Vogue sent robots down the runway at Vogue World, and people were not impressed
Vogue sent robots down the runway at Vogue World, and people were not impressed
《Vogue》在 Vogue World 活动中让机器人走上 T 台，但观众并不买账
Vogue World closed its Milan edition this week with a troupe of robots — perhaps a preview of what’s coming when the event descends on San Francisco next year. Vogue World is the magazine’s annual traveling spectacle, now in its fifth year: part runway show, part celebrity showcase, part variety hour, part ad-sales opportunity, staged in a different city each time. It has run through New York, London, Paris, and Hollywood. 本周，Vogue World 米兰站落下帷幕，压轴登场的是一群机器人——这或许预示着明年该活动移师旧金山时将会出现的情景。Vogue World 是该杂志一年一度的巡回盛典，今年已是第五个年头。它集时装秀、明星秀、综艺节目和广告营销机会于一体，每届都在不同的城市举办，此前已走过纽约、伦敦、巴黎和好莱坞。
This year’s Milan edition was marketed as a tribute to Italian craftsmanship and “the human touch” in an age of technology, which makes what happened next a little strange. During the act titled The Age of Intelligence, humanoid robots made by the Chinese firm Unitree walked into the Galleria to Gigi D’Agostino’s “L’Amour Toujours.” They waved their arms in the air, imploring onlookers to clap. One did a lasso. They were not wearing clothes. The pained expression of Alessandro Michele, the creative director of Valentino, quickly went viral. 今年米兰站的宣传主题是向意大利工艺致敬，强调在科技时代保留“人文触感”，这使得随后发生的一幕显得有些诡异。在名为“智能时代”（The Age of Intelligence）的环节中，中国公司宇树科技（Unitree）制造的人形机器人伴随着 Gigi D’Agostino 的歌曲《L’Amour Toujours》走进埃马努埃莱二世拱廊街。它们在空中挥舞手臂，示意观众鼓掌，其中一个还表演了套索动作。它们身上没有穿衣服。华伦天奴（Valentino）创意总监亚历山德罗·米歇尔（Alessandro Michele）当时痛苦的表情迅速在网上疯传。
I haven’t seen a single thing about the actual fashion that was presented at Vogue World Milan. Instead, everyone is talking about the robots. (These same robots have been making headlines worldwide for their dance moves, and for falling and breaking.) Similar robots turned up on the runway at London Fashion Week, which is happening now. 我没看到任何关于 Vogue World 米兰站所展示的实际时装的报道，相反，大家都在谈论这些机器人。（这些机器人此前就因其舞姿以及摔倒损坏而频频登上全球头条。）类似的机器人也出现在了正在进行的伦敦时装周的 T 台上。
Vogue turned heads earlier this year when it announced that the next edition will be in San Francisco, arguably one of the least stylish cities in the United States. The timing isn’t coincidental. Anna Wintour has aligned herself ever more closely with the tech barons of our time, and Vogue World Milan was itself sponsored in part by Meta Glasses, with additional support from OpenAI. 今年早些时候，Vogue 宣布下一站将在旧金山举办，此举引发了广泛关注，毕竟旧金山可以说是美国最缺乏时尚感的城市之一。这个时间点并非巧合。安娜·温图尔（Anna Wintour）与当代科技巨头走得越来越近，Vogue World 米兰站本身就由 Meta 眼镜部分赞助，并获得了 OpenAI 的额外支持。
It was one of those moments that reveals how thoroughly tech exists in a bubble, and that not everyone is happy with the rapid adoption of new technology, or by Vogue cozying up to the symbols of the insanely rich — and only getting richer — tech titans during a cost-of-living crisis. That’s before you get to AI, mass surveillance, the displacement of labor, and the energy crisis, all of them overseen by the same titans. For some, a robot on a runway is further proof of what is going wrong in the world right now. 这一刻揭示了科技圈是多么彻底地活在自己的泡沫中，也表明并非所有人都对新技术的快速普及感到高兴，更不用说在生活成本危机期间，Vogue 还要去讨好那些富得流油且财富仍在不断膨胀的科技巨头。更别提人工智能、大规模监控、劳动力替代和能源危机等问题，而这些问题的背后推手正是同一批科技巨头。对一些人来说，T 台上的机器人进一步证明了当今世界正走向何方。
