometimes, collide. Yet the story of 2020s style is about more than algorithms. It’s also about comfort, sustainability and the growing popularity of second-hand fashion. From digital ateliers to resale marketplaces, and from AI-generated campaigns to mindful shopping, this is how the decade’s defining forces are reshaping fashion and the creative world as a whole.
How Artificial Intelligence Is Redefining Fashion in the 2020s
“Hey Gemini, please sketch a deep-blue silk pencil skirt in the style of Giorgio Armani!” “Hey ChatGPT, can you dress the Mona Lisa in 70s clothes?”
Playing around with AI can be fun, but using it for professional purposes is a whole different challenge. As AI becomes more common in creative industries, the conversation around the very meaning of creativity is heating up. To understand how artificial intelligence is shifting paradigms in creative fields, we need to look back just a couple of years.
In 2022, OpenAI announced ChatGPT, and the beta version of Midjourney appeared on Discord. It was impossible to ignore. Every creative mind on the planet was eager to test what this new disruptive technology could do and see where it might fall short. It’s recent history unfolding rapidly before our eyes, quickly evolving into a collaborative partner.
The idea of human and machine creativity working together is still new and not fully understood by many in the creative community, as it raises critical questions about the true meaning of art and the definition of creativity—especially when machines help create the final output.
Generative AI is just the visible tip of the iceberg—the most debated and perhaps the most controversial use of AI in fashion. Beneath the surface lies a vast, quieter force transforming how things are done. For example, predictive models for trend forecasting were already in use when the major AI companies released their LLMs, affecting the entire fashion supply chain.
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AI is reshaping creativity, forcing fashion and design to redefine what it means to create in a machine-driven world
The Hidden Force Shaping Fashion in the 2020s
In just a few years, AI has established itself as both a helpful tool and a source of inspiration for designers and creatives experts say. It is used for everything from trend forecasting and inspiration to digital prototyping and virtual sampling. Software powered by artificial intelligence, once hailed as groundbreaking, has now become the new normal.
When stores closed during the pandemic, brands and retailers refined their e-commerce experience. They used customer data and purchasing patterns to train AI algorithms and provide highly personalised suggestions.
By late 2022, the mainstream launch of generative AI tools enabled brands to incorporate artificial intelligence into their communication strategies. Yet, despite the initial hype, creating collections with Midjourney—one of the first text-to-image GenAI platforms—or “hiring” virtual models was not well received. In 2025, fashion brands are using these tools more cautiously.
Three years into the generative AI era, its creative potential remains largely untapped. Most of the time, it is used to produce realistic and predictable visual outcomes.
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From hype to hesitation: fashion’s relationship with generative AI evolves as brands learn to balance innovation and authenticity
Can Generative AI Replace Designers? The Creative Industry’s Growing Fear
Many people working in creative fields worry about being replaced by AI, especially if virtual versions of themselves could take over their jobs.
“One of our main aims was to create models that genuinely mirror our society while also fitting the aesthetics of the fashion industry,” said Michael Musandu, CEO and founder of Lalaland, one of the first agencies for AI-generated models, in an interview about diversity and sustainable fashion. He explained that the goal is to accurately reflect society to address bias, poor representation and lack of diversity, adding that it’s not about recruiting “ordinary people” but about delivering that distinctive ‘fashion look’ unique to AI-generated models—a highly controversial issue.
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AI-generated models like Lalaland challenge fashion’s ideals of beauty, diversity, and representation—blurring the line between realism and algorithmic perfection
The company was involved in one of the first scandals involving digital fashion models when Levi’s hired them, making human models feel threatened by their new AI-generated colleagues. Similar tensions have appeared with TV and film writers striking over AI-generated scripts, and in the debate surrounding virtual actress Tilly Norwood.
Guess made headlines last August when it appeared in American Vogue with an AI-generated advertorial. Still, it’s unclear how a tall, blonde, twenty-something Caucasian resembling a blend of Miranda Kerr, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, and Bar Refaeli represents diversity instead of just repeating a cliché.
Moreover, AI Fashion Weeks caused a brief sensation before virtually disappearing as a format—stuck in the early excitement about AI. Now, just two years after this technology arrived, it seems the fashion world is already moving on.
2020s Fashion Trends Explained: Comfort, Sustainability and the Rise of Pre-Loved Style
Beyond AI, other cultural changes in the 2020s have pushed fashion to evolve.
When people started working from home during the 2020 pandemic, loungewear and activewear became much more popular. Soft fabrics, yoga pants, hoodies and sweatpants became everyday staples. Karl Lagerfeld once called sweatpants a red flag for personal failure, and in some ways, he had a point: millions lost control of their routines in the early 2020s, which is precisely why relaxed silhouettes and functional fabrics became the new normal for business-casual dress codes.
“Sweatpants are a sign of defeat. You lost control of your life, so you bought some sweatpants”— Karl Lagerfeld, late designer and Chanel creative director
In recent years, fashion consumers have become more conscious for both environmental and financial reasons. In times of instability and recession, thrifting and shopping second-hand have shed much of their old stigma, as platforms such as Depop and Vinted have made it easier to buy and sell used clothes and accessories. The term ‘pre-loved’ now sums up this new way of thinking about fashion.
Inside the “Core” Aesthetic: The Fast Life of 2020s Fashion Trends
The 2020s are changing our perception of what’s trending, as we all live within a filter bubble—a concept sociologist Eli Pariser introduced in the early 2010s, when social media algorithms began filtering content based on our personal interests.
Today, global trends are being replaced by micro-trends. The market is fragmented, and customer “tribes” rapidly fall in and out of love with specific aesthetics. Brands struggle to launch enduring trends, so they reboot old designs and refresh classic styles to make them iconic and relevant again. In the overcrowded world of countless short-lived trends, very little feels truly new.
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Micro-trends dominate the 2020s as social media algorithms fragment style culture, turning nostalgia and reinvention into fashion’s new normal
TikTok’s polarising algorithm fuels these micro-trends, which follow one another at lightning speed. Some of the most notable trends of the 2020s are the various “cores”—cottagecore, Barbiecore, coastalcore—each driven by a desire to escape reality amid climate anxiety, war and social unrest.
Although these “cores” often verge on cosplay, they are some of the few trends that last, shaping individual fashion identities or wardrobes—at least until the next trend comes along.
AI itself plays a role in accelerating this trend cycle: AI tools can spot rising interest in certain accessories or styles, and quickly copy them into low-cost, mass-produced garments distributed by fast-fashion retailers—making the time from idea to store drastically shorter.
The Future of AI in Fashion and Creativity: What Happens When Technology Starts Designing?
Human-centric is the current buzzword when people talk about a world shaped by AI, along with regulation and collaboration. The way we learn, work, and live will be profoundly influenced by the AI industrial revolution in every field. In the creative and artistic realm, AI could erode the values that once defined human-made work, such as originality and authenticity.
UNESCO and the World Economic Forum both say we need rules to make sure these technologies are used responsibly. These uncharted times call for a holistic approach to using AI—not only to establish a new paradigm, but also to create shared rules that prevent chaos. This will help set new standards and create shared regulations to avoid confusion, especially as we rethink what creative work means.