Like it or not, artificial intelligence is here to stay. While there is controversy galore about how the new technology will impact creative industries, Stacey Bendet is all aboard the AI train. Last season, she cited recent technological innovations as an “inspiration revolution.” This time it was the basis of her collection, which she dubbed “The Gilded Age.”
“I feel like the moment we’re in with AI, and how it’s transforming everything in the world, is similar to the Industrial Revolution and how the Gilded Age came to be,” Bendet said at her fall 2026 presentation, again held at the Surrogate’s Court in Lower Manhattan. AI, she said, is used in every department of her business, from design to merchandising. In regard to design, it is primarily used to help create photo-realistic interpretations of patterns for embroidery. “We used AI to take things that we had sketched, rendered, worked on for prints, to then make into these photo real versions that we could execute,” she said.
The collection was rife with extreme embellishment. “The idea was indulgence, maximalism, glamour, embroidery, beadwork,” she added. Almost every piece featured some sort of embellishment, be it rhinestones, beads, embroidery, or lace. Shapes, Bendet added, “were meant to be representative of the Gilded Era.”
There was a distinct 2010s quality to Bendet’s designs, including the somewhat perplexing presence of leopard print and high-low silhouettes—not exactly Gilded Age staples. “I wanted to bring back the whole concept of the ‘going-out top,’ whether it’s in crystal, corset, [or] one-shoulder,” she said. Many of these tops were styled with corset trousers and pinstripe pants, reminiscent of the era’s fondness for workwear as club attire. But nods to the period did peek through: One black jacquard column dress featured a detachable train, while another dress was finished off with an enormous white bow at the base of her back—perhaps Bendet’s take on the bustle. Maybe we’ll catch some extras wearing them on the next season of The Gilded Age.
