Vogue’s Robotic Runway Stunt Misses the Mark in Milan

The act, titled The Age of Intelligence, featured machines waving their arms and performing lasso motions to Gigi D’Agostino’s music. Instead of celebrating craftsmanship, the performance became a focal point for audience discomfort, perfectly captured by the pained expression of Valentino creative director Alessandro Michele. Rather than highlighting clothing, the robots effectively overshadowed the fashion entirely, leaving industry observers to question Vogue’s deepening ties to Silicon Valley.

This pivot toward tech-heavy spectacles arrives as Anna Wintour aligns the magazine more closely with tech titans, with Meta Glasses and OpenAI providing support for the Milan event. Critics argue that forcing robots into a luxury environment ignores the broader anxieties surrounding labor displacement and the economic divide. Muna Ikedionwu, founder of MKEDI, noted that these machines fail to represent genuine innovation, contrasting them with the ephemeral, engineering-led designs of artists like AA Murakami. For many, the performance felt like a superficial attempt to court wealthy tech interests, failing to offer the meaningful intersection of art and utility that define the current era of creative technology.