Anna Leighton –AI vogue design winner from AI Style Week – Season 1 & 2 (Picture Credit score: Anna Leighton)
Should you’re an ardent follower of synthetic intelligence and what this expertise means for vogue designers, then you definitely may already be ‘within the know’ about AI Style Week. Particularly you probably have been studying our weblog for the previous two years. AI Style Week was spearheaded by visionary minds at Maison Meta, the world’s first AI generative company based in New York Metropolis in 2022 by Cyril Foiret, in partnership with next-generation on-line retailer Revolve Group.
The UoF weblog lined the First AI Style Week (AIFW-April 2023) and the Second AI Style Week, November 30 – December 1, 2023, which is the place you’ll have discovered about Anna Leighton, one in all 10 vogue design winners from that present. I lately had a possibility to interview Anna about how foray into AI vogue design and, I’m pleased to announce, that Anna shall be creating an AI Style Design lesson sequence for UoF. Meet Anna:
The Interview
Francesca: Are you a formally skilled designer?
Anna: Sure, I went to Otis School of Artwork & Design in LA and graduated in 1996. I labored for a wide range of corporations after which in 2001, I began my very own assortment, making one-of-a-kind “eco-effective”attire, referred to as Annatarian. Then, in 2004 I began doing jewellery. With household within the jewellery enterprise for 40 years, they helped me launch my jewellery assortment referred to as, Peace, Love, Earth by Annatarian. In 2012, I began working with my husband who’s a fantastic artist,and took a break from making one-of-a-kind items. I additionally realized that I wanted enterprise schooling and commenced taking enterprise lessons in gross sales and advertising. Quickly I bought my jewellery line in 75 shops, together with Nordstroms.
Francesca: What laptop abilities are essential to grow to be an AI Style Designer?
Anna: In 1996, I took a Photoshop class at Otis then employed a one-on-one Photoshop skilled to show me and that’s what bought my foot within the door at a number of the style corporations after commencement, since I had actually good technical abilities. Then in 2015, I bought a VR headset as a result of I wished to begin a VR vogue undertaking. I then discovered 3D design utilizing Browzwear and bought related in 2020 (I found them in 2018 or 2019) with Amsterdam-based The Fabricant, a digital vogue home utilizing CLO 3D, the place I did a few of their group occasions, and was requested to grow to be their group supervisor in 2021. That is the place I turned extra concerned within the 3D artwork world. My husband is a tech genius, artist and filmmaker who created an app whereby by way of augmented actuality, you possibly can see his work come to life. Since I began working with him in 2012, I began to see the potential of augmented actuality for vogue. I began working in Tilt Brush (an open-source VR portray app) with VR headgear and dabbled in Gravity Sketch (a free 3D sketching and design software program), which I believe goes to be large for the style trade quickly. You possibly can design utilizing your headgear or you are able to do it on-line too, you don’t need to be in digital house.
Anna Leighton and her husband created a public artwork undertaking for the Metropolis of LA which is up indefinitely at Angels Flight in Downtown LA, referred to as Angels in LA. (Picture Credit score: https://downtownla.com/discover/grand-ave-augmented)
Francesca: What different applications do you employ to create AI-inspired vogue?
Anna: Via one other group, based mostly out of Amsterdam referred to as LoveKraft, I began working with an AI product referred to as GauGAN and that was my first expertise in AI, three years in the past. It blew my thoughts since you may draw a crude little home and get one thing actually magical. A couple of months later GauGAN bought actually good. Then alongside got here Midjourney AI (a device that lets you create high-quality photographs from easy textual content prompts from the browser of your laptop or cellphone, no particular software program wanted), which on the time was invitation solely and I used to be one of many first to make use of it. Then got here DALL-E, an AI system that may create life like photographs and artwork from an outline in pure language. I used to be in a position to get myself and my group passes to DALL-E. Utilizing DALL-E, my husband and I created a public artwork undertaking for the Metropolis of LA, which is up indefinitely at Angels Flight in Downtown LA, referred to as Angels in LA. We initially generated the imagery utilizing Dall-E. Nonetheless, as Midjourney AI surpassed Dall-E, we switched to Midjourney.
