After Vogue Singapore cover, will AI models put human ones out of jobs? Experts are divided
- Vogue Singapore’s March issue cover shoot was modelled entirely by three different AI-created Southeast Asian women
- The industry is divided on what it means for fashion, with some believing budget decisions will see human models used less and less
When we look at glossy fashion magazine covers, we typically see windswept shots of models, celebrities or high-profile actors. Now, that list includes AI-generated models.
Vogue Singapore’s March issue cover shoot was modelled entirely by AI-generated avatars. It’s the first cover from the title’s new editor-in-chief, Desmond Lim, and one of the first times AI models have graced the cover of a world-renowned fashion bible.
As Lim explains in an article, the move was the brainchild of Varun Gupta, the creative director of Indian content agency We Create Films. The AI avatars on Vogue’s cover were meant to “pay homage to innovation and tradition”, Lim writes; in featuring three different AI-created Southeast Asian women, the result represents “their unique ethnicity and heritage”.
Named Aadhya, Faye and Melur, the avatars were inspired by images of Southeast Asian women from the early 1900s. On one cover, we see a smiling woman wearing a maang tikka, a piece of jewellery typically worn by Indian women on their foreheads.
The covers were made with AI imaging tools including Midjourney and Dall-E – in June 2022, the latter was credited with creating the world’s first AI-designed magazine cover for Cosmopolitan, featuring an astronaut on a moonscape.
