[{"year":"2025","issue":"2","quality_controlled":"1","title":"Possible Fashion Images: Operative Ekphrasis and the Reduction of Fashion Through Multimodal AI","date_created":"2025-07-31T12:24:29Z","file":[{"date_created":"2025-11-15T19:31:45Z","creator":"chbr8","date_updated":"2025-11-15T19:31:45Z","file_id":"62210","access_level":"closed","file_name":"10.14531614-0885-2-2025-16663.pdf","file_size":982100,"content_type":"application/pdf","relation":"main_file","success":1}],"abstract":[{"lang":"eng","text":"With the rise of multimodal AI tools, such as DALL-E, Midjourney, or Stable\r\nDiffusion, it has never been easier and faster to produce compelling fashion\r\nimages. While the proliferation of AI-generated fashion images can be\r\nseen as the ultimate triumph of the fashion image over both fashion text\r\nand fashionable garments, this paper critically examines how these images\r\nare produced, what exactly they show, and ultimately, how this impacts our\r\nunderstanding of fashion. Building on current research on multimodal AI,\r\nspecifically text-to-image models, I argue that AI-generated fashion images\r\nare produced through textual means, that is, through “operative ekphrasis”\r\n(Bajohr 2024: 83). This means that the generation of fashion images created\r\nvia multimodal AI is based on textual prompts that extract statistically\r\nprobable images from a latent space, which, in turn, is the result of previously\r\nindexed and labeled image-text pairs. Because the indexing of images\r\nrequires a reduction of complexity, images generated through multimodal\r\nAI are often generic. In the case of fashion images, this is reflected in the lack\r\nof texture and the reproduction of fashion photography’s conventions. As\r\nfashion photography is not necessarily a representation of ‘the world’ or even\r\nfashionable garments, it resembles AI-generated images more than other photographic\r\ngenres. AI-generated fashion images are then not images of fashionable\r\ngarments, but images about fashion images—a statistically probable permutation\r\nof fashion photographs from the past (cf. Meyer 2023: 108). As such,\r\nAI-generated fashion images are not only the product of a mediated collective\r\nimaginary but also feed back into it. The view on fashion shaped by AI-generated\r\nfashion images is then based on reduction and stylized normativity."}],"publication":"Image: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Image Sciences","language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"ddc":["770"],"citation":{"ama":"Brachtendorf C. Possible Fashion Images: Operative Ekphrasis and the Reduction of Fashion Through Multimodal AI. <i>Image: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Image Sciences</i>. 2025;42(2):155-168. doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1453/1614-0885-2-2025-16663\">10.1453/1614-0885-2-2025-16663</a>","ieee":"C. Brachtendorf, “Possible Fashion Images: Operative Ekphrasis and the Reduction of Fashion Through Multimodal AI,” <i>Image: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Image Sciences</i>, vol. 42, no. 2, pp. 155–168, 2025, doi: <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1453/1614-0885-2-2025-16663\">10.1453/1614-0885-2-2025-16663</a>.","chicago":"Brachtendorf, Charlotte. “Possible Fashion Images: Operative Ekphrasis and the Reduction of Fashion Through Multimodal AI.” <i>Image: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Image Sciences</i> 42, no. 2 (2025): 155–68. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1453/1614-0885-2-2025-16663\">https://doi.org/10.1453/1614-0885-2-2025-16663</a>.","apa":"Brachtendorf, C. (2025). Possible Fashion Images: Operative Ekphrasis and the Reduction of Fashion Through Multimodal AI. <i>Image: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Image Sciences</i>, <i>42</i>(2), 155–168. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1453/1614-0885-2-2025-16663\">https://doi.org/10.1453/1614-0885-2-2025-16663</a>","short":"C. Brachtendorf, Image: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Image Sciences 42 (2025) 155–168.","bibtex":"@article{Brachtendorf_2025, title={Possible Fashion Images: Operative Ekphrasis and the Reduction of Fashion Through Multimodal AI}, volume={42}, DOI={<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1453/1614-0885-2-2025-16663\">10.1453/1614-0885-2-2025-16663</a>}, number={2}, journal={Image: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Image Sciences}, author={Brachtendorf, Charlotte}, year={2025}, pages={155–168} }","mla":"Brachtendorf, Charlotte. “Possible Fashion Images: Operative Ekphrasis and the Reduction of Fashion Through Multimodal AI.” <i>Image: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Image Sciences</i>, vol. 42, no. 2, 2025, pp. 155–68, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1453/1614-0885-2-2025-16663\">10.1453/1614-0885-2-2025-16663</a>."},"intvolume":"        42","page":"155-168","publication_status":"published","publication_identifier":{"issn":["1614-0885"]},"has_accepted_license":"1","main_file_link":[{"open_access":"1","url":"https://image-journal.de/possible-fashion-images-operative-ekphrasis-and-the-reduction-of-fashion-through-multimodal-ai/"}],"doi":"10.1453/1614-0885-2-2025-16663","author":[{"first_name":"Charlotte","orcid":"0000-0001-5739-933X","last_name":"Brachtendorf","id":"95414","full_name":"Brachtendorf, Charlotte"}],"volume":42,"oa":"1","date_updated":"2025-11-15T19:35:14Z","status":"public","type":"journal_article","file_date_updated":"2025-11-15T19:31:45Z","article_type":"original","user_id":"95414","_id":"60847"},{"type":"journal_article","status":"public","_id":"60849","user_id":"95414","file_date_updated":"2025-07-31T12:26:35Z","publication_status":"published","has_accepted_license":"1","publication_identifier":{"unknown":["1124-3724"]},"citation":{"short":"C. Brachtendorf, Annali. Sezione germanica 34 (2024) 221–246.","bibtex":"@article{Brachtendorf_2024, title={Zwischen Ästhetik und Funktion. Begriffstheoretische Perspektiven auf digitale Mode}, volume={34}, journal={Annali. Sezione germanica}, author={Brachtendorf, Charlotte}, year={2024}, pages={221–246} }","mla":"Brachtendorf, Charlotte. “Zwischen Ästhetik und Funktion. Begriffstheoretische Perspektiven auf digitale Mode.” <i>Annali. Sezione germanica</i>, vol. 34, 2024, pp. 221–46.","apa":"Brachtendorf, C. (2024). Zwischen Ästhetik und Funktion. Begriffstheoretische Perspektiven auf digitale Mode. <i>Annali. Sezione germanica</i>, <i>34</i>, 221–246.","ama":"Brachtendorf C. Zwischen Ästhetik und Funktion. Begriffstheoretische Perspektiven auf digitale Mode. <i>Annali Sezione germanica</i>. 2024;34:221-246.","ieee":"C. Brachtendorf, “Zwischen Ästhetik und Funktion. Begriffstheoretische Perspektiven auf digitale Mode,” <i>Annali. Sezione germanica</i>, vol. 34, pp. 221–246, 2024.","chicago":"Brachtendorf, Charlotte. “Zwischen Ästhetik und Funktion. Begriffstheoretische Perspektiven auf digitale Mode.” <i>Annali. Sezione germanica</i> 34 (2024): 221–46."},"intvolume":"        34","page":"221-246","oa":"1","date_updated":"2025-11-15T19:35:32Z","author":[{"id":"95414","full_name":"Brachtendorf, Charlotte","last_name":"Brachtendorf","orcid":"0000-0001-5739-933X","first_name":"Charlotte"}],"volume":34,"main_file_link":[{"open_access":"1"}],"publication":"Annali. Sezione germanica","file":[{"file_size":1892054,"file_id":"60850","file_name":"10+-+;+34+(2024)+Brachtendorf.pdf","access_level":"closed","date_updated":"2025-07-31T12:26:35Z","date_created":"2025-07-31T12:26:35Z","creator":"chbr8","success":1,"relation":"main_file","content_type":"application/pdf"}],"ddc":["300"],"language":[{"iso":"ger"}],"year":"2024","date_created":"2025-07-31T12:27:50Z","title":"Zwischen Ästhetik und Funktion. Begriffstheoretische Perspektiven auf digitale Mode"},{"title":"Materialitäten virtueller Mode: das Fallbeispiel The Fabricant","date_created":"2023-10-25T07:22:13Z","year":"2023","ddc":["770"],"language":[{"iso":"ger"}],"abstract":[{"lang":"eng","text":"Virtual fashion, meaning clothes that exist not as physical textile objects but rather as files is gaining popularity.\r\nThe Fabricant, a digital-only fashion label from Amsterdam is particularly famous for its creations. Within the fashion industry, virtual fashion is taken as a pioneering innovation that can solve problems such as lacking sustainability and unrealistic bodily ideals precisely because it is understood as immaterial. In contrast, this paper argues that virtual fashion is in fact a material phenomenon. For example, to be perceptible to humans in the first place, virtual fashion\r\ndepends upon various technologies and devices. These devices are themselves subject to specific non-sustainable\r\nproduction processes. Virtual fashion can further be understood as material insofar that it is almost indistinguishable from other mediatized representations of physical fashion. Lastly, just like its physical counterpart, virtual fashion is bound to human bodies and largely adheres to existing bodily ideals."},{"text":"Virtuelle Mode – also Kleider, die als Datei und nicht als physisch-textiles Objekt existieren – gewinnen zunehmend an Popularität. Besonders das Amsterdamer Modelabel The Fabricant ist für seine virtuellen Entwürfe bekannt. In der Modeindustrie wird virtuelle Mode dabei als Innovation gehandelt, die qua ihrer vermeintlichen Immaterialität Probleme wie mangelnde Nachhaltigkeit oder normative Schönheitsideale zu lösen vermag. Dieser Beitrag hingegen argumentiert, dass es sich auch bei virtueller Mode um ein materielles Phänomen handelt. Um überhaupt erst zur Erscheinung zu kommen, ist virtuelle Mode beispielsweise auf technisch-mediale Dispositive angewiesen. Die hier verwendeten Geräte unterliegen ihrerseits spezifischen Produktionsbedingungen, die meist nicht weniger umweltbelastend sind. Virtuelle Mode kann außerdem insofern materiell verstanden werden, als dass sie sich in ihrer ästhetischen Wahrnehmung kaum von medialisierten Darstellungen physischer Mode unterscheiden lässt. Schließlich ist virtuelle Mode – genau wie ihr physisches Gegenstück – an menschliche Körperlichkeit gebunden und bedient oftmals bestehende Körperideale.","lang":"ger"}],"file":[{"file_name":"nmt-22_09_Behrmann-Brachem-Brachtendorf.pdf","file_id":"59857","access_level":"closed","file_size":560791,"date_created":"2025-05-10T17:58:48Z","creator":"chbr8","date_updated":"2025-05-10T17:58:48Z","relation":"main_file","success":1,"content_type":"application/pdf"}],"publication":"Jahrbuch Netzwerk Mode Textil","main_file_link":[{"open_access":"1"}],"doi":"https://doi.org/10.53193/221421485G","date_updated":"2025-11-15T19:35:57Z","oa":"1","author":[{"orcid":"0000-0001-5739-933X","last_name":"Brachtendorf","id":"95414","full_name":"Brachtendorf, Charlotte","first_name":"Charlotte"},{"first_name":"Helga","last_name":"Behrmann","full_name":"Behrmann, Helga"},{"first_name":"Judith","full_name":"Brachem, Judith","last_name":"Brachem"}],"volume":2022,"citation":{"apa":"Brachtendorf, C., Behrmann, H., &#38; Brachem, J. (2023). Materialitäten virtueller Mode: das Fallbeispiel The Fabricant. <i>Jahrbuch Netzwerk Mode Textil</i>, <i>2022</i>, 95–103. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.53193/221421485G\">https://doi.org/10.53193/221421485G</a>","short":"C. Brachtendorf, H. Behrmann, J. Brachem, Jahrbuch Netzwerk Mode Textil 2022 (2023) 95–103.","mla":"Brachtendorf, Charlotte, et al. “Materialitäten virtueller Mode: das Fallbeispiel The Fabricant.” <i>Jahrbuch Netzwerk Mode Textil</i>, vol. 2022, 2023, pp. 95–103, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.53193/221421485G\">https://doi.org/10.53193/221421485G</a>.","bibtex":"@article{Brachtendorf_Behrmann_Brachem_2023, title={Materialitäten virtueller Mode: das Fallbeispiel The Fabricant}, volume={2022}, DOI={<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.53193/221421485G\">https://doi.org/10.53193/221421485G</a>}, journal={Jahrbuch Netzwerk Mode Textil}, author={Brachtendorf, Charlotte and Behrmann, Helga and Brachem, Judith}, year={2023}, pages={95–103} }","ama":"Brachtendorf C, Behrmann H, Brachem J. Materialitäten virtueller Mode: das Fallbeispiel The Fabricant. <i>Jahrbuch Netzwerk Mode Textil</i>. 2023;2022:95-103. doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.53193/221421485G\">https://doi.org/10.53193/221421485G</a>","ieee":"C. Brachtendorf, H. Behrmann, and J. Brachem, “Materialitäten virtueller Mode: das Fallbeispiel The Fabricant,” <i>Jahrbuch Netzwerk Mode Textil</i>, vol. 2022, pp. 95–103, 2023, doi: <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.53193/221421485G\">https://doi.org/10.53193/221421485G</a>.","chicago":"Brachtendorf, Charlotte, Helga Behrmann, and Judith Brachem. “Materialitäten virtueller Mode: das Fallbeispiel The Fabricant.” <i>Jahrbuch Netzwerk Mode Textil</i> 2022 (2023): 95–103. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.53193/221421485G\">https://doi.org/10.53193/221421485G</a>."},"page":"95-103","intvolume":"      2022","publication_status":"published","has_accepted_license":"1","article_type":"original","extern":"1","file_date_updated":"2025-05-10T17:58:48Z","_id":"48440","user_id":"95414","department":[{"_id":"434"}],"status":"public","type":"journal_article"},{"language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"alternative_title":["Rezension zu: M. Haller/T. Helmers/S. Mallon (Hg.) (2020): Der Tod und das Ding. Textile Materialitäten im Kontext von Vergänglichkeit, Jahrbuch für Tod und Gesellschaft 2023: 187-190."],"_id":"48728","department":[{"_id":"434"}],"user_id":"95414","status":"public","type":"misc","title":"Auf Tuchfühlung mit dem Tod.","main_file_link":[{"open_access":"1"}],"oa":"1","date_updated":"2025-11-15T19:35:43Z","date_created":"2023-11-09T08:02:12Z","author":[{"first_name":"Charlotte","orcid":"0000-0001-5739-933X","last_name":"Brachtendorf","id":"95414","full_name":"Brachtendorf, Charlotte"}],"year":"2023","citation":{"apa":"Brachtendorf, C. (2023). <i>Auf Tuchfühlung mit dem Tod.</i>","short":"C. Brachtendorf, Auf Tuchfühlung Mit Dem Tod., 2023.","bibtex":"@book{Brachtendorf_2023, title={Auf Tuchfühlung mit dem Tod.}, author={Brachtendorf, Charlotte}, year={2023} }","mla":"Brachtendorf, Charlotte. <i>Auf Tuchfühlung Mit Dem Tod.</i> 2023.","ieee":"C. Brachtendorf, <i>Auf Tuchfühlung mit dem Tod.</i> 2023.","chicago":"Brachtendorf, Charlotte. <i>Auf Tuchfühlung Mit Dem Tod.</i>, 2023.","ama":"Brachtendorf C. <i>Auf Tuchfühlung Mit Dem Tod.</i>; 2023."}},{"publication_identifier":{"eissn":["2050-0734"]},"year":"2022","intvolume":"         4","page":"483-499","citation":{"ama":"Brachtendorf C. Lil Miquela in the Folds of Fashion: (Ad-)Dressing Virtual Influencers. <i>Fashion, Style &#38; Popular Culture 9</i>. 2022;4:483-499. doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1386/fspc_00157_1\">10.1386/fspc_00157_1</a>","ieee":"C. Brachtendorf, “Lil Miquela in the Folds of Fashion: (Ad-)Dressing Virtual Influencers,” <i>Fashion, Style &#38; Popular Culture 9</i>, vol. 4, pp. 483–499, 2022, doi: <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1386/fspc_00157_1\">10.1386/fspc_00157_1</a>.","chicago":"Brachtendorf, Charlotte. “Lil Miquela in the Folds of Fashion: (Ad-)Dressing Virtual Influencers.” <i>Fashion, Style &#38; Popular Culture 9</i> 4 (2022): 483–99. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1386/fspc_00157_1\">https://doi.org/10.1386/fspc_00157_1</a>.","mla":"Brachtendorf, Charlotte. “Lil Miquela in the Folds of Fashion: (Ad-)Dressing Virtual Influencers.” <i>Fashion, Style &#38; Popular Culture 9</i>, vol. 4, 2022, pp. 483–99, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1386/fspc_00157_1\">10.1386/fspc_00157_1</a>.","short":"C. Brachtendorf, Fashion, Style &#38; Popular Culture 9 4 (2022) 483–499.","bibtex":"@article{Brachtendorf_2022, title={Lil Miquela in the Folds of Fashion: (Ad-)Dressing Virtual Influencers}, volume={4}, DOI={<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1386/fspc_00157_1\">10.1386/fspc_00157_1</a>}, journal={Fashion, Style &#38; Popular Culture 9}, author={Brachtendorf, Charlotte}, year={2022}, pages={483–499} }","apa":"Brachtendorf, C. (2022). Lil Miquela in the Folds of Fashion: (Ad-)Dressing Virtual Influencers. <i>Fashion, Style &#38; Popular Culture 9</i>, <i>4</i>, 483–499. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1386/fspc_00157_1\">https://doi.org/10.1386/fspc_00157_1</a>"},"date_updated":"2023-11-08T15:21:04Z","volume":4,"date_created":"2023-10-24T13:15:19Z","author":[{"last_name":"Brachtendorf","id":"95414","full_name":"Brachtendorf, Charlotte","first_name":"Charlotte"}],"title":"Lil Miquela in the Folds of Fashion: (Ad-)Dressing Virtual Influencers","doi":"10.1386/fspc_00157_1","publication":"Fashion, Style & Popular Culture 9","type":"journal_article","status":"public","_id":"48429","department":[{"_id":"434"}],"user_id":"14931","language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"extern":"1"}]