From Couture to Code

For more than a century, fashion has swung between two poles: intimacy and scale.

Haute couture offered the pinnacle of personalization: one-of-a-kind garments sewn by hand for a single body. Ready-to-wear democratized fashion, producing standardized clothes for millions, but at the cost of individuality. Made-to-measure sat in between: industrial garments adjusted slightly to fit each client.

Each step widened access but narrowed expression. What has been missing is the bridge between couture’s intimacy and ready-to-wear’s reach. Today, that bridge is here: algorithmic fashion - personalization at scale. And it isn’t just theory: a global survey by Accenture found that 84% of consumers want personalized products and are willing to pay more for them ¹.

The First System: Issey Miyake’s A-POC

In 1997, Issey Miyake and Dai Fujiwara launched A-POC (A Piece of Cloth). Instead of designing garments, they designed a system: computer-guided knitting machines created continuous fabric embedded with outlines of multiple possible garments. The wearer cut along the lines to release their chosen piece.

Reflecting on his approach, Miyake explained in a 1998 New York Times interview: “From the beginning I thought about working with the body in movement, the space between the body and clothes.” ²

Why A-POC matters:

It introduced code-driven manufacturing into fashion, It reframed fashion as system over object, It blurred roles - the wearer became co-creator.

A-POC was not personalized, but it foreshadowed algorithmic design: clothes generated, not stitched, from digital rules.

Couture Meets Code: Iris van Herpen

If Miyake pioneered systems, Iris van Herpen brought algorithms into couture itself.

In a 2016 Vogue interview, van Herpen recalled the challenges of her early 3D-printed dresses: “We couldn’t print to make it flexible yet, so I had to be inventive in how I was incorporating it into my collections.” ³

Her 2024 3D-printed wedding gown crystallized this vision:

Designed from a body scan, required 600 hours of design and 41 hours of printing and was seamless, sculptural, and flexible.

Speaking to Brides, she reflected: “Having it worn by someone on the most special day of her life… I think it’s really something else.” ⁴

Van Herpen’s work shows couture redefined by algorithms: garments as living systems, born of data and code.

Algorithmic Apparel: From Sneakers to Jeans

If couture proves possibility, everyday apparel proves scale.

Nike Flyknit (2012–present): Computer-controlled knitting produces entire shoe uppers in one piece. Zones of stretch and support are woven directly in. Waste reduced by 60%. In theory, each shoe could be tuned for an individual athlete.

Adidas Futurecraft 4D (2017–present): 3D-printed midsoles built as lattices, shaped from athlete performance data. Cushioning and stability are tuned algorithmically. A mass-market example of data-driven form.

Unspun (2017–present): Began with custom-fit jeans made from body scans, now evolving into Vega, a 3D weaving platform producing garments directly from code with almost no waste. In 2024, the company raised $32M to scale its technology, with Walmart piloting on-demand chinos ⁵.

These projects mark the turning point: algorithms moving from couture galleries to sneakers, jeans, and daily life.

Jewelry Between Experiment and Heritage

Algorithms are also reshaping adornment, from experimental labs to heritage houses.

On the fringe, studios like Nervous System explore generative jewelry as “wearable algorithms.” In a 2014 Wired interview, co-founder Jessica Rosenkrantz explained: “We create using generative systems - rules that grow forms the way nature does.” ⁶ Their Kinematics collection 3D-prints intricate lattices that fold and move like fabric. These pieces can look more like digital artifacts than classical jewelry - provocative outliers rather than mainstream style - but they prove a crucial point: algorithms can create new forms beyond the jeweler’s hand.

At the other end of the spectrum, heritage brands are cautiously integrating personalization into their ateliers. Houses like Cartier, Bulgari, and Tiffany now offer digital configurators where clients can customize stone, setting, and metal. While still within traditional aesthetics, these tools point to a future where fine jewelry carries both heritage craftsmanship and algorithmic flexibility.

Beyond Fit: Expression as Data

The leap of algorithmic fashion is not only in fit - it is in identity.

A van Herpen gown encodes performance and emotion. A Nervous System ring grows from nature’s algorithms. An Unspun jean becomes a timestamped archive of your body.

This is fashion as expression at scale - garments and jewelry that tell stories as much as they cover skin.

A Future Worn, Not Owned

Fashion today is built on inventory: racks and warehouses full of garments waiting to be sold. Consumers pick from what already exists.

Algorithmic fashion inverts this. Nothing exists until you ask for it. A gown, a sneaker, or a ring is generated from your data, fabricated once, and delivered. No stock. No waste.

Wardrobes and adornments become living archives: continuously updated streams of personal pieces, always aligned with our changing selves. And as Who What Wear reports, this resonates with Gen Z, whose “hyperpersonal style” rejects conformity in favor of self-expression ⁷.

Conclusion: Toward the Algorithmic Bespoke

From Miyake’s continuous thread to van Herpen’s sculptural gowns, from Flyknit to Futurecraft to Unspun, from generative rings to adaptive sneakers, the arc is clear:

Fashion is moving from objects to systems, from uniformity to expression, from stock to stream.

Haute couture gave us individuality. Ready-to-wear gave us access. Made-to-measure gave us compromise.

Algorithmic fashion gives us both: personalization at scale.

Not fashion as uniform. Not fashion as hype. But fashion as algorithmic bespoke: garments and jewelry generated in real time, impossible to confuse for anyone else’s.

References

1.Accenture. Retail Personalization in Fashion: A Strategic Imperative. Accenture, 2019. Link

2.New York Times. Issey Miyake and the Future of Fashion. New York Times, 1998.

3.Vogue. Iris van Herpen on the Future of Fashion. Vogue, 2016.

4.Brides. The World’s First 3D-Printed Wedding Dress. Brides, May 2024.

5.ESG Today. Fashion Tech Unspun Raises $32 Million to Scale Zero-Waste Apparel. ESG Today, July 2024. Link

6.Wired. Generative Jewelry: Nervous System’s Kinematics Collection. Wired, 2014.

7.Who What Wear. Gen Z’s Hyperpersonal Style Is Transforming Fashion. Who What Wear, January 2025. Link

‍

‍

‍