Google Co-Develops AI Runway Tools With Designers Wade and Hudson

According to the post, Google engineers worked alongside the two designers and used Google Flow, the company's AI creative studio, to build tools aimed at each designer's specific challenge rather than at general use. Google framed the effort as a way to reduce friction in a creative workflow that, for independent designers, is largely taken up by administrative tasks, factory logistics and vendor coordination.

For Wade, the team built Styling Suite, which mapped every element of her runway models' looks. In-person casting and fittings typically consume up to three full days for a design team, Google said. The tool let Wade arrange hair, makeup, accessories, shoes and garments on digital models and adjust the styling virtually, so she could judge whether each look was balanced and identify missing elements before cutting and sewing additional pieces.

Hudson's main problem was staging his show on a tight studio budget. Google said that asking a production crew to change lighting and props added to costs in the past, because every design revision required a new 3D rendering. The tool built with him, Runway Visualization, simulated his runway and removed that back-and-forth, letting him change the venue set-up and swap lighting and props for options that fit his budget. He could also refine which paths the models would walk.

Google said the results of both collaborations were visible on the New York Fashion Week runways, and that it sees room for further innovation. The company said that although there is considerable excitement about AI in fashion, many projects remain stuck in theoretical testing, and it argues such work should be co-developed within a designer's existing process, with the designer in control.

Google said users can build bespoke tools in Google Flow by describing the tool or workflow they want in natural language, without coding experience.