Nick: As Jörgen says, H&M’s vision is to democratize fashion, and that has also been my mission, across my career and in founding ShowStudio. We both want to help people feel a sense of involvement through the communication of fashion, so I’m honored to partner with them. I believe that for fashion to be relevant, it needs to constantly change and push creative boundaries, and I’m excited that H&M shares that vision.
Vogue: How did the idea come about, and what was the innovation concept behind the show?
Nick: The H&M&YOU&I show explores fashion as a catalyst for human connection in an increasingly digital world. The interactive shifts fashion imagery from something presented to people into something that invites active participation.
The vision is to encourage artistic expression and help people feel more connected to fashion imagery. I never hope for a specific reaction, but I want to inspire people to ask questions, and to see the world in new ways.
Jörgen: The concept for the show began, in part, with the idea of genuinely engaging with the realities of how we live: the way we move between the physical and the digital, the tangible and the digitally representative. We are online and offline constantly. And we wanted not to shy away from that, but to take it, and the new technologies we all live alongside, and think about the way they make us feel, interact, dream or see the world. The show is really about expression, connection, and the blurring of lines that exists as we navigate these new frontiers. Also, the fashion interactive is human in nature — it was made using images made in the studio, with models.
Vogue: Jörgen, what do you mean when you say that H&M is using technology to “liberate fashion for the many”?
Jörgen: We want people to feel engaged with our shows, whether in-person or virtually. So any new technology we explore is about letting more people participate and engage. It’s about disrupting the conventional ideas of a fashion show, as something with a specific formula that can be exclusionary. Nick’s vision has always been about democratizing fashion — inviting people into his world and process through live streaming, or other forms of technology that allow for access and openness, and H&M shares that vision.
That’s why the public is invited to H&M’s fashion show, with tickets available through social media. It’s also why H&M engages with new and existing technologies as a means of broadcasting the show to a global audience and inviting them to feel part of the presentation. Various aspects of the run-up to the show will be streamed, from the red carpet to backstage. We are also offering various pieces as ‘see-now, buy-now’ straight from the runway.
Vogue: Nick, how exactly was AI used in creating the show? What did you create yourself, and what did an AI model generate?
Nick: The images are all based on photographic works that I made in the studio, with Alex Consani and Archie Renaux there in-person. Similarly, illustrator Cliff Warner made works in the studio, with the models there in-person, and these are the foundation for the illustration-based interactive seen on the runway.
