Lynn Zhang

As artificial intelligence rapidly enters the creative industries, fashion design faces a critical dilemma: AI tools can generate full collections with speed and visual coherence, yet they lack the material sensitivity, fit logic, and cultural intuition that define good design. This raises urgent questions about authorship, originality, and the evolving role of the human designer.

By intentionally using AI to generate every stage of my fashion thesis—from concept to pattern to visualization—I aim to uncover not only its creative potential but its structural limitations, arguing that a designer’s role is shifting from craftsperson to curator, strategist, and critical problem solver in an AI-mediated workflow.

ChatGPT – concept thinking, outline, research prompts

Midjourney/DALL·E – visual development and moodboards

LACK OF CONSTRUCTION LOGIC

NO BACK VIEWS OR OPENINGS

NO UNDERSTANDING OF FABRIC DRAPE OR WEIGHT

NEEDED DARTS/PANELS, TAILROING MANUALLY ADDED

“Everything in blue on these garments is what I had to fix. That’s where I stepped back in.”

AI-generated backgrounds:
Created synthetic, surreal, or glitch-style environments to support the narrative of machine-influenced design
→ Tools: DALL·E, Midjourney, Adobe Firefly, Adobe Photoshop

Prompted overlays and visual UI artifacts:
Used AI to generate terminal prompts, faux-interface frames, scanlines, and digital “errors” that overlay onto garments
→ These elements emphasize authorship blur, simulation, and machine aesthetics