The three women gazing into the camera in an advert for French luxury label Balmain look like they could fit in at any high-end shoot, but Shudu, Margot and Zhi are “digital models” whose rise is dividing the fashion world.
The computer-generated trio at the centre of Balmain’s new campaign is the latest example of fashion brands embracing technology to lure digital-savvy younger clients.
Best known of the three is Shudu, a black digital model created by visual artist Cameron-James Wilson last year.
She has her own Instagram account with 145,000 followers which describes her as “the world’s first digital supermodel”.
Modelling shots include her wearing Tiffany jewellery for Vogue Australia .
Responses from the industry during New York and London fashion weeks were mixed, with designer Michael Kors among those critical of computer-generated imagery (CGI) being used in this way.
“I am not into a digital model. I am into real people with personalities and opinions,” Mr. Kors said.
But British designer Alice Temperley believes using CGI could help cut costs.
“I quite like the idea of doing some of that for the commercial and then spending the money on doing events,” Ms. Temperley said at London Fashion Week.
Shudu’s creator said the rise of CGI in fashion was inevitable. “After all we see CGI being used in almost every other industry,” Wilson said in an emailed statement. “3D and fashion were two worlds destined to collide.”
