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J. Crew debuts new AI shopping tool that’s designed to think like a stylist

Crew’s Style Advisor runs on a variety of Claude’s models, including Fable 5.1, which is leveraged to handle the more complex and ambiguous judgment that allows the tool to think and respond like a stylist.

✦ Extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting•From 1 source•1 min read•Updated November 11, 2026, 5:43 PM UTC
Key points
  • Crew announced a new consumer-facing, AI-enabled tool called Style Advisor, which runs on a collection of Anthropic’s models.
  • But while 56% of consumers say they use AI chat or search tools including Anthropic’s Claude or OpenAI’s ChatGPT, only 27% are gravitating to retailer-created AI shopping assistants, according to consulting firm McKinsey.
  • “What is the actual experience that we want the shopper to have, and then, how do we think about making sure that we’re mapping the right models to be able to deliver that,” says Lauren Collett, Anthropic’s enterprise go-to-market leader.

In the future, the tool will also pull in data from a consumer’s past purchase history, allowing Style Advisor to make even more personalized recommendations, replicating that’s already possible during the omnichannel shopping experience.

Additional details
  • Crew’s style has woven cashmere cardigans, tweed jackets, and other preppy staples that have attracted high-profile fans including Michelle Obama, Demi Moore, and Meghan Markle.
  • Claude’s Sonnet 5.5 and Haiku 4.5 support the speed and efficiency of the back-and-forth responses between consumers and the AI stylist, while Claude Opus 5.5 was utilized by J.
  • Crew, to bolster AI adoption, the retailer has created an AI fluency program that begins with the basics and advances up through vibe coding.
  • “I think the visual piece is really important,” says Schmelkin of the distinctive edge that she promises Style Advisor will offer.
  • Crew has also run a two-day tech summit that features workshops, hackathons, guest speakers, and vendor presentations.

How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →

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FortuneNovember 11, 2026, 5:43 PM UTC →

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