Why were there robots at Vogue World Milan?
The idea was to explore the relationship between human creativity and artificial intelligence.
According to Vogue World creative director Juan Costa Paz, the robots were meant to represent a moment of transition in technology. He compared their current stage of development to the earliest mobile phones: bulky and imperfect, but potentially the beginning of something much bigger. Vogue
That explains why the robots did not glide flawlessly like futuristic supermodels. Their slightly clumsy movements were part of the point.
The show was asking a bigger question: what happens to creativity when machines become increasingly capable of imitating humans?
The robots walked beside real supermodels
The machines appeared in the same show as models including Alex Consani, Ruth Deng and Yumi Nu, creating an intentionally strange contrast between human movement and mechanical motion. Vogue
Vogue World also featured major celebrity appearances, including Jennifer Lopez, Cardi B and Alicia Keys, turning the Milan event into something closer to a large-scale entertainment production than a conventional runway show. People.com
But the robots quickly became one of the most talked-about moments.
Not everyone loved the idea
The stunt also sparked criticism online.
TechCrunch reported that the robot finale generated a noticeably mixed response, with some viewers questioning whether the machines added anything meaningful to the fashion show or simply felt like a technology gimmick. TechCrunch
Other fashion publications described the appearance as intentionally unsettling, reflecting broader anxiety about how AI and robotics may affect creative industries. Cosmopolitan
And that tension may have been exactly what Vogue wanted.
Fashion is becoming increasingly obsessed with AI
Robots on fashion runways are not entirely new. Designers have experimented with mechanical performers and artificial intelligence for several years.
What made Vogue World Milan different was the scale and symbolism of the moment. Instead of appearing as a small novelty inside one designer's show, the robots became part of a major international fashion event centered on the future of creativity.
Vogue also incorporated AI-generated effects into a short film starring Italian model Vittoria Ceretti, reinforcing the event's human-versus-machine theme. Vogue
The message was surprisingly reassuring: machines may be able to reproduce styles or generate ideas, but human experience and emotion remain much harder to replace.
Could robots become the next runway models?
Probably not anytime soon.
The Unitree robots still moved in a visibly mechanical way, and the contrast with professional models made their limitations obvious.
But that may also explain why the moment became so memorable.
Instead of showing us a perfect futuristic fashion world, Vogue World Milan showed something far stranger: a future that is already arriving, but clearly isn't finished yet.
Key Takeaways
Four Unitree humanoid robots walked at Vogue World: Milano 2026 during a segment called The Age of Intelligence. The performance was designed to explore AI, robotics and human creativity, although reactions ranged from fascination to criticism. Vogue