Did Vogue publish an AI model?

Guess ads in the August 2025 issue of US Vogue featured AI-generated models named Vivienne and Anastasia, made by the agency Seraphinne Vallora. They appeared as advertising, and critics targeted both Guess and Vogue.

Does Zara use AI models?

Zara has used AI to create new images of real models in different outfits, according to Reuters in December 2025. That is an edit of real shoots, not a wholly synthetic person. Inditex says it agrees terms with models and uses AI only to complement existing processes.

Does H&M use AI models?

H&M uses digital twins of real models, not invented people. It announced twins of 30 models in March 2025 and showed the first images on 2 July 2025. H&M says models consent and keep control of their likeness.

Do luxury brands use AI models?

Some have tried it. Etro ran AI-designed models in its Spring/Summer 2024 campaign, Gucci published labelled AI images in 2026, and Moncler experimented in 2023 but says it does not currently use AI models. Reception has varied: Back Row reports little criticism of Etro, while the BBC reported criticism of Gucci.

Which brands refuse to use AI models?

Dove pledged in April 2024 never to use AI to represent real people in its advertising. Aerie pledged in October 2025 not to use AI to create images of people or bodies, and it requires partners and creators to make the same promise.

Did Levi's stop using AI models?

This is not publicly confirmed. In March 2023 Levi's announced a test with Lalaland.ai, and after criticism it said it was not scaling back live shoots. No source read for this page states whether the test continued.

Which fashion brands use AI models? 2026 sourced list

Which fashion brands have used AI models?

Twelve named fashion brands appear below, each with a date and a readable news or company report of AI models or AI-generated imagery. J.Crew alone had not directly acknowledged it in the reports read. The list was checked on 31 October 2026 and covers only named cases. It is not a census: most AI use is undisclosed.

The form column matters, because a digital twin of a paid, consenting model and a wholly synthetic person are different practices.

Brand	What it did	Date	Form	Source
Levi's	Announced a test of AI-generated models with Lalaland.ai, offering more skin tones and body types	March 2023	Synthetic models, test	Business Insider
Moncler	Experimented with an AI campaign, and now says it does not currently use AI models	2023	AI campaign, ended	Reuters
Etro	Spring/Summer 2024 campaign with AI-designed models, made with digital artist Silvia Badalotti	January 2024	Synthetic models, campaign	FashionUnited
Atoir	Used AI in post-production for a 2024 collection and on a dress sold on The Iconic, with disclosure in the listing	2024 to July 2025	AI imagery on a product listing	Pedestrian
Mango	First generative AI campaign, for the Mango Teen Sunset Dream collection: real garments photographed, then shown on AI models. Reuters says it has since rolled out AI models at scale	July 2024, October 2026	Synthetic models, campaign then scale	Mango; Reuters
H&M	Announced digital twins of 30 real models, with consent, paid at agreed rates and watermarked in social posts. First images unveiled on 2 July 2025	March and July 2025	Digital twins	BBC; FashionUnited
Zalando	About 70% of editorial campaign images were AI-generated in Q4 2024; digital twins in development. Closed both Berlin photo studios in 2025 and cut more than 340 jobs, though it says it kept some staff in other roles	May 2025, October 2026	Synthetic imagery and digital twins	Reuters
About You	Closed its studio and is launching Scayle Studios, which makes AI imagery for other retailers. Now owned by Zalando	October 2026	AI imagery service	Reuters
Guess	Ads in the August 2025 US Vogue used models created by the agency Seraphinne Vallora	August 2025	Synthetic models, print ads	ABC News
J.Crew	Instagram images with a Sam Finn credit added after Blackbird Spyplane raised questions. J.Crew called them digital art and, in the August 2025 reports, did not directly acknowledge using AI	August 2025	Reported AI imagery	Futurism
Zara	Used AI to create new images of real models in different outfits. Inditex says it agrees terms with models and uses AI only to complement existing processes	December 2025	AI edits of real models	Reuters
Gucci	AI runway video in December 2025, then images labelled created with AI ahead of its Milan show	December 2025 to February 2026	AI imagery, promotion	BBC

What counts as an AI model?

An AI model can mean four different things, and news reports often use the same phrase for all of them. The difference decides who needs to consent, who gets paid and what a shopper is actually seeing.

