In a world that is quickly revolutionizing with technological advancements, it’s no surprise to find innovations subtly slipping into our everyday lives. Almost all industries are currently ablaze with artificial intelligence (AI) and its newfound capabilities, championing the integration of it into their businesses in hopes of conquering the bionic beast for themselves. However, the newfound power within this growing phenomenon can either transfigure or tear down a business. What happens when AI usage forces a seemingly iconic publication to stray from a legacy built upon authenticity and original trend-setting prowess?
We are quickly seeing this scenario unfold before our eyes in a way that no fashionista would’ve ever guessed–and it may change the way we consume fashion news forever.
Vogue Magazine, often hailed as the fashion Bible, is a powerhouse publication known as the main source of fashion news and haute couture communications to over 126 million monthly readers and 51.2 million social media followers worldwide.
Created in 1892 as a newspaper made to celebrate the “ceremonial side of life” (per the founder Arthur Baldwin Turnure), Vogue has been analyzing our world through the cutting-edge lens of style for 133 years. According to the About Us page on the business’s website, “Vogue has evolved with the times, coming to encompass a wider world of culture, entertainment, beauty, politics and the arts, dedicating itself to a celebration of groundbreaking image-making, great journalism, and the discovery of new talent.” A true trailblazer and herald to the past, present, and future of the industry, Vogue’s contributions to style and all it encompasses have created a deep legacy filled with respect and admiration. However, that exact legacy was called into question in July 2025.
On July 7, 2025, Vogue published its official August issue. On July 15, the magazine became available for purchase in the United States and the United Kingdom. Award-winning actress Anne Hathaway elegantly graced the front cover, adorned in delicate florals for a look of subtle beauty.
Her issue highlighted powerful women in different industries, and their personal stories of strength, perseverance, and the cultivation of personal identity. Hathaway herself discussed challenging roles she’s taken and how her career has changed her for the better. Neatly tucked away between the cover of the movie star and the back page, however, was the subject of viral outrage that led many to cancel their Vogue subscriptions permanently.
Guess, an American fashion brand best known for its clothing, handbags, and distinct upside-down triangle logo, paid for two ads to be displayed in Vogue’s August issue. The first one, a two-page spread, featured a “young blonde woman” named Vivienne, dressed in Guess clothing while posing in tropical vacation spots. The second one, a “young brunette woman,” named Anastasia, could be seen sporting a Guess midi dress in front of a turquoise ocean. Both models looked too perfect to be true–and they were. On the left-hand side of both spreads, toward the fold of the magazine, there was a small line of text disclosing that the ads were AI-generated.
Guess commissioned the London-based AI marketing agency, Seraphinne Valora, to create several AI models for the brand to use in various commercial advertisements. Upon receiving the models and their likeness, Guess not only paid to have them proudly displayed in Vogue’s monthly magazine, but also in several Guess stores worldwide.
This inclusion sparked industry-wide fury and criticism toward both the brand and publication. These advertisements and the overall issue received large amounts of virality and negative attention within days. Critics, loyal readers, and general bystanders alike took to different social media platforms to create posts and think-pieces about the incident, some even going as far as to call it “the downfall of Vogue.”
One tweet surrounding the issue read, “Note to publications doing things like this: it makes you look cheap and chintzy, lazy and hasty, desperate and struggling. A successful enterprise has no need to do things like this; we need to reinforce these optics.” Former American supermodel Janice Dickinson reacted and commented on the ads on her public TikTok account. “I think that it’s just such a poor shot. It’s, you know, not fair to the real models in the community,” said Dickinson.
Dr. Jade McSorely, model, advocate, and head of knowledge exchange at the Centre of Sustainable Fashion, echoed similar sentiments in a Forbes article published on July 29, 2025. “Is this just another way for brands to sell more items? As someone who used to model for e-commerce companies, the personality you bring to images is suddenly diminished alongside the spontaneous, co-creative process we have with the whole creative team.” McSorely is currently working with the BFMA (British Fashion Model Agents Association) and the British Fashion Council to develop new conduct and protections for models against AI within the fashion industry.
Many subscribers to Vogue’s physical and digital newsletters took to social media to announce the cancellation of their subscriptions, citing this event as the destruction of the once trend-setting news source. Other publications like Forbes, BBC, and CNN released their own articles highlighting the event and the public’s reaction to it, making sure to include their own carefully curated sentiments of condemnation.
However, this incorporation didn’t just spark chaos and widespread industry panic—it also forced the world to confront the grave consequences of manufactured “magnificence.”
It’s no secret that AI has deprived workers in all industries of their jobs and livelihoods. If AI models become normalized within the fashion industry, thousands of jobs could be decimated instantaneously. Models, photographers, make-up artists, and the like could be wiped out, their organic craft no longer a necessity for the industry’s survival. Perhaps the combative anger of the public was amplified by the same fear that has been possessing it for months now; the fear of realness and the rawness of the human experience being wiped out as we watch helplessly.
Other points mentioned within the public outcry often echoed similar fears, questions, and doubts. Why would Vogue, hailed as a celebrator of life, originality, and authenticity, allow the absence of all it stands for within its pages? The decision to allow Guess to feature AI models within the issue sends a message to all future advertisers; despite the visceral pushback against AI in all forms, it will be both tolerated and maintained within Vogue’s magazines.
This display of empty perfection once again sets an impossibly high beauty standard for women. Societal beauty standards are often oppressive and unconquerable; to then raise the bar to computerized images that have been sculpted to perfection by hundreds of algorithms is annihilating. The effect this potential normalization could have on women is both a harrowing thought and a not-too-distant future if we are not careful; hence the visceral backlash. All of this and more was encompassed within the storm of bad coverage this incident received – and this intricate whirlwind of disapproval was pointed toward Vogue, demanding a statement of acknowledgment.
In late July to early August of 2025, Vogue’s parent company, Condé Nast, released an official statement on the AI model usage through a CNN spokesperson. As the parent company to other influential magazines such as GQ, Vanity Fair, and The New Yorker, readers looked to this statement as an answer to how these publications would proceed. However, the statement received was less than satisfactory to many. Per Condé Nast, the usage of AI models was not an editorial decision, but rather a decision of Guess, and therefore, the company had no say in the matter. Condé Nast maintained that AI models had never appeared editorially in Vogue, but there was no answer as to whether or not that may change in the future.
Overall, this inclusion of artificial intelligence unearthed a deep-set fear that many within the fashion industry and beyond had tried their best to bury: the fear of AI taking over the creative industries we hold close. No field is above AI usage, even the ones built upon the backs of human inventiveness and imagination. However, as we navigate this new challenge, it is our job as consumers and as people to continue to celebrate human life, regardless of how small it may seem in comparison to big tech. Cherish your unique mind and the innovativeness that you possess. It is the one thing AI will never have.