Valentino Faces Backlash Over AI DeVain Handbag Campaign
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Key Facts
- Valentino promoted its new DeVain handbag with AI generated video on Instagram
- Viewers labelled the visuals disturbing, cheap and unworthy of a couture brand
- Reaction fuels wider concerns that AI in fashion is displacing human creativity
Valentino’s latest push for its DeVain handbag is under heavy fire after the house leaned on AI generated imagery for its digital launch. The Instagram film, clearly tagged as AI content, shows shifting crowds, warped limbs and the bag floating through dense digital collages, meant to feel dreamlike but widely described by viewers as creepy and confusing.
In comments, many fans accused the brand of cutting corners and missing an opportunity to spotlight real photographers, models and image makers. For a label that trades on craft and heritage, critics argue that a machine built campaign makes the product feel less special rather than more futuristic.
The controversy arrives as fashion wrestles with how far to push generative tools in advertising and design. Consultants say that audiences still expect luxury names to lead with human vision and emotional storytelling and warn that if AI appears to replace that effort, rather than support it, even well known houses risk making their brands feel distant and less human.
