At TIME100 Impact Dinner, Leaders Discuss AI and the Future of Fashion

On Wednesday, business, arts, fashion and technology leaders gathered on the 102nd floor of One World Trade Center in New York City for the TIME100 dinner. The event centered around a panel moderated by TIME editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs that discussed how artificial intelligence could shape the future of fashion, especially from a consumer perspective.

The panelists included David Lauren, director of branding and innovation at Ralph Lauren, which sponsored the event; Shelley Bransten, corporate vice president of global industry solutions at Microsoft, who also sponsored the event; both artist and researcher Sogwen Chungwho founded Scilicet, a studio exploring collaboration between humans and non-humans.

In September, Ralph Lauren (in partnership with Microsoft) released “Ask Ralph”, which it bills as “conversational shopping powered by artificial intelligence.” The AI ​​tool built into the Ralph Lauren mobile app provides customers with stylistic inspiration by creating “shoppable visual mockups of ready-to-wear outfits, personalized based on user prompts, from all available inventory.” This is one example of a growing trend among businesses to use AI to offer consumers personalized experiences.

“Technology for technology's sake is a fool's errand,” said Brunsten, who worked with Ralph Lauren to develop Ask Ralph. “The most important thing was the partnership,” she said. Microsoft and Ralph Lauren first collaborated 25 years ago, launching one of the industry's first e-commerce platforms. Even then, the focus was on how the digital experience could recreate what makes a physical store special. Bransten recalls a meeting with David and Ralph Lauren at the time, prepared with the help of slides. She remembers them saying, “We're going to take you to our store and you're going to meet our sales people, you're going to watch our customers shop, and you're going to get a feel for our product.” Message: Technology should be used to enhance brand experience, not as an end in itself.

“When we started, we realized that it was the experience inside the store that made it special,” David Lauren told TIME at the event. “Clothes are just clothes. We're trying to create a film, an experience of how you wear clothes, a context in which you wear clothes, a world that inspires you.” To create that online context, Lauren says they turn to voices and stories. “So when you read about a pair of old jeans, there's a story about an old barn that maybe inspired us to create those jeans. And when you read about this woman's look, maybe there's an interview with a celebrity or a personality who literally relives the story that inspired us,” he said.

For Lauren, the idea for the current artificial intelligence tool began 25 years ago. “This has happened several times over the years, but we have finally found the right marriage with the right technology to make the age-old question a reality,” he said. “Can technology help you get dressed in the morning? Can you do it in a simple enough way that you don't feel overwhelmed?” Lauren noted that they plan to further develop their artificial intelligence services over time.

Chang offered a broader perspective. “These systems are creative catalysts,” they said. “It's a different way to engage in the creative process of choosing what to wear, expressing yourself. And I think it can start a really interesting dialogue between clients and the model.” For nearly 11 years, Chang has been collaborating with robotic systems of his own creation to better understand and realize his creative potential. “It's a different type of data and technology shaping, but I think it opens up a really important and contemporary conversation about how we get feedback from these systems,” they said, looking at how artificial intelligence systems could be applied to fashion.

For Bransten, who has a background in retail, fashion and corporate technology, Ralph Lauren's clarity of vision set him apart from his peers. She described the Ask Ralph app as “the shot heard 'round the world” that inspired the industry. “I think having a clear vision of what you want to accomplish and the enthusiasm and culture to experiment,” she said, “has made a big difference in the conversation.”