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

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. 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.