Form	What it is	Named example	Main question it raises
Synthetic model	A person who does not exist, generated from scratch	Guess, Mango, Etro	Disclosure and lost work for real models
Digital twin	An AI replica of a named real model, used with consent	H&M, Zalando	Consent, ownership and pay
AI edit of a real model	An existing photo of a real model altered to show another garment	Zara	Consent and whether the model is paid again
AI campaign imagery	AI-made scenes or promotional images, not a stand-in for a catalogue model	Valentino, Gucci	Brand fit, especially for craft and luxury

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Which brands have walked back or refused AI models?

Six named brands have walked back, shelved or publicly refused AI imagery. Walking back rarely means a stated reversal: Levi's restated its position, and no source confirms whether its test continued.

Brand	What happened	Date	Source
Levi's	After criticism, said it was not scaling back live shoots and that AI models were not a means to advance diversity	March 2023	Business Insider
Victoria's Secret	Commissioned AI images for a Barbie-inspired campaign and never released them. The agency founder said the brand feared backlash. The brand did not respond to Back Row	2023, reported January 2024	Back Row
Selkie	After criticism of Midjourney-based prints, the founder said she plans to stop using AI-generated images in future collections. This concerned designs, not models	January 2024	TechCrunch
Moncler	Tried an AI campaign in 2023 and says it does not currently use AI models	Reported October 2026	Reuters
Dove	Pledged never to use AI to represent real people in its advertising	April 2024	Dove release
Aerie	Pledged not to use AI to create images of people or bodies, and to hold partners to the same promise. Built a 2026 campaign on it	October 2025, 2026	Adweek; Fortune

How much imagery do these brands make with AI?

Among the brands listed, only Zalando was found to have published a share: about 70% of its editorial campaign images in Q4 2024 were AI-generated, according to Reuters in May 2025. That figure covers editorial campaigns, not product pages. Zalando also reported production time falling from six to eight weeks to three to four days and costs falling by 90%. These are the company's own numbers, not audited results.

Other figures are thinner. Reuters described Mango's rollout in October 2026 as at scale, without a percentage. Scayle Studios told Reuters it has 130 brand clients and generated 190,000 outfits in the previous month. Reuters also reported that AI models could cut costs by 90% or more against photo shoots.

Contract language shows interest beyond disclosed use. In the same October 2026 report, based on 15 agency directors and more than a dozen unsigned contracts, Reuters described a Diesel casting sheet on face swapping and a Calvin Klein draft seeking to train AI on model images. Diesel's parent OTB said the release was specific to one campaign, and Calvin Klein said it is testing and learning. Those are contract terms, not confirmed use of AI models.

What is still unknown about AI models in fashion?

The largest unknown is undisclosed use: this list can only hold cases that were announced, labelled or found out. J.Crew became a case only after a newsletter noticed the images.

No brand on this list was found to have published the share of its product pages that use AI images, or a measured effect on sales, returns or brand value. Whether Levi's test continued, and how far Guess extended AI use beyond the 2025 ads, are not stated in the sources read. Reception also shifts over time: Back Row wrote in January 2024 that Valentino had used AI without headline-making backlash, and the BBC reported criticism of a later Valentino AI ad in December 2025.

Small brands are largely absent from the record, although Atoir shows they use AI too. For measured evidence on sales, the sibling page on conversion sets out what exists.

Should a smaller brand copy these brands?

A smaller brand should not treat large-brand adoption as proof that AI models work. Zalando has reported speed and cost gains, but no published evidence that sales rose was found for Zalando, H&M or Mango.

Copying the method without the safeguards is the risk. H&M's twins rest on consent and agreed pay. New York's Fashion Workers Act has made it illegal since June 2025 to create or modify a model replica without explicit consent, according to Reuters, and rules on disclosure vary by market and channel. This is not legal advice, and the sibling page on legality covers it.

AI models are the wrong choice for a brand whose promise is real bodies, as Aerie and Dove have made explicit, or for a garment that cannot be judged without seeing true fit, as the Atoir complaints showed. A real shoot, or real measurements beside the image, remains the safer route in those cases.

Put a garment on a model with Virtual try-on

Checklist

Decide which form you mean: synthetic model, digital twin, AI edit or campaign imagery.
Get written consent and agree pay for any real model's likeness.
Do not call AI models a diversity measure.
Keep real size and fit information beside any AI image.
Keep the AI marker in the file, and check each channel's disclosure rule.
Check every image against the real product before it goes live.

Sources

Checked 31 October 2026. Rules change; the official pages are the final reference.

Which fashion brands use AI models?