Industry Access: Nick Knight and Tom Wandrag Part 1

At a moment when artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping the global economy and fundamentally altering how we work, learn, and collaborate, the notion of fashion’s visual language is also up for evolution. Even when intentional, in recent months when brands like Prada, Gucci, and Valentino used AI art within their marketing campaigns, it has resulted in digital vitriol and growing scrutiny surrounding the technology’s ethics. Online critics continue to question the uncredited artwork used within datasets that train generative AI systems like Midjourney and DALL-E, while others warn that artificial intelligence could threaten the livelihoods of photographers, stylists, models, hair and makeup artists, production crews, and the broader creative ecosystem traditionally responsible for fashion image-making. Models.com’s latest Industry Access conversation brings together two figures uniquely positioned at the center of that transformation: legendary image-maker Nick Knight and creative technologist Tom Wandrag. The discussion, filmed inside SHOWstudio in London, explores the promises, tensions, and unanswered questions surrounding AI’s growing role within image-making, ownership, and contemporary culture. As the founder of SHOWstudio, Knight has spent more than two decades pushing fashion into new digital territories long before the industry fully embraced them, whether pioneering fashion film, livestreams, CGI experimentation, or early conversations around artificial intelligence.

Few creatives have shaped fashion imagery with the same cultural impact as Knight. From his era-defining collaborations with Björk to photographing modeling legends like Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, and Iman, Knight’s work has consistently challenged traditional ideas of beauty, technology, and representation. Joined by Wandrag through their experimental studio A New Plane, the conversation moves beyond surface-level fears or hype surrounding AI and instead examines how emerging tools are altering the creative process itself, not to replace authorship but to expand it. Together, moderated by Models.com Editorial Director Irene Ojo-Felix, the pair discusses the balance between innovation and human instinct, the ethics of machine-generated imagery, and whether fashion’s future will be defined by technological acceleration or the enduring value of artistic vision.