Vogue sent robots down the runway at Vogue World, and people were not impressed
- ID
- 27939
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 24 Sep 2026, 7:33 AM
- Fetched
- 24 Sep 2026, 8:13 AM
- Provider
- TechCrunch
- Category
- technology
- Original URL
- https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/23/vogue-sent-robots-down-the-runway-at-vogue-world-and-people-were-not-impressed/
- Source URL
- https://techcrunch.com/feed/
Summary
- Score
- 2.0
- Created
- 24 Sep 2026, 8:13 AM
- Tags
- Audience
- developers
What happened
Vogue World's fifth edition closed its Milan run this week with an act called "The Age of Intelligence," in which humanoid robots from Chinese firm Unitree walked into the Galleria to Gigi D'Agostino's "L'Amour Toujours," waved, and one performed a lasso — all unclothed. The show was marketed as a tribute to Italian craftsmanship and "the human touch," but coverage focused on the robots rather than the fashion, and the pained on-camera reaction of Valentino creative director Alessandro Michele went viral. Vogue World's next edition is set for San Francisco in 2027, which the article links to Anna Wintour's growing alignment with tech figures.
Why it matters
There is no build-level takeaway here: no product, price, version, benchmark, or API is mentioned, and Unitree's robots are described only as stage performers that have also made headlines for falling and breaking. The one thing worth noting is that mainstream audiences now associate "The Age of Intelligence" branding with choreographed robot spectacle, so if you're pitching robotics or embodied AI to non-technical buyers, expect their baseline reference point to be a runway stunt rather than a capability demo.
Discussion angle
Unitree's robots keep getting their biggest public exposure through dance routines and viral falls — is that net-positive or net-negative for anyone actually trying to sell or fund humanoid robotics work right now?