Tailoring the Virtual: Towards a Hybrid Pedagogy of Fashion between Craft Intelligence and Generative AI

This article examines how digitalisation is reshaping processes in fashion practice — from design to production and communication — and how these transformations are redefining educational paradigms in fashion and design institutions. Through a critical review of recent literature and case studies in both pedagogical and industrial contexts, the article analyses the opportunities offered by 3D modelling, generative artificial intelligence, and virtual prototyping, alongside the technological dependencies, erosion of craft skills, and ethical implications associated with the use of algorithms. In the second part, the article addresses the pedagogical challenges that integrating these tools poses for fashion education, proposing a hybrid approach capable of combining computational knowledge with the embodied understanding of body and fabric. The analysis is framed within a critical perspective that calls for an epistemological reflection on the role of the digital in the formation of the contemporary fashion designer, through the lens of participant observation within specific educational contexts.