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Costume Planning with New Technology

 So I hate to jump on the bandwagon and bug people about AI, but I have just come back from a work summit and started learning how to apply AI to certain tasks. While playing around, it helped me plan an outfit for my sister's wedding. So I will suggest some things to use AI for and explain how I used it. 

1. Storing Measurement Information: Data storage and retrieval is what AI does best. Keeping your measurements in one place makes it convenient to use when starting a project. With this information, AI can convert measurements to imperial or metric, use your measurements to help determine which pattern size to purchase/use, calculate how much fabric to buy, or what size clothing may fit.  

2. Budgeting: AI can search and track prices for different parts of your project. It can quickly help estimate how much a project may cost from a shopping list, compare if it is cheaper to buy or make, search for good pricing.

3. Color Swatch: When trying to compare color combinations for a costume or outfit, seeing different color combinations is important. With AI, you can upload an image and have it generate color combinations based on parameters, create color swatch guides based on your color season (if that's the color theory you like), and more.

4. Make and Store References: Ever had trouble finding a turnaround reference of a character or costume? AI is pretty good at "guessing" with less information. You may get something weird, but it can help. You can also add a photo of yourself ask AI to create a generic outline so you have a color in reference to draw costume ideas on or even have AI "try on" costumes to see how it would appear on your figure. (Like a paper doll!) 

5. Brainstorm, Research and Advise: You can set parameters for your costume and learn about your costume or outfit. Ask the questions you may have about your project. How would I do x? What is this called? What is this made from? What are the pros and cons of this tool? What neckline would look best for my body proportions? 

6. Project Tracking: You can plan timelines, milestones and keep updates on progress. 

Some Caveats 

We all know that AI can "hallucinate" and get things wrong. AI should give you the resources as to where it got its information so you can check if it a reputable resource. 

Don't share or post private information. Especially on open source or public AI bots, don't post your address or private identifying information. 

Store things like measurements in a "project" or "source" file so you can reuse it or find it easily to update it.

Remind AI to summarize what you've discussed so far so the memories don't get lost. It will only "remember" so many posts. 

How I used AI

I just needed help brainstorming an outfit for the Sangeet party for my sister's wedding. She sent the bridal party a dress code PDF which I shared with AI. I asked for suggestions on an outfit for the party, entered the dress code, and some of my preferences. I mentioned I'd be dancing, I had wide hips, wanted to hide my arms and wanted to avoid pastel colors. 

AI (I used ChatGPT, other platforms are available) gave me a list of suggested styles. I mentioned which items I liked and didn't like from the suggestions and continued to iterate with questions. I added my photo and color season suggestions, I entered my three measurements, until I was just getting confused by the descriptions of colors. So I asked it to create a color swatch of its suggested color combinations. I had expect just blocks of colors to compare and use as reference. Instead, AI gave me a character sheet with the style I was describing and the color variations + suggestions: 
I can also use this layout as a future template for costume color comparisons. 

After I got this I asked about shoes and accessories. It corrected the terminology for the shoe and suggested that I didn't have to go traditional and advised shoes that were flat and comfortable to dance in. It basically described my ballroom shoes so I got those! 

So now I have a better idea of what to look for while shopping for my Sangeet outfit. I can also elect to MAKE one instead of buying. I will likely ask AI what would be more economical. Now I also have someone I can get a consultation with which I think is more appropriate for cultural advice about the outfit than just relying on AI. 

Closing Thoughts

This is just a tool that for me replaces scattered google docs, tracking tools, and having several tabs open on my browser trying to figure things out. You can still do all these things. Heck, AI can even output a document. Like anything, don't overly rely on it. And understand that what you get out of AI is based on what you put in. Learning how to write and iterate prompts will give you better results. 
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