Detroit, early 1980s. Three lads from the suburbs – Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson – began sampling the sounds of derelict factories and looping them: techno was born. Forty years on, that same gesture returns to the catwalk.
At the first AI Fashion Show organised by Expo Riva Schuh and Gardabags – staged for the 105th edition last June – the sounds of mechanical arms, lasers, gears and conveyor belts were sampled and looped like a drum machine, creating an industrial soundtrack to accompany the entire show. The noise of a factory becomes a beat. The mechanical movement becomes rhythm. The factory becomes the catwalk. Technology, automation, robotics and artificial intelligence are interpreted as an opportunity to celebrate human creativity, to amplify the power of reality and of the products (shoes and bags) that we will buy and wear every day.
The fashion show was generated entirely using artificial intelligence. Three LED walls – fifteen metres wide and four metres high – projected three different views of the same virtual catwalk, with close-ups of the products, which were the true stars of the show. The models: digital boys and girls, with ‘perfect, invented, impossible’ identities, born in an imaginary factory made of lasers, cogs and robots. But creativity remains where it belongs: in the selection of real shoes and bags – those brought to the fair by exhibitors ahead of the upcoming S/S 2027 season – which visitors could touch and feel as they wandered through the halls. It lies in the materials, the stitching and the details that no algorithm can replicate.
«AI fashion shows are a tool – says Alessandra Albarelli, General Manager of Riva del Garda Fierecongressi. They have served to showcase, in a fresh and innovative way, our exhibitors’ products and their ability to interpret taste and the market. Technology amplifies what already exists: the real quality of those who produce shoes and bags every day.»
So, no dystopian interpretation of AI. And no cold, impersonal future. Artificial intelligence does not replace: it brings ideas and products to the fore and enhances them. It leaves the perfection of atmospheres and staging to the digital realm, whilst restoring the value of uniqueness to the real world. Like Detroit techno: born of machines, but crafted by those with the sensitivity to transform noise into music.
Once again, Expo Riva Schuh and Gardabags are looking ahead to guide the footwear and handbag sector towards a future in which the focus is increasingly on craftsmanship.
