What Does One Wear in The Age of AI?

Fashion has always been a very good mirror. It rarely invents the future; it watches the present, takes its measurements and sends it back to us with better lighting.

Every fashion trend connects to a larger cultural mood, even when the connection seems slightly absurd at first. Consider the long reign of transparent clothes. Just as we began making our relationships, dinners, holidays and family dramas visible on social media, our dresses became transparent too. Once privacy disappeared from daily life, it was perhaps only a matter of time before it disappeared from our skirts.

Which brings us to the question: what fashion trend reflects the age of artificial intelligence?

We are living in a peculiar moment. Machines can write, draw, imitate voices and manufacture people who never existed. We inspect photographs for strange fingers and wonder whether a perfectly competent email was written by a colleague or by ChatGPT. The borders between real and artificial have become blurry. No wonder the clothes have begun to look slightly nervous.

Fashion seems to be answering from three directions: Tech Matrix, gorpcore and a very human rebellion made of crochet, embroidery and visible stitches.

Tech Matrix: Dressing Inside The Machine

Hailey Bieber in a 90s-inspired Miu Miu outfit and the new Miu Miu bubble shoes

The Matrix, released in 1999, now looks less like science fiction and more like an oracle with excellent costume design.

The film imagined a world in which reality was a manufactured experience, human beings lived inside a system they could not see and technology had become both seductive and terrifying. Does any of this sound familiar?

Its cyber-noir wardrobe deserves another look: black leather, floor-length coats, severe silhouettes, narrow sunglasses and boots that suggest the wearer has important information about the end of civilisation. The clothes designed by Kym Barrett were sleek, controlled and protective. They gave the body a hard outer shell while everything else — truth, identity, reality — was up for negotiation.

That aesthetic has returned in a more wearable form. Long black leather coats, slim eyewear and strict monochrome are part of it, but the most interesting survivor is the funnel neck. High collars have appeared in leather, wool and technical fabrics, turning an ordinary jacket into a small piece of urban armour.

The attraction is psychological as much as visual. When the world feels difficult to read, controlled clothes are reassuring. A funnel neck protects the throat, a long coat creates distance and black leaves very little room for interpretation. It is the wardrobe equivalent of changing all your passwords.

The trick is to borrow from The Matrix without appearing to have escaped from a fan convention. Choose one element: a high-collared jacket, a leather coat or small dark glasses. Keep the rest simple. Nobody needs the complete Trinity costume for a Tuesday appointment at the dentist.

Gorpcore: Ready For The System to Go Down

Tech fabric, funnel neck, earthy shades; Miu Miu’s gorpcore version

Then there is gorpcore, the aesthetic for people who dress as though civilisation may stop working before lunch.

The term was coined in 2017 and comes from “gorp”, the American name for the raisins-and-peanuts trail mix carried by hikers. The clothes are borrowed from outdoor life: waterproof shells, fleece pullovers, hiking trousers, cargo pockets, trail shoes and enough layering to survive a sudden change in weather or government.

Gorpcore is not new, but its persistence is telling. In 2026, trail shoes are still walking around cities in which the most challenging terrain is usually a broken pavement. Salomon, Arc’teryx and The North Face have moved far beyond the mountain, while luxury brands like Miu Miu continue to translate performance clothing into urban fashion.

Part of the appeal is simple practicality. We are tired of wearing clothes that cannot tolerate rain, movement or an actual human body. But there is also a mild survival fantasy at work. Technology is clever, invisible and largely beyond our control. Gorpcore offers zips, pockets, waterproof membranes and rubber soles. You can touch them. You know what they do. If the cloud goes down, at least your jacket still works.

Focus on useful layers and earthy colours rather than the full Himalayan-explorer costume. A technical jacket over a fine knit, trail trainers with tailored trousers or a fleece worn under a good coat is enough. The point is to look prepared for life, not lost on the way to base camp.

Handmade Rebellion: Proof of Human Life

Miu Miu handmade embroidered dress

On the opposite side of the battlefield, an army is forming with crochet hooks in its hands.

As AI makes polished images and competent text available in seconds, the irregularity of handmade work has acquired a new emotional value. Crochet, embroidery, patchwork, visible stitching, hand-knitted pieces, antique lace and personalised details carry something technology cannot easily provide: evidence of time.

We saw that appetite in the ivory crochet dress and matching bag from Jacquemus’s Spring/Summer 2026 Paysan collection. Jacquemus says the dress required nearly 140 hours of work. For Autumn/Winter 2026, embroidery, beadwork, appliqué and tactile surfaces continued across the collections. After years of polished digital surfaces, fashion wants the fingerprints back.

There is nostalgia here, certainly, but it is not simply about dressing like our grandmothers. With handmade fashion, the object comes attached to a person again. A slightly uneven stitch can feel more luxurious than industrial perfection because it reveals patience, knowledge and somebody’s afternoon.

We should, however, keep our spectacles on. “Crochet effect” is not the same as crochet, and a machine-made top sold by a fast-fashion chain does not become artisanal because it has a scalloped hem. If craftsmanship is the reason for buying the piece, ask who made it, where it was made and what the material is. The human story should be real, not another aesthetic generated for the product page.

The easiest way to join the handmade rebellion is through one piece with character: a vintage style embroidered blouse, a hand-knitted cardigan, a crochet bag, a repaired jacket. It need not be perfect. Perfection has become remarkably easy to manufacture.

So, Which Fashion Trend Really Belongs to The AI Age?

Miu Miu vintage-inspired embroidered top and belt

The answer, annoyingly for anyone hoping for a shopping list, is all three. We are fascinated by the machine, worried about the fragility of the systems around us and hungry for proof that human skill still matters. Fashion has simply put clothes on each anxiety.

Apparently, the AI age has given us three wardrobe choices: resemble the machine, prepare for its collapse or resist it with a crochet hook. Personally, I am keeping the funnel-neck coat — and calling my grandmother.

Images courtesy of Miu Miu Fall/Winter 26-27