Against The Algorithm
When luxury sells craftsmanship, should its creativity be any different?
In an era where almost anything can be generated in seconds, human creativity is beginning to feel like a luxury in its own right. And this festive season, two of fashion's biggest houses have found themselves at the centre of a rather interesting conversation about what it means to create.
The Age Of AI Slop:
In our pursuit of faster, easier content, we seem to have lost sight of what makes creativity worth celebrating in the first place.
We have gone from centuries of extraordinary human ingenuity, from painstakingly carved sculptures and architectural masterpieces to intricate paintings and objects that took years to perfect, to an internet increasingly populated by AI-generated fruit videos, uncanny imagery and paragraphs of beautifully arranged words that honestly say so little.
Welcome to the age of AI slop.
What was once a space for creative expression is increasingly becoming a cycle of repetition, imitation and mass production. Endless visuals designed to attract attention, recycled ideas dressed up as innovation and social media posts filled with polished language but remarkably little substance. Of course, technology has always shaped artistic expression. But there is a difference between using new tools to expand creative possibilities and allowing convenience to replace that imagination altogether.
When everything can be generated, originality becomes harder to find. And when we become accustomed to consuming content that requires so little thought to produce, we risk losing our appreciation for the time, skill and curiosity that meaningful creative work demands. More content, more convenience, more noise, but where has the artistry gone?
First, Prada.
Its 2026 holiday campaign, Drawing Prada: Animated by Hand, is a whimsical celebration of such traditional animation. Led by veteran animator John Pomeroy, the campaign places Sadie Sink, Maya Hawke and its other cast members into a beautifully illustrated winter wonderland.
It's nostalgic without feeling dated, imaginative without trying too hard. Most importantly, it feels like somebody actually made it. In choosing such a deliberately traditional medium, Prada has made the creative process just as compelling as the campaign itself.
Then Came Dior.
Its festive film, Christian Dior's Night in Color, directed by Sylvain Chomet, initially appeared to offer much of the same: a charming, hand-illustrated story celebrating the house's heritage and artistic traditions. But the internet had other ideas.
Viewers began questioning whether certain visual inconsistencies suggested the use of generative AI. The speculation quickly gained momentum, prompting a wider discussion about transparency and creative integrity. Chomet and producer Aton Soumache have since denied that generative AI created the artwork, while acknowledging that automated interpolation was used for a small part of the animation process. And perhaps this is where the conversation becomes particularly interesting.
The issue isn't necessarily the technology. It's the relationship between technology and the creative process.
Luxury has spent decades selling us the romance of craftsmanship. The hours behind a couture garment, the precision of a hand-stitched detail, the expertise required to transform an idea into something extraordinary. So why should the advertising be any different? When a brand's identity is built around artistry and human expertise, the creative work surrounding it should surely reflect those same values.
There is a difference between using technology to enhance an artist's vision and allowing efficiency to become the vision itself. And as AI-generated content becomes increasingly commonplace, originality may well become one of the industry's most valuable assets. Perhaps the real luxury isn't simply owning something exclusive. Perhaps it's now knowing that somebody took the time, skill and imagination to make something that couldn't simply be prompted into existence. Prada's campaign is a lovely reminder of that. Dior's subsequent debate, meanwhile, highlights just how much audiences care about the story behind the finished product.
In a world increasingly shaped by algorithms, human creativity deserves more than just an afterthought. Long live the art of making.
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