Title

AI Fashion & Consuming the Indigene

Creator

Eikenberry, Stefan

Abstract

The aim of this project is to visually display and discuss the commodification and exploitation of Indigenous aesthetics for Western consumption. Using the typical dress from the Puruhá Indigenous group of Ecuador as a frame of reference, this work demonstrates how racial biases and exploitation mechanisms found within the fashion industry are replicated within generative AI even when prompting for minimal deviation from the original input. Utilizing Umberto Eco's lens in Faith in Fakes, this work discusses the distortion of the generated images in relation to colonialism within the primitivist and exoticist art styles, highlighting Indigenous erasure and objectification.

Keywords

AI

indigenous

fashion

Subject

interdisciplinary

Date Available

May 28, 2026

Type

PowerPoint Presentation

Course

HFP 2245 is a Picture a Thousand Words?

Course Offering Term

Summer Session 2025

Instructor

O'Brien, Emer

Session

Honors Creative Projects

Location

Student Lounge

Event

Year 2026 | 10th Annual Student Research and Creative Arts Symposium