In the August 2025 print edition of Vogue magazine, an ad for the clothing company Guess takes up a two-page spread. On the first page, a blond model sports a light blue floral romper. On the next, she poses in a skimpy striped dress — standard Guess attire. With a tan complexion, thick, wavy hair, hourglass figure, and button nose, she embodies Eurocentric beauty standards. As the fine print on the ad reveals, though, she also doesn’t exist — she’s AI-generated.
The clothier’s latest ad campaign has sparked debate among readers and industry insiders over whether or not AI has a place in the world of fashion. Critics say the ads mark a chilling new chapter not only in replacing human workers, but in creating even more unrealistic and narrow beauty standards.
To generate the model, Guess’s co-founder Paul Marciano commissioned London-based Seraphinne Vallora, an AI-driven marketing firm that claims to be “a pioneer at the forefront of AI fashion campaigns.
Valentina Gonzalez, one of Seraphinne Vallora’s founders, said in an interview with the BBC, “We created 10 draft models for him and he selected one brunette woman and one blonde that we went ahead and developed further.” Guess ultimately used both in its ad campaign, though only the blond — “Vivienne” — appeared in Vogue and went viral. She appears in an AI-generated video clip on the firm’s Instagram page, described as, “Ready to hire for your next campaigns.”
Machine-learning AI is capable of taking one generated model like Vivenne and creating other images and videos of her in different clothes, poses and locations. Like any human model, another company could hire her.
Most of the comments on a Seraphinne Vallora Instagram post about the ads are negative, with many suggesting that AI creates unattainable, harmful beauty standards.
“People need to see clothes worn by real humans, not by AI projects with perfect features,” one read. “[T]his isn’t as cool and inspiring as you think it is. It’s damaging to young girls beyond comprehension,” said another. It’s “embarrassing for humankind,” another wrote.
The firm’s founders, Valentina Gonzalez and Andreea Petrescu, are pushing back with a press tour.
“We don’t create unattainable looks,” Petrescu told the BBC. “Actually the AI model for Guess looks quite realistic.”
The firm expanded on their comments in an Instagram story they posted, writing that, “It’s interesting how the media…is turning the conversation around AI into one about beauty standards, when in reality we as creators and designers have not set these standards.” The company is simply echoing the fashion industry’s norms, they argued.
Commenting on a Good Morning America interview with Gonzales and Petrescu, some YouTube users characterized the ad campaign’s lack of realism as already common for the industry. “We’ve been looking at heavily Photoshopped women for about two decades now. So I really don’t see how this is any different,” one read. Another said, “AI models are ‘perpetuating unrealistic standards of beauty.’ Yeah, right. Like the fashion industry hasn’t already been doing that for the past 50 years.” Others pointed out that even human models can set “unrealistic beauty standards” for most viewers.
Some of the critical comments on the firm’s Instagram post also suggested that AI-generated models decrease racially diverse representation. “The modeling and fashion industry was finally taking a turn, becoming healthier and more diverse. And now with AI, you have reintroduced unrealistic beauty standards,” wrote one commenter. Another asked Seraphinne Vallora, “Why are all your models white?”
The firm acknowledged to the BBC that the AI-generated images on their Instagram aren’t diverse. “We’ve posted AI images of women with different skin tones, but people do not respond to them — we don’t get any traction or likes,” Gonzalez said, adding that Seraphinne Vallora is a business and has to post what will garner attention and attract clients. She also said the company’s technology isn’t advanced enough to generate plus-size models realistically.
Guess’s ad campaign has also sparked concern that the technology could displace jobs. Sara Ziff, the founder and executive director of Model Alliance, a nonprofit that aims to advance models’ rights in the workplace, told the BBC that using an AI model was likely “less about innovation” and more about cost-cutting.
“AI can positively impact the industry, but there needs to be meaningful protections for workers,” she said.
One commenter on Seraphinne Vallora’s Instagram post worried that AI could “[take] jobs away from real people like makeup artists, photographers, stylists, etc.”
The founders of Seraphinne Vallora say they don’t intend to replace models, framing their service as a supplement rather than a one-to-one replacement. But on their website, they do advertise AI likenesses as a way brands can save money otherwise spent on hiring models and photographers.
The brand added on Instagram that Seraphinne Vallora could create “a different type of beauty,” if that’s what a client wanted. “AI doesn’t limit beauty,” the post read, “it expands the possibilities.” That’s a claim we have yet to see.