J.Crew teams with Anthropic on AI styling tool
J.Crew is partnering with a leading provider of next-generation artificial intelligence technology to help customers discover and shop looks.
The J.Crew Style Advisor is a new customer solution running on a variety of Anthropic Claude agentic AI models that combines the retailer’s styling knowledge and a library of proprietary imagery. Available on now on desktop in the U.S. for men’s and women’s apparel styles, the tool includes instincts and judgments of human J.Crew stylists, including how they balance proportions and create combinations, in an effort to recreate the in-person shopping experience
Customers can describe occasions or events they’re shopping for and receive complete looks with styling guidance they can keep refining. Style Advisor runs on a group of Claude models, each handling specific tasks. J.Crew used Fable 5.1, Anthropic’s model for complex, open-ended work, to map out how the tool would think and respond like a J.Crew stylist.
The retailer also used Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code to build a working prototype, which it then developed into a production-ready solution. In each conversation with Style Advisor, Claude Sonnet 5.5 acts as the stylist, while Claude Haiku 5.5 handles quick, focused tasks so the advisor can answer more quickly and keep its recommendations consistent with J.Crew's styling aesthetic.
Key features
Utilizing the J.Crew Style Advisor, customers can:
- Shop visually through complete outfits drawn from thousands of outfit pairings from J.Crew’s photo shoots and receive complete looks shown in photos. Every recommendation begins with complete looks created by J.Crew stylists.
- Build an outfit from a single piece. Customers can start with a specific item and receive suggestions for complementary pieces to complete the look.
- Explore J.Crew's point of view. Recommendations reflect the styling principles, pairings and aesthetic choices of J.Crew.
- Receive recommendations tailored to where they're going and what they're shopping for.
The solution is designed to grow with the customer. Over time, the experience is designed to become more personal, tailoring suggestions to each customer’s preferences and past purchases.
J.Crew styles in the metaverse
J.Crew has also been offering an AI-based metaverse styling experiences for the past few years. In 2024, the retailer teamed with experiential commerce platform Obsess to launch the "J.Crew Virtual Closet" app on Apple Vision Pro.
[READ MORE: J.Crew expands metaverse effort with Apple Vision Pro styling app]
The experience allows users to shop J.Crew products in an interactive, ultra-high-definition 3D environment and utilizes SharePlay, a set of features for shared experiences while on a FaceTime call, to enable customers to chat with J.Crew expert stylists or host group calls to get others' opinions. Users can explore a curated selection of the brand's products while also being able to examine the texture and quality of the materials.
“The next evolution of online shopping will be about creating experiences that are more intuitive, visual and interactive, moving beyond traditional product search to a more natural way of discovering and exploring fashion,” said Danielle Schmelkin, CIO of J.Crew Group. “By combining Claude's capabilities with our proprietary imagery and deep understanding of how pieces work together, we're changing the shopping experience so it’s a dialogue.”
As of November 2026, J.Crew operates 114 retail stores across the U.S. and maintains a global e-commerce presence.