“I’m annoyed by the celebrities cheering the whole thing,” one tech founder wrote me on Instagram. “It’s sick and gloom. People are literally losing jobs and livelihoods because of these things. They need to stop encouraging it. What’s it even modeling? Headphones?” One fashion reporter friend simply said “No,” when I asked for thoughts on the robots and Vogue World San Francisco. “我对那些为这一切欢呼的明星感到厌烦，”一位科技公司创始人在 Instagram 上写道，“这令人作呕且阴郁。人们正因为这些东西实实在在地失去工作和生计。他们需要停止这种鼓励行为。它们到底在展示什么？耳机吗？”当我询问一位时尚记者朋友对这些机器人和旧金山 Vogue World 的看法时，他只简单回了一个字：“不。”
Jason Johnson, founder of Culture Impact Agency, noted that Vogue has been trying to build a relationship with Silicon Valley for at least the past decade, highlighting when Jony Ive co-hosted the Met Gala back in 2015. The dancing robots at Vogue World Milan were inevitable, then, as is Vogue World San Francisco and as was Jeff Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sanchez, getting the splashy Vogue wedding cover and co-hosting the 2026 Met Gala. “Publications are figuring out new ways to make money and tech has money,” he told me. “Vogue has the cultural influence and access that those tech people want.” 文化影响代理公司（Culture Impact Agency）创始人杰森·约翰逊（Jason Johnson）指出，Vogue 至少在过去十年里一直试图与硅谷建立联系，他特别提到了 2015 年乔尼·艾维（Jony Ive）共同主持 Met Gala 的往事。因此，Vogue World 米兰站出现跳舞机器人是必然的，正如 Vogue World 旧金山站的举办，以及杰夫·贝索斯（Jeff Bezos）和妻子劳伦·桑切斯（Lauren Sanchez）登上 Vogue 婚礼封面并共同主持 2026 年 Met Gala 一样。“出版物正在寻找新的赚钱方式，而科技圈有钱，”他告诉我，“Vogue 拥有那些科技大佬们梦寐以求的文化影响力和准入渠道。”
Muna Ikedionwu, founder of MKEDI, a strategy firm for early-stage startups, said what she found most interesting about the robots is that they don’t fully represent the innovation and progress that’s actually happening in the creative technologist space. “I’ve seen such incredible examples of engineering and AI being used to influence fashion, being used to influence design and art,” she told me, adding that robots walking down the runway doesn’t even scratch the surface of what is happening right now at the intersection of fashion and tech. 早期初创企业战略公司 MKEDI 的创始人穆娜·伊克迪翁武（Muna Ikedionwu）表示，她觉得这些机器人最有趣的地方在于，它们并不能完全代表创意技术领域正在发生的创新与进步。“我见过许多令人难以置信的工程和人工智能应用案例，它们正在影响时尚、设计和艺术，”她告诉我，并补充说，机器人走秀甚至连时尚与科技交叉领域现状的皮毛都算不上。
She points to the artist duo AA Murakami, who created Olympian Eileen Gu’s dress of bubbles at this year’s Met Gala. They are fashion designers but also engineers, Ikedionwu said, noting a presentation she saw them give recently about how to create an “everlasting bubble.” They are helping to pioneer “ephemeral technology,” she said, “this idea of technology and innovation that speaks to the ephemeral nature or the temporariness of art and humanity and the soul.” 她提到了艺术家组合 AA Murakami，他们为今年的 Met Gala 创作了奥运冠军谷爱凌的“泡泡裙”。伊克迪翁武说，他们既是时装设计师也是工程师，并提到最近看过他们关于如何创造“永恒泡泡”的演讲。她说，他们正在帮助开创“短暂技术”（ephemeral technology），“这种技术和创新的理念，探讨的是艺术、人性与灵魂的短暂本质。”
Sure, I guess when you compare it to this, the robots did seem quite boring. Whenever I think about the intersection of fashion and technology, I think about that Spring 2024 Schiaparelli collection, which unveiled a robot baby crafted with Swarovski crystals and a dress made with vintage tech like PC microchips. Ikedionwu wonders whether this robot performance was a way to make the general public more comfortable with technology and fashion overlapping, a merger that has been underway behind the scenes for years. If so, it didn’t work. 当然，我想如果和这些相比，机器人确实显得相当无聊。每当我想到时尚与科技的交集，我就会想起 Schiaparelli 2024 春季系列，当时他们展示了一个用施华洛世奇水晶打造的机器人婴儿，以及一件用 PC 微芯片等复古科技制成的裙子。伊克迪翁武怀疑，这次机器人表演是否是为了让公众更适应科技与时尚的融合——这种融合在幕后已经进行了多年。如果是这样的话，那显然没奏效。