Home Tech Would you let AI choose your outfit?

Would you let AI choose your outfit?

0 comments
Would you let AI choose your outfit?

METROMy friend walks into the town hall, the scene of my son’s third birthday party, with a mix of panic and disbelief on his face. “I didn’t realize we were dressing up,” he says, taking in my outfit. I feel myself blushing. I’m wearing a mint green tulle midi dress with sheer sleeves that puff out precociously and a tiered skirt that puffs out so much that it makes me look like Quality Street or a three-year-old on her own birthday. party. If I’m being completely honest, it’s not the most practical outfit for serving chocolate cake to 18 sticky-handed toddlers but, as I told my friend, keen to dispel any confusion, the avant-garde style wasn’t actually My Choice: It was that of AI.

I love extravagant clothes. Different cuts, unusual fabrics, bold colors, exciting textures. My closet is my identity, my refuge, my hobby, my happy place. Or at least that’s how it was. Recently, since having my second baby, I have a hard time getting dressed. Paralyzed by choice, I am plagued by decision fatigue every time I approach my (admittedly whiny) closet. With a three-year-old and a six-month-old to contend with as well, the overwhelming situation has joined forces with the lack of time. This morning I was throwing clothes on my body while the youngest was crying out for a nap. The constant plundering of my personal style continues apace, now stained with breast milk and crushed banana.

what i really want, I realize, as I stand naked and panicking in front of the mirror (clock ticking), that he is a personal stylist; Someone to go through my clothes and tell me what to wear when I drop them off at daycare or go out at night (in my dreams) with friends. That’s why I decided to download a design application.

But first I had to choose one. There are several virtual wardrobes on the market, including where, Indyx, combine30 Wears and Good on You, all of which help users gain insight into their wearing habits. In May last year, Whering, which bills itself as a social clothing and styling app, revealed that it had been downloaded 4 million times in the three years since its launch. Other applications, such as style DNA, a closetAI stylist and Aiutauses artificial intelligence to generate outfits from virtual wardrobes. Given that AI has infiltrated countless areas of daily life (and is already being used on a larger scale within the fashion industry to predict upcoming trends), it doesn’t seem like a big leap to outsource to a robot to get dressed each morning. .

Some of these apps create looks by combining what you already have and what’s on the market, mischievously encouraging you to buy more, while others create outfits solely from your wardrobe. Some assess which colors flatter you and one even allows you to try on clothes virtually. Unfortunately, so far no one washes, folds or puts away the clothes they select. But apparently there are benefits to be had, including saving time, money and anguish.

Personal Stylist Michelle Barrett of Capsule Wardrobe Stylist He’s not so sure. Use an app to “do your colors,” he says, and “the apps get different results every time. The algorithm places you in predetermined boxes based on the questions you answer and the forms you fill out. “I think most people stay on the sidelines.” What they need, he says, is to be treated as individuals. The human touch, in other words.

Artificial intelligence expert James Bore is equally skeptical. “The current approach is based on a large amount of source data and AI creates results based on that data. “It is important to note that AI is simply combining thousands of ideas in a way that is statistically plausible.” AI doesn’t understand your appearance or your needs. “Using AI styling apps is a convenient way to reduce individuality and innovation and push everyone to become generic.”

Generic is not for me, that’s for sure. Still, I’m desperate to get out of my routine and reduce the horrible stress of choosing what to wear, so I’m challenging myself to delegate dressing to the AI ​​for a week.

First, I have to digitize my wardrobe. Here’s how it works: You can take photos of your clothes and upload them, or use the search function of your app of choice to find the items online. (I decide from the start that anything I can’t be bothered to upload will go to the charity shop). The application I choose, a closetIt’s free to use up to 100 items and I’m embarrassed by how quickly I reached this limit. I try to include a variety: pants, skirts, tops, sweaters, coats, bags, shoes. I put on some flashy socks, but leave out underwear. It’s quite intoxicating to see my wardrobe digitized (it’s like having my own online store) and I spend time going through the collection of clothes that took me years to create, enjoying seeing old favorites side by side virtually with shiny new pieces.

The app has a number of features, ranging from outfit creation, which requires my input to put together a look from my online wardrobe, to outfit generation, where the AI ​​randomly suggests outfits with slogans like “Just for weather” (the app has a built-in weather forecast) and “Brown Blouse Outfit Ideas”, using the only brown blouse I have. I can also ask the app to “fit” me an outfit based on a number of factors, including occasion (date? Work? Travel? School? Wedding?), location, day of the week, and preference of color.

I soon discover that these factors are not specific enough for my lifestyle. Instead of “date” or “work,” I need “Get the kids flu shots” or “Another day cleaning Weetabix off a high chair.” That’s how I end up, on the first day of the challenge, wearing a voluminous red midi skirt, a burgundy blouse with puffed sleeves, red socks, and silver Mary Jane pumps to a baby class.

I would have felt more comfortable in jeans and Converse, much easier to crawl in, but I decide to do as I’m told and wear the first outfit the AI ​​generates for me. And I don’t hate it. The look is bold, sure, but since I’ve outsourced the decision to a robot, I find that I don’t actually feel self-conscious: the AI ​​is encouraging me to go beyond clothing again, and I like it.

I also like the fact that it takes me less than a minute to get dressed. The system isn’t perfect, of course: the AI ​​(which, presumably, doesn’t feel the cold itself) apparently deems a sweater and coat unnecessary in mid-November, which means I have to add an oversized wool sweater. size and a leopard print bomber jacket. jacket myself, but it’s pretty good.

Some of your options work more than others. The long cream satin skirt paired with my fuchsia satin shirt, an oversized beige sweater, and pink platform Converse have me dancing in front of the mirror. But the striped rugby top, which I usually wear with the tulle skirt to balance its sporty nature, is combined with plain jeans and practical sneakers: a perfectly respectable look, but too “Soccer Mom” for my taste.

However, the mistakes are just as valuable as the successes, and both help me reevaluate (and rediscover) what I enjoy using. And while it would be great if you could be more specific about daily plans, sometimes I like the app’s broad brush strokes. I am secretly happy, for example, when, for my son’s birthday party, he chooses the best of all my party dresses; one that I wouldn’t have had the courage to wear without a virtual nudge, but one that I thoroughly enjoy showing off during the day.

In fact, I like the app so much that I intend to continue using it once the week is over. Then, the Monday after the experiment, my three-year-old son comes down with an illness. As I frantically search for a container to vomit into, with the baby on my hip and the porridge stuck in my hair, I realize that there are many things in life that I would like to outsource to AI. That day I opt for pajamas, taken from the back of the drawer and certainly not chosen by an app.

Curiously, despite my intentions, I have not returned, although I have not panicked, naked, in front of the mirror while a pile of clothes on the bed wobbles. It’s like a week of AI dressing has activated something inside me. My sense of personal style, perhaps, was rekindled after months of inactivity.

Far from overwriting my individuality, each AI-generated outfit had essential meaning. me-ness that runs through him like a thread, born, as it was, from my wardrobe. Maybe that’s why people didn’t realize that my outfits that week weren’t selected by me. While one friend was taken aback by my choice of dress for a children’s birthday party, others didn’t even bat an eye, with one even saying afterwards: “I thought it was such a ‘you’ outfit.”

You may also like