Cultural evolution is an integral part of cultural preservation, especially in relation to fashion because culture interlaces the survival, representation and the everyday practices of a specific collectives of people. As clothing forms part of everyday practices and is viewed simultaneously with the body, it serves as a visual tool for the expression of individual and social identities. Clothing is arguably the most visually expressive aspects of cultural identity. Without adaptation, cultures disappear and with the emergence of new generations and changes in the clothing needs of individuals within cultural groups, a need arises for clothing design that meets the cultural and everyday clothing needs of younger generations who have different clothing requirements to those of previous generations.

In South Africa, where a plethora of cultures have existed and evolved, clothing practices are mostly representative of non-South African cultures6. In a globalised world, where cultural exchange occurs without direct contact with other cultural groups, it is important to have a gauge on how the cultural needs of different generations, within a cultural group, at a specific point in time, change. This helps with designing products that better suit the needs of current generations and maintain cultural continuity. As different generations develop their own interpretation of their traditional cultures, designing clothing that caters to their cultural needs caters to their social inclusion (SDG 10.2) and representation, prolonging the life of traditional clothing (garments that have, for generations, visually represented a specific ethnic group of people) as a reference for new styles (SDG 11.4). This research explored the general clothing preferences of three generations of Xhosa women (one of South Africa’s prominent cultural groups: 10,110,483 individuals) in relation to their culture and mainstream fashion.

This research serves as an indicator of how to better cater to the clothing cultural needs of different generations of Xhosa women living in South Africa using images generated through AI. The dataset used in this study was initially gathered by the researcher as part of a previous research study and therefore constitutes primary data in its original context. However, for the purpose of this paper the data is considered secondary, as it was re-analysed to address a new research aim and objectives, distinct from those of the initial study. The study followed a quantitative approach using a survey research design. An online questionnaire developed using Qualtrics was circulated through various social media platforms. A sample of 295 Xhosa women living in South Africa and between 18 and 55 years old, completed the questionnaire. For this paper, data was analysed through descriptive statistics. The research found that this group of Xhosa women preferred clothing that combined aspects of Westernised and Xhosa culture but that the three included generations (Generation X, Y and Z) had varying preferences depending on the clothing categories given to them: indicating the need for diversified cultural clothing designs for different clothing categories for different generations within the same cultural group.