Luxury Italian fashion brand Valentino has faced backlash this week for its latest advertisement pushing their new DeVain handbag. The premium cue brand created quite the firestorm when it posted this Instagram reel. Inside, models materialized from an AI-generated gold version of the handbag.
The campaign also included a “digital creative project.” Valentino collaborated with digital artists featured on platforms like Newhive to creatively use the DeVain handbag as a star attraction. Images from the video, which offered a dreamlike montage of models twisted into Valentino logos and archways with the handbag, left viewers impressed and perplexed at once. Interestingly, the tweet thread featured a label stating that AI technology was used in producing the images.
Countless users took to the comments section to express their outrage. They lamented the usage of AI, dubbing it “cheap” and “lazy.” One user poignantly remarked, “Disappointing from a couture fashion house,” reflecting a sentiment shared by others who expected more artistic integrity from such a prestigious brand.
To counter those arguments, Loop’s head of cultural insights and trends Anne-Liese Prem entered the fray with some amazing insights. In developing an AI-driven fashion branding solution, she acknowledged the incredible possibilities and dangers of implementing AI. She noted the exciting “creative opportunities” that AI can present for brands. On the flip side, she said, so are the challenges it poses.
Prem noted, “When AI enters the visual identity of a brand, people worry that the brand is choosing efficiency over artistry.” She said that the strongest emotional concepts go a long way in generative AI. Without them, luxury starts to lose its human aspect at a time when consumers are seeking real connections more than ever.
Valentino’s choice to be open about its use of AI technology has been positively and negatively received. Many say that this is a huge win for the brand, showing “the good instinct” for being honest about its heavy reliance on digital trickery. The backlash, rooted in hatred for Musk himself, belies a more profound cultural unease with how technology is reshaping artistry in the luxury fashion world.