Gentle Monster Campaign Featuring Tilda Swinton Lets Digital Avatars Take Center Stage

Gentle Monster, the South Korean sunglasses brand known for its distinctive futuristic designs, released its new BOLD 2 campaign with Tilda Swinton in which human models give way to an army of digital doubles. The visually striking campaign highlights the brand’s fearless experimentation with digital worlds, while also raising questions about how hyper-digital aesthetics might reshape our understanding of fashion and the role of human talent in increasingly technology-driven visual landscapes.

Set against a desolate dystopian backdrop, the campaign sees Swinton leading a massive crowd of computer-generated figures in a trance-like war dance, their explosive movements whipped into frenzy by her chants and gestures. It’s a surreal universe absent of human performers, save for Swinton, offering a vision of fashion’s future in which digital figures increasingly share, and sometimes claim, the spotlight.

The use of digital and AI-generated figures is not new to fashion, but Gentle Monster’s campaign signals a turning point: the replacement of human talent and real-life settings is emerging not just as a possibility but as a viable creative strategy. Advances in digital tools such as artificial intelligence (AI) are expanding the possibilities of fashion imagery, enabling brands to create campaigns that would be prohibitively expensive or even impossible to stage with humans alone. This year, AI-generated models have made the headlines: H&M announced plans to use “twins” of 30 models for some campaigns and social media earlier this spring, while Guess went viral in Vogue with a fully AI-generated model. Companies specialising in creating AI-generated models are also offering brands new ways to complement, or replace, human talent, promising both precision and affordability. Regulatory frameworks are beginning to take shape in response. The Fashion Workers’ Act, which came into force in June, will require New York-based agencies to obtain models’ consent before using AI in campaigns. Meanwhile, the EU’s AI Act, coming into effect 2026, will mandate clear labeling of AI-generated images.

The rise of digital worlds and models in fashion is not just about aesthetics; it challenges the roles and opportunities for human talent, prompting reflection on the future of work in the creative industries. If AI can produce campaigns faster, at lower cost, and with greater flexibility - while generating significant commercial buzz and audience engagement - what does this mean for models, performers, and the creative professionals behind the scenes?

Gentle Monster’s BOLD 2 campaign demonstrates the thrilling potential of digital imagery, inviting viewers to imagine fashion beyond the constraints of reality. Human talent is both complemented and challenged by these developments, pointing to a shifting frontier for creative expression in fashion marketing.