Robots have walked fashion runways since McQueen's 1999 spray-painting arms, through Coperni's Boston Dynamics dogs in 2023
Robots have been on fashion runways since 1999, when Alexander McQueen (@alexandermcqueen) ended his spring show with two arms borrowed from a car plant.
Coperni put Boston Dynamics machines on its Paris runway in March 2023, and one of them took a jacket off a model's shoulders and handed it back.
At Vogue World in Milan on 22 September, humanoid robots from the Chinese firm Unitree entered to music, waved their arms asking the room to clap, and wore nothing at all.
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The post, as it ran
01IN 1999 ALEXANDER MCQUEEN PUT TWO CAR-FACTORY ROBOTS ON A RUNWAY AND LET THEM SPRAY-PAINT A DRESS.
02SHALOM HARLOW STOOD BETWEEN THEM ON A ROTATING PLATFORM IN WHITE. THEY SPRAYED HER BLACK AND ACID YELLOW.
03SHE HAD TRAINED AS A BALLERINA AND SHE MOVED WITH THEM. IN HER ACCOUNT THE MACHINES TURNED "MORE AGGRESSIVE AND FRENETIC".
04MCQUEEN TOOK THE IDEA FROM REBