---
_id: '60847'
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."
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Charlotte
full_name: Brachtendorf, Charlotte
id: '95414'
last_name: Brachtendorf
orcid: 0000-0001-5739-933X
citation:
ama: 'Brachtendorf C. Possible Fashion Images: Operative Ekphrasis and the Reduction
of Fashion Through Multimodal AI. Image: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Image
Sciences. 2025;42(2):155-168. doi:10.1453/1614-0885-2-2025-16663'
apa: 'Brachtendorf, C. (2025). Possible Fashion Images: Operative Ekphrasis and
the Reduction of Fashion Through Multimodal AI. Image: The Interdisciplinary
Journal of Image Sciences, 42(2), 155–168. https://doi.org/10.1453/1614-0885-2-2025-16663'
bibtex: '@article{Brachtendorf_2025, title={Possible Fashion Images: Operative Ekphrasis
and the Reduction of Fashion Through Multimodal AI}, volume={42}, DOI={10.1453/1614-0885-2-2025-16663},
number={2}, journal={Image: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Image Sciences},
author={Brachtendorf, Charlotte}, year={2025}, pages={155–168} }'
chicago: 'Brachtendorf, Charlotte. “Possible Fashion Images: Operative Ekphrasis
and the Reduction of Fashion Through Multimodal AI.” Image: The Interdisciplinary
Journal of Image Sciences 42, no. 2 (2025): 155–68. https://doi.org/10.1453/1614-0885-2-2025-16663.'
ieee: 'C. Brachtendorf, “Possible Fashion Images: Operative Ekphrasis and the Reduction
of Fashion Through Multimodal AI,” Image: The Interdisciplinary Journal of
Image Sciences, vol. 42, no. 2, pp. 155–168, 2025, doi: 10.1453/1614-0885-2-2025-16663.'
mla: 'Brachtendorf, Charlotte. “Possible Fashion Images: Operative Ekphrasis and
the Reduction of Fashion Through Multimodal AI.” Image: The Interdisciplinary
Journal of Image Sciences, vol. 42, no. 2, 2025, pp. 155–68, doi:10.1453/1614-0885-2-2025-16663.'
short: 'C. Brachtendorf, Image: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Image Sciences
42 (2025) 155–168.'
date_created: 2025-07-31T12:24:29Z
date_updated: 2025-11-15T19:35:14Z
ddc:
- '770'
doi: 10.1453/1614-0885-2-2025-16663
file:
- access_level: closed
content_type: application/pdf
creator: chbr8
date_created: 2025-11-15T19:31:45Z
date_updated: 2025-11-15T19:31:45Z
file_id: '62210'
file_name: 10.14531614-0885-2-2025-16663.pdf
file_size: 982100
relation: main_file
success: 1
file_date_updated: 2025-11-15T19:31:45Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
intvolume: ' 42'
issue: '2'
language:
- iso: eng
main_file_link:
- open_access: '1'
url: https://image-journal.de/possible-fashion-images-operative-ekphrasis-and-the-reduction-of-fashion-through-multimodal-ai/
oa: '1'
page: 155-168
publication: 'Image: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Image Sciences'
publication_identifier:
issn:
- 1614-0885
publication_status: published
quality_controlled: '1'
status: public
title: 'Possible Fashion Images: Operative Ekphrasis and the Reduction of Fashion
Through Multimodal AI'
type: journal_article
user_id: '95414'
volume: 42
year: '2025'
...
---
_id: '60849'
author:
- first_name: Charlotte
full_name: Brachtendorf, Charlotte
id: '95414'
last_name: Brachtendorf
orcid: 0000-0001-5739-933X
citation:
ama: Brachtendorf C. Zwischen Ästhetik und Funktion. Begriffstheoretische Perspektiven
auf digitale Mode. Annali Sezione germanica. 2024;34:221-246.
apa: Brachtendorf, C. (2024). Zwischen Ästhetik und Funktion. Begriffstheoretische
Perspektiven auf digitale Mode. Annali. Sezione germanica, 34, 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} }'
chicago: 'Brachtendorf, Charlotte. “Zwischen Ästhetik und Funktion. Begriffstheoretische
Perspektiven auf digitale Mode.” Annali. Sezione germanica 34 (2024): 221–46.'
ieee: C. Brachtendorf, “Zwischen Ästhetik und Funktion. Begriffstheoretische Perspektiven
auf digitale Mode,” Annali. Sezione germanica, vol. 34, pp. 221–246, 2024.
mla: Brachtendorf, Charlotte. “Zwischen Ästhetik und Funktion. Begriffstheoretische
Perspektiven auf digitale Mode.” Annali. Sezione germanica, vol. 34, 2024,
pp. 221–46.
short: C. Brachtendorf, Annali. Sezione germanica 34 (2024) 221–246.
date_created: 2025-07-31T12:27:50Z
date_updated: 2025-11-15T19:35:32Z
ddc:
- '300'
file:
- access_level: closed
content_type: application/pdf
creator: chbr8
date_created: 2025-07-31T12:26:35Z
date_updated: 2025-07-31T12:26:35Z
file_id: '60850'
file_name: 10+-+;+34+(2024)+Brachtendorf.pdf
file_size: 1892054
relation: main_file
success: 1
file_date_updated: 2025-07-31T12:26:35Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
intvolume: ' 34'
language:
- iso: ger
main_file_link:
- open_access: '1'
oa: '1'
page: 221-246
publication: Annali. Sezione germanica
publication_identifier:
unknown:
- 1124-3724
publication_status: published
status: public
title: Zwischen Ästhetik und Funktion. Begriffstheoretische Perspektiven auf digitale
Mode
type: journal_article
user_id: '95414'
volume: 34
year: '2024'
...
---
_id: '48440'
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."
- lang: ger
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.
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Charlotte
full_name: Brachtendorf, Charlotte
id: '95414'
last_name: Brachtendorf
orcid: 0000-0001-5739-933X
- first_name: Helga
full_name: Behrmann, Helga
last_name: Behrmann
- first_name: Judith
full_name: Brachem, Judith
last_name: Brachem
citation:
ama: 'Brachtendorf C, Behrmann H, Brachem J. Materialitäten virtueller Mode: das
Fallbeispiel The Fabricant. Jahrbuch Netzwerk Mode Textil. 2023;2022:95-103.
doi:https://doi.org/10.53193/221421485G'
apa: 'Brachtendorf, C., Behrmann, H., & Brachem, J. (2023). Materialitäten virtueller
Mode: das Fallbeispiel The Fabricant. Jahrbuch Netzwerk Mode Textil, 2022,
95–103. https://doi.org/10.53193/221421485G'
bibtex: '@article{Brachtendorf_Behrmann_Brachem_2023, title={Materialitäten virtueller
Mode: das Fallbeispiel The Fabricant}, volume={2022}, DOI={https://doi.org/10.53193/221421485G},
journal={Jahrbuch Netzwerk Mode Textil}, author={Brachtendorf, Charlotte and Behrmann,
Helga and Brachem, Judith}, year={2023}, pages={95–103} }'
chicago: 'Brachtendorf, Charlotte, Helga Behrmann, and Judith Brachem. “Materialitäten
virtueller Mode: das Fallbeispiel The Fabricant.” Jahrbuch Netzwerk Mode Textil
2022 (2023): 95–103. https://doi.org/10.53193/221421485G.'
ieee: 'C. Brachtendorf, H. Behrmann, and J. Brachem, “Materialitäten virtueller
Mode: das Fallbeispiel The Fabricant,” Jahrbuch Netzwerk Mode Textil, vol.
2022, pp. 95–103, 2023, doi: https://doi.org/10.53193/221421485G.'
mla: 'Brachtendorf, Charlotte, et al. “Materialitäten virtueller Mode: das Fallbeispiel
The Fabricant.” Jahrbuch Netzwerk Mode Textil, vol. 2022, 2023, pp. 95–103,
doi:https://doi.org/10.53193/221421485G.'
short: C. Brachtendorf, H. Behrmann, J. Brachem, Jahrbuch Netzwerk Mode Textil 2022
(2023) 95–103.
date_created: 2023-10-25T07:22:13Z
date_updated: 2025-11-15T19:35:57Z
ddc:
- '770'
department:
- _id: '434'
doi: https://doi.org/10.53193/221421485G
extern: '1'
file:
- access_level: closed
content_type: application/pdf
creator: chbr8
date_created: 2025-05-10T17:58:48Z
date_updated: 2025-05-10T17:58:48Z
file_id: '59857'
file_name: nmt-22_09_Behrmann-Brachem-Brachtendorf.pdf
file_size: 560791
relation: main_file
success: 1
file_date_updated: 2025-05-10T17:58:48Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
intvolume: ' 2022'
language:
- iso: ger
main_file_link:
- open_access: '1'
oa: '1'
page: 95-103
publication: Jahrbuch Netzwerk Mode Textil
publication_status: published
status: public
title: 'Materialitäten virtueller Mode: das Fallbeispiel The Fabricant'
type: journal_article
user_id: '95414'
volume: 2022
year: '2023'
...
---
_id: '48728'
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.'
author:
- first_name: Charlotte
full_name: Brachtendorf, Charlotte
id: '95414'
last_name: Brachtendorf
orcid: 0000-0001-5739-933X
citation:
ama: Brachtendorf C. Auf Tuchfühlung Mit Dem Tod.; 2023.
apa: Brachtendorf, C. (2023). Auf Tuchfühlung mit dem Tod.
bibtex: '@book{Brachtendorf_2023, title={Auf Tuchfühlung mit dem Tod.}, author={Brachtendorf,
Charlotte}, year={2023} }'
chicago: Brachtendorf, Charlotte. Auf Tuchfühlung Mit Dem Tod., 2023.
ieee: C. Brachtendorf, Auf Tuchfühlung mit dem Tod. 2023.
mla: Brachtendorf, Charlotte. Auf Tuchfühlung Mit Dem Tod. 2023.
short: C. Brachtendorf, Auf Tuchfühlung Mit Dem Tod., 2023.
date_created: 2023-11-09T08:02:12Z
date_updated: 2025-11-15T19:35:43Z
department:
- _id: '434'
language:
- iso: eng
main_file_link:
- open_access: '1'
oa: '1'
status: public
title: Auf Tuchfühlung mit dem Tod.
type: misc
user_id: '95414'
year: '2023'
...
---
_id: '48429'
author:
- first_name: Charlotte
full_name: Brachtendorf, Charlotte
id: '95414'
last_name: Brachtendorf
citation:
ama: 'Brachtendorf C. Lil Miquela in the Folds of Fashion: (Ad-)Dressing Virtual
Influencers. Fashion, Style & Popular Culture 9. 2022;4:483-499. doi:10.1386/fspc_00157_1'
apa: 'Brachtendorf, C. (2022). Lil Miquela in the Folds of Fashion: (Ad-)Dressing
Virtual Influencers. Fashion, Style & Popular Culture 9, 4,
483–499. https://doi.org/10.1386/fspc_00157_1'
bibtex: '@article{Brachtendorf_2022, title={Lil Miquela in the Folds of Fashion:
(Ad-)Dressing Virtual Influencers}, volume={4}, DOI={10.1386/fspc_00157_1},
journal={Fashion, Style & Popular Culture 9}, author={Brachtendorf, Charlotte},
year={2022}, pages={483–499} }'
chicago: 'Brachtendorf, Charlotte. “Lil Miquela in the Folds of Fashion: (Ad-)Dressing
Virtual Influencers.” Fashion, Style & Popular Culture 9 4 (2022):
483–99. https://doi.org/10.1386/fspc_00157_1.'
ieee: 'C. Brachtendorf, “Lil Miquela in the Folds of Fashion: (Ad-)Dressing Virtual
Influencers,” Fashion, Style & Popular Culture 9, vol. 4, pp. 483–499,
2022, doi: 10.1386/fspc_00157_1.'
mla: 'Brachtendorf, Charlotte. “Lil Miquela in the Folds of Fashion: (Ad-)Dressing
Virtual Influencers.” Fashion, Style & Popular Culture 9, vol. 4, 2022,
pp. 483–99, doi:10.1386/fspc_00157_1.'
short: C. Brachtendorf, Fashion, Style & Popular Culture 9 4 (2022) 483–499.
date_created: 2023-10-24T13:15:19Z
date_updated: 2023-11-08T15:21:04Z
department:
- _id: '434'
doi: 10.1386/fspc_00157_1
extern: '1'
intvolume: ' 4'
language:
- iso: eng
page: 483-499
publication: Fashion, Style & Popular Culture 9
publication_identifier:
eissn:
- 2050-0734
status: public
title: 'Lil Miquela in the Folds of Fashion: (Ad-)Dressing Virtual Influencers'
type: journal_article
user_id: '14931'
volume: 4
year: '2022'
...