Dior animated film suspected of using AI: luxury urged to prove its craftsmanship
In early November, Dior, the flagship brand of the LVMH group, unveiled an animated short film to accompany the crucial festive trading period. However, over the past few days, a controversy has been growing on social media and in the press. While the brand highlights the “traditional” production of the animation, internet users are accusing the fashion house of using artificial intelligence (AI).
The film, titled Les Couleurs de la nuit, par Christian Dior, is set in the winter of 1949 and features the likeness of actress Marlene Dietrich. The luxury brand also claims to have used the methods of that era. “Technically, we work just like in the 1940s, it is the same, it is the same technique,” stated director Sylvain Chomet in a video published by Dior on Instagram. The fashion house also emphasised the artisanal dimension of the film. “The artist's work echoes that of Dior's haute couture artisans: in both disciplines, countless hours of work and meticulousness reveal a beauty that seems effortless,” read its press release.
Yet, beneath the promotional video, numerous social media users are denouncing a “falsely traditional” film. Some are even going so far as to call it “slop”, a term used to describe mass-generated AI content deemed soulless and of poor quality.
Alessia Paino, a Melbourne-based two-dimensional animator specialising in traditional frame-by-frame animation, wrote: “This film was not hand-animated. The characters clearly move in a stiff and artificial way. The classic technique consists of drawing frame by frame, at a rate of 24 drawings per second. Dior is lying about the production process.”
Others point to the drawing of a six-fingered hand on one of the film's characters as proof of AI involvement. However, Chomet responded to this observation in an article in Variety magazine: “It is a movement where the hand fans out. In this type of drawing, you might see six or seven fingers to suggest motion.”
According to the same source, the French director denies the accusations that generative AI was used to create Dior's animated short film.
Whether or not the film's teams used AI tools, this controversy demonstrates that consumers, and the wider public, no longer take the promises of luxury at face value. The value of a house like Dior is founded on savoir-faire, time-honoured processes and the human touch. The slightest suspicion of AI is therefore experienced as a betrayal of this narrative, rather than a simple technical choice.