Co-founders Ditte and Nicolaj Reffstrup introduce an AI Ganni Girl as the star of the spring/summer '24 showcase, leading an all-round futuristic slant
While mulling over the direction for spring/summer '24, Ganni creative director Ditte Reffstrup found herself in a familiar situation: at a dinner party, discussing artificial intelligence. At the time, she wasn’t really “into it”. Nevertheless, her husband and Ganni co-founder Nicolaj Reffstrup whipped out his iPhone and asked an AI to come up with a direction for a Ganni collection based on some rudimentary information. “I was super scared,” Ditte says. “It was actually pretty terrifying to read, but also super interesting.”
Fast forward to Ganni’s SS24 presentation and it’s clear that Ditte has come around on the concept. In fact, the star of the show was not a model (though Paloma Elsesser – always a star – did open the show) but an AI iteration of the Ganni Girl herself, made in collaboration with tech artist Cecilie Waagner Falkenstrøm. “We thought, why don’t we try to work with this in a Ganni way – a positive way – and welcome this new thing and interact with it as a new friend,” says Ditte. Her infectious personality is based on brand literature and data points from the Ganni community. It took about three months to “train” her. Before the show, she could be found uttering phrases such as, “Some of my top things are to go biking around the city like a true Ganni girl”. Her voice emitting from trees planted in the centre of the runway.
The clothes embraced a Ganni-esque futurism as well. Sparkly silver slip dresses and cowboy boots straight from space and suiting with structural detailing serve Fifth Element realness — sharp shoulders and clashing leopard and tiger prints. Also in the mix, the second iteration of Ganni’s much-hyped New Balance collaboration, most notably a slime yellow 1906 . But the most impressive tech comes by way of material. A new leather alternative made from the byproduct in olive production is fashioned into a slick moto jacket and future-sexy dress. “That’s as crazy as AI to me,” Ditte notes. The sustainable sequins, meanwhile, are made from algae.
Having made her new AI friend, Ditte realises it’s not so bad after all. “It’s given me hope that it’s not something to be afraid of,” she says. “Maybe it’s also going to help us.”
Discover the full Ganni SS24 collection below:
Ganni - SS24
