Designers are just as curious and cautious about AI as the rest of us. The new technology has been used at a basic level to make prints and to write at least one press release (Stine Goya). Last season, Collina Strada and Heliot Emil delved deeper and experimented with the technology as a design partner. Now Nehera’s Ladislav Zdút and his team are delving into the subject with an ingenious collection for fall 2024, taking into account the perfect imperfection of both machine and human error.
“In addition to the mind-boggling power of algorithms, there are charming little glitches, sudden existential reflections, accidental poetry and unintentional humor,” the press release reads. As Zdút looked at some of them on Zoom, he made sure to distinguish between what he called the “envelope” of a garment and its functionality. While many pieces “have certain visual twists from the outside,” he explained, “on the inside it fits perfectly.”
Take, for example, the jackets and dresses with four sleeves. They are designed so that you can wear both sets of sleeves, allowing you to let the empty two fly free or tie them together to form a belt. In addition to deconstructed collars, there is one that resembles a shirt cuff. What is described as a patchwork jacket in shades of gray has an asymmetrical inset; it’s what the team imagines AI’s misplacement of pattern pieces might look like. The collection expands on this idea and includes many fabric mixes, both in individual designs, such as an ivory cashmere coat with quilted sleeves (a minimalist’s dream), or several created through layering and styling.
The collection is called Before the Storm, and billowing two-tone knits and speckled tweeds create a visual texture or unrest related to that idea. Yet this is a glass-half-full collection, one intended to reassure both physically (bullet anorak, anyone?) and psychologically. The theme could easily have taken the clothing into surreal territory, but this was avoided with a sleight of hand. This means, for example, that wool twill sleeve scarves do not look disembodied; rather, they seem to embrace the wearer and keep her warm – something no algorithm can achieve.
