Vogue sent robots down the runway at Vogue World, and people were not impressed

Vogue World Milan ended with Unitree humanoid robots dancing in an act framed around technology and “the human touch,” but the stunt quickly became the event’s dominant talking point. Clips of the robots and Valentino creative director Alessandro Michele’s reaction went viral, while the actual fashion received comparatively little attention.

The backlash shows how easily tech spectacle can overwhelm cultural events when the execution feels gimmicky or disconnected from the theme. Vogue’s growing alignment with Meta, OpenAI, and San Francisco tech culture suggests fashion institutions are testing new alliances, but audience skepticism remains high when technology appears to replace rather than enhance human creativity.