Heidi Klum's Beside Her (Much Younger) Self in AI-Powered Push From German Fashion House

Past and present collide, but it's strictly casual

Seeking authenticity, some marketers eschew AI and brag about using practical effects and real people in their ads. But s.Oliver isn’t having any of that.

In fact, the German fashion brand goes in the opposite direction, embracing the algorithm to create a film starring two Heidi Klums.

The legendary model, 53, appears with a twenty-something version of herself, brought to “life” via face-swap technology.

“The story demonstrates in an emotional way that, while much changes, the true casual spirit remains,” says s.Oliver Group CEO Johannes Rellecke. “We are interpreting this idea in a surprising and previously unseen way.”

As for the results… Are they creepy? Somewhat. Convincing? Absolutely. Destined to entertain and provoke a reaction? Check and check!

“Sometimes the strongest ideas are the simplest: Heidi Klum meets Heidi Klum. We’re bringing together defining phases in the life of one of Germany’s greatest pop culture and fashion icons and using her story to retell the s.Oliver story,” says Nicole Grözinger, a CD at Jung von Matt Neckar and creative lead at JVM Beauty Collective, which developed the project.

“AI makes this encounter possible—but for us it remains a means to an end. The key is to use it in a way that makes the creative idea even stronger. In this way, brand heritage becomes not a nostalgic look back, but contemporary storytelling.”

Indeed, the future is now. It wears cute shirts. As long as there’s adequate disclosure about the nature of the workflow, each generative campaign must be evaluated on its own merits. A knee-jerk diss feels so 2023. (It’s not like AI could ever kill us all.)

Srsly, though. What about the naysayers who grow weary of tech driving everything these days?

“That criticism is fair, especially when AI is used without a clear creative reason,” Grözinger tells Muse. “In this case, the technology isn’t the idea. The idea is that, in a world that is constantly changing, some things remain the same: Heidi stays Heidi and s.Oliver stays casual, since forever. AI simply made the encounter possible.”

The team brought the idea to life “by combining the ‘real’ Heidi in an analog shoot with a stand-in actress who matched Young Heidi’s body type—using AI only for the face,” Grözinger says. “This was a highly complex process, carried out in close collaboration with Heidi Klum and based on archival material she provided from that early period.”

“Each scene was treated individually. This meant there was no simple automated workflow. We selected references from Heidi’s old photoshoots for each scene, trained the AI, then composited and manually refined everything, always in close collaboration with Heidi throughout the process.”

The biggest challenge “was making the two versions of Heidi feel like the same person at different stages of her life, and making their interaction feel natural, both emotionally and physically, in a way that felt authentically Heidi,” Grözinger recalls. “That meant paying close attention to everything from performance, timing and facial expressions to lighting, perspective, hair and skin texture.”

“The campaign is about changing and reinventing yourself without losing the qualities that make you who you are. The technology is just another tool supporting the idea, not replacing it.”

Production studio Tempo worked on the s.Oliver film, with Alex Feil directing. British photographer Rankin—a frequent Klum collaborator—helped craft the still images.

Related: Snickers’ AI Spoof Sure Satisfies as Week’s Best Ad