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MENSWEAR STYLE TAXONOMY DEVELOPMENT
For Fashion Styling AI Engine
Wenyu Wang, Yuan Huang, Yiwei Lai, Yinyu Ding, Jinzhi Xu
May 2018
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A shift from brand-centric supply model to customer-centric demand model by realization of style
personalization through data-tracking and advanced technology, as an efficient, effective and
effortless method that guides customers to the right products based on individual difference.
During the three-month collaboration with Genostyle, our team developed a start-up universal
(Western) menswear style taxonomy via curation and artificial intelligence (AI), which contributed
to the first database for menswear algorithm and styling engine.
CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION
2. THE TEAM
4. METHODOLOGY
7. OUTCOME DISCUSSION
1. INTRODUCTION
This project aims at providing up-to-date style taxonomy through algorithms within artificial
intelligence to improve customer service with style personalisation. With the development of
menswear style taxonomy, our team conducted a research based on the contemporary style
trends and brand offerings for the algorithms both training and testing. This research is conducted
with following procedure:
❖ Identification and research on representative menswear styles to update Client’s
Taxonomy Database. The identified style taxonomy includes: (1) Comprehensive
styles – covering most ‘western fashion’ styles;; (2) Relevant styles – reflecting
contemporary tastes and styles
❖ Identification and research on the top 10 representative brands (or collections) of each
style. These brands will be used for benchmarking and as input in running Client’s
algorithms for the application of ‘machine learning’ in styling engine (‘algorithm training
brands’)
❖ Identification and research on an additional set of 2-3 representative brands
(collections) of each style. These brands will be used to measure the accuracy of the
proprietary algorithms in predicting brand style (‘algorithm testing brands’)
❖ Curate representative influencers and identify specific items of ‘mix & match’ looks for
each style
2. THE TEAM
❖ Genostyle
Genostyle’s technology enables individual customers’ preferences and styles to be characterized
and tracked by computer on a massive scale, making possible customization and online
personalization via advanced algorithms and Artificial Intelligence.
Shifting from brand-centric supply model to customer-centric demand model, Genostyle aims to
create a fashion styling AI engine to understand the customer and power the chatbot and other
digital omni-channel experiences with unprecedented levels of personalization, with advanced
style analytics to unlock value from previously untapped sources and pioneering science of ‘style
quantification and algorithmification’.
❖ Menswear Style Taxonomy Research Contributors
The up-to-date menswear style taxonomy based on the contemporary fashion trends and brand
offerings, established by visual and styling researchers from various fashion backgrounds.
Wendy Wang
Majoring in MA Fashion Retail Management in London College of Fashion with a
Fashion Design Background, worked as researcher and editor for trend forecast
website just-style.com, visual merchandiser for Uniqlo and training manager for Zara.
Expert at problem solving, coordinating and management.
Jinzhi Xu
Majoring in MA Strategic Fashion Marketing, with a dual BA degrees in Radio and
Television Journalism and Business Administration. Worked for Tencent in China.
Jinzhi Xu expert at both communication, business and Internet operation.
Yinyu Ding
Majoring in MA Strategic Fashion Marketing and coming from a fashion design
background, working part-time at multi-brand store Machine-A in London. Expert at
fashion styling and design in menswear of both mainstream and niche fashion brands.
Used to work as a fashion PR and fashion editor.
Yiwei Lai
Educated in Fashion Styling in Milan and Fashion Psychology in London, worked as
stylist and photographer in collaboration with various indie magazines and fashion
commercials for four years across Europe, as well as a consultant of fashion
communication, creative direction and influencer branding for both fashion retail and
wholesale companies in China.
Yuan Huang
Majoring in MA Strategic Fashion Marketing with a Bachelor Degree in Auditing and
background of finance and business. Worked for Istituto Marangoni. Expert at
applying business and digital knowledge to fashion industry.
Recently, a trifecta of ubiquitous and powerful computing, big data, and the development of deep
learning have brought about a revolution in artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence can help
fashion businesses align supply and demand, scale personal service and design better products.
The business shift from brand-centric supply model to customer-centric demand model is drawing
more and more attention. One of the most remarkable artificial intelligence contributions to
fashion was the evolution of visual search. Designers, merchandisers and buyers can all work
with artificial intelligence, to predict what customers really need, before they even know about
themselves. The computing devices that now fill our everyday lives generate large data sets,
within “deep learning”, algorithms analyze data and generate trends, deliver prediction and carry
out specific tasks such as image identification. By 2020, the market for machine learning
applications will reach $40 billion, according to International Data Corporation, a marketing firm
specializing in information technology.
4. METHODOLOGY
❖ Preliminary Research
Aiming to have an overall idea of menswear in fashion industry, as well as to ensure the
authenticity and reliability of the outcomes, our team conducted a preliminary research for the
development of menswear style taxonomy from trend forecast website, books, social media,
mass media, experts consulting and interviews.
❖ Visual Data Collection
The major sources of the images collection throughout the project are the male fashion style
blogs, male influencers in social media, menswear brand lookbooks, menswear runways
shows, male fashion websites and mass media.