Anna Leighton is Prime 10 winner together with her Magical Thriller Core Assortment – AI Style Week Season 1 (Picture Credit score: Anna Leighton)
Francesca: How did you grow to be concerned in AI Style Week?
Anna: Via The Fabricant,I discovered in regards to the first AI Style Week (April 2023). I needed to give them some concepts, get permitted, construct my assortment after which get folks to vote on my assortment. I did that for each AIFW Season 1 and a couple of. For AI Style Week Season 1, the designs from my Magical Thriller Core Assortment made the Prime 10.
Anna Leighton’ s Annatarian Harmonia Assortment – Makes Prime 20 at AI Style Week Season 2 (Picture Credit score: Anna Leighton)
Anna: After which for AI FW Season 2- they modified the rating to Prime 20, from Prime 10, and my Annatarian Harmonia Assortment made it once more.
Impressed by the power and charm of feminine athletes, Anna blended couture vogue with the spirit of ladies’s basketball. (Picture Credit score: Anna Leighton)
Francesca: Are you able to talk about how vital having ‘hands-on’ design abilities is when creating AI vogue?
Anna: Whereas it’s very interesting to do sci-fi and issues that may’t exist, as a result of the place else are you able to do this however in AI? Nonetheless, I actually wished to see these collections come to life. Due to this fact, my vogue design abilities and data are crucial to the method. I’d like to have an opportunity to being the subsequent designer at Chanel. I’m additionally impressed by my mother who was a giant classic individual within the 80s, and my grandmother, who’s 99 and as soon as labored for Mr. Blackwell and Travilla as a pattern maker and is a stickler for stitching correctly. I really like draping and I really like textiles and hand stitching. All of that’s vital to me. When working with 3D designers on numerous tasks the place they had been utilizing CLO 3D and had been good at placing it collectively however didn’t know the drape and development usually it might be a bit “off”. I wasn’t as skilled on that software program, however I used to be in a position to say, “I believe it is advisable to curve that line proper there on the sample to get it to drape this manner,” and it might work out.
Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Means We Make Issues- a e-book by by Michael Braungart & William McDonough
Francesca:Are you able to describe your inspiration for creating AI vogue?
Anna: I contemplated how I had began my Annatarian costume assortment in 2001, when 911 occurred, and my jewellery line Peace, Love Earth in 2004. I mirrored on my time working within the vogue trade, which had its highs and lows. I bought to journey fairly a bit, however I additionally bought to see how issues had been manufactured and wasn’t very comfy it. What we do to nations, how issues get recycled, and the way polluting the style trade actually is. I’m extra centered on inventive design than conventional profession paths. As soon as I learn Cradle to Cradle by Michael Braungart and William McDonough and met William McDonough, I spotted that I wished to create that sort of vogue – utilizing the ideology that uncooked supplies are usually not thrown away [from cradle to grave] however are reused indefinitely or function “meals” for brand spanking new merchandise. Incorporating eco-effective design rules, I usually use textiles and jewellery collected from my travels to Egypt, Armenia, Europe, China and Thailand because the story behind my design ideas.
A glance from Annatarian’s AI Style Week Season 2 Harmonia Assortment utilizing DALL-E. (Photograph Credit score: AI Style Week)
Francesca: Are you able to describe the design idea in your AI Style Week Season 2 assortment?
I began with an idea. For instance, I had simply gone to Athens, Greece and noticed graffiti all over the place, juxtaposed towards historic partitions. It was so lovely and engaging to me. On the similar time, the disaster in Ukraine and Israel-Gaza was happening. After I began engaged on the Harmonia assortment, it was about bringing within the textiles that I had collected in my travels and placing tales collectively and including the runway with a background of Athens. And what I did with Annatarian was put tales collectively like making peace inside a costume. I’d mix materials from combining cultures that had been in battle and make peace. So, the costume above had a narrative.
A glance from Annatarian’s AI Style Week Season 2 Harmonia Assortment
Francesca: Are you able to talk about the technical course of for creating an AI vogue piece?
Anna: For the Annatarian costume assortment, I began by manually inputting particular parameters into the AI, (DALL-E and Secure Diffusion for the face), comparable to colour schemes, mannequin varieties – what sort of mannequin, my textiles, my Athens location photographs, lighting, digital camera angle and design types. There are constructive prompts, unfavorable prompts, picture inputs, and a lot extra. These parameters information the AI in producing the preliminary design. And, like ChatGPT, I refine it.
For me, from the primary day, I’ve actually been in a position to communicate to AI in a means that could be very pure to me and jogs my memory of after I used to journey to totally different nations and they might say, “I actually perceive your English, however when so and so speaks, I can’t perceive them.” So, possibly I perceive how AI thinks or what it will probably perceive and so possibly that’s it.
Annatarian- Shirt & Pant from AI Style Week Season 2 Harmonia Assortment (Picture Credit score: Anna Leighton)
Francesca: Is there a lot tweaking in AI for a selected design undertaking?
Anna: Sure, typically I’ll make a spreadsheet to maintain observe of what inputs labored and what didn’t. I am going by way of a number of iterations to tweak and refine it. Sure, typically hundreds-to ensure the design aligns with my private aesthetic. Usually, the AI-generated designs don’t match my model initially, so I spend a major period of time refining the prompts and making changes till the design really displays my imaginative and prescient and model. I will even go into Photoshop to regulate colours, tweak the design, and even change the mannequin’s face.
My alter ego – a woke cowboy named Dusty Trials, got here to me in a dream. I created a track and it took me 160 tries. I made it utilizing AI out there on iTunes https://music.apple.com/us/album/boy-lost-in-queens/1749932341?i=1749932342 and Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/observe/5hsxYJyeNykLPvMDHHakNl?si=dc13868fa9c6493d. I’m at present making a Dusty Trials music video.
Francesca: Are these AI generator instruments costly and are they Mac and PC suitable?
Anna: I take advantage of each my PC and my Mac to create AI content material. Secure Diffusion is free, and I take advantage of it and my VR headset on my PC. I take advantage of Midjourney on my Mac and it’s roughly $30 a month. I additionally use DALL-E on my Mac, which is now inside ChatGPT, and I pay $20 monthly .
Anna Leighton’s Annatarian Magical Thriller Core – AI Style Week Season 1 (Picture Credit score: Anna Leighton)
Francesca: What sort of data base do it is advisable to create AI-inspired vogue?
Anna: You want be laptop savvy and have persistence. Figuring out applications like Adobe Photoshop, have a background in vogue design & costume historical past, and possess expertise & a style degree assist so much.
Francesca: Will you be creating extra content material for AI Style Week – Season 3?
Anna: Sure. I wish to create designs that may be simply produced and bought. This subsequent time I’ll do one thing that’s not as complicated and due to this fact not so costly to provide.
Francesca: Will AI-generated patterns be subsequent?
Anna: Sure, it’s solely a matter of time.
Francesca: What’s subsequent in your horizon?
Anna: I’m enthusiastic about designing for a serious vogue home. Moreover, I’m excited to be creating an AI vogue design lesson sequence for the College of Style. I’m obsessed with exploring the intersection of expertise and creativity, and these tasks permit me to push the boundaries of what’s attainable in vogue design. Sustainability is a key focus for me, and I combine eco-effective design rules into my work, creating vogue that not solely sustains but in addition provides again, makes a distinction, and transforms the trade.
So inform us, how excited are you to learn to create AI vogue?