❖ '3 Taxonomy' to '1 Taxonomy'
Three taxonomies (Fig1.) were identified divergently in the first phase. However, pushing the
process from divergence to convergence was time-consuming as the team was trying to
integrate sub-styles into the macro-styles classification. Considering overlapping styles, the
team united similar terms and developed appropriate definitions to generate the final style
taxonomy. Under each macro-style category, there are sub-styles to illustrate the style as
well as the description to avoid misunderstanding. For instance, surfer, skaters and outdoor
styles are classified under 'Active' style category. The term 'Active' was selected over 'Sporty'
due to the wider spread of active style than sporty style.
Figure1. Three Initial Taxonomies
❖ Mix & Match Looks Curation
Along with the style taxonomy established, 2-4 representative influencers, 12 representative
brands and 40 mix & match looks (4 looks for each macro-style and items were identified from
the looks with links to product information) were identified from the visual data collection at the
first stage. The selected brands are critical for the advanced algorithms training and testing.
❖ 70s
Brands Balmain/ Tom Ford/ Roberto Cavalli/ Raf Simons/ Balenciaga/ Dior Homme/ Missoni/
Etro/Dirk Bikkembergs
❖ Active
Brands Adidas/ Nike/ Under Armour/ New Balance/ Skechers/ Reebok/ North Face/ Champion/
Converse/ Puma/ Columbia/ Asics/ Fila/ Yeezy
❖ Futuristics
Brands MISBHV/ Riccardo Tisci/ Katie Eary/ Alex Mattsson/ Bobby Abley/ Nasir Mazhar/ Mugler/
Stoneisland/ Qasimi/ Kris Van Assche/ Boris Bidjan Saberi/ Enfin levé
❖ Normcore
Brands Lemaire/ Joseph/Acne Studio/ Etdues/ Barena /Rag & Bone/ Common Projects / Officine
Generale/ James Perse/ A.P.C/ Incotex/ Our Legacy/ Folk/ John Smedley
❖ Occasion Wear
Brands Church’s/ Kingsman/P.Johnson/ Tom Ford/ Turnbull & Asser/ Lavin/ Thom Sweeney/
Cheaney/ Dunhill/ Ermenegildo Zegna/ Salle Privee/ Saint Laurent/ Bottege Veneta/ Tod’s/ Dior
Homme/ Hermèsa
❖ Pop
Brands Kenzo/ Calvin Klein/ Libertine/ Prada/ JW Anderson/ Loewe/ Fendi/ comme des garçons
play/ Missoni/ Billionaire Boys Club/ Moschino/ Desquared2/ Adidas Y3/ Faith Connextion/
Eyepitizer
❖ Rebel
Brands Vivienne Westwood/Saint Laurent/Rick Owens/ Yohji Yamamoto/Philipp Plein/ Diesel
Black Gold/ Ann Demeulemeester/ Telfar/Frankie Morello/Koch/John Richmond
❖ Smart Casual
Brand Reiss/ Paul Smith/ Emporio Armani/Bottega Veneta/Ralph Lauren/Calvin Klein/ Hugo
Boss /Salvatore Ferragamo/Hermès/ Etro/Hogan/Ted Baker/Tommy Hilfiger/Mango /H&M/
Kapten & Son/Selected/Massimo Dutti/Piaget/Lacoste
❖ Streetwear
Brands Stüssy/ Supreme/ Palace/ A Bathing Ape/ Neighborhood/ Fuct/ Vans/ Converse/ Alife/
Undefeated/ Billionaire Boys Club/ 10 Deep/ The Hundreds/ Diamond Supply Co./ SSUR/ Crooks
and Castles/ Blvck Scvle/ Dope Couture
❖ Western
Brands Calvin Klein/ Vetements/ Sam Hill/ Amiri/ Sheplers/ Tommy Hilfiger/ Levis/ Lee/ Buffalo
Jackson/ Banner&Oak/ Duluth/ Lucky Brand/ Jacob Cohen
5.3. Menswear Representative Influencers
Figure 2. Algorithms Prediction Test
Figure 3. Prediction Accuracy of Each Style
7. OUTCOME DISCUSSION
Our team was assigned to conduct research on menswear styling taxonomy and have delivered a
research report with 10 male style taxonomies that established the first database for Genostyle
menswear styling research engine during the three-month collaboration. The research report
contains the representative looks collection, representative influencers, definition of each style
taxonomy, representative brands of each style and the curation of ‘mix-n-match’ looks with
identified items. Although the development of the rising technology Artificial Intelligence (AI) is
intriguing and drawing more and more attention from almost every domain, the application of
such technology to the front-end in fashion is still not common yet. The team was honored to
work with Genostyle as members of explorers to investigate the possibilities in applying Artificial
Intelligence to ‘style recognition’ by co-creating and elaborating the style database for machine-
learning.The final outcomes resulted from a profound research with an integral process——
experts consulting, peer interviewing and literature reviewing in the preliminary steps, a divergent
and convergent analysis and categorisation conducted within the visual research and images
collection, a deep understanding of each style definition and finally the representative information
respectively classified to the corresponding styles.
8. IMPLICATION FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
As the first team to work on the ‘style-customisation’ for menswear through algorithm with
Genostyle, this research can be considered as a prototype of developing the menswear style
categorisation. A basic provision of representative brands, influencers, looks and items frames
the repertoire of personalising the fashion style. Future research can focus on further image
collection with the established style taxonomies. As the database of representative images grows,
more style taxonomies will emerge thus improve the ability of style research engine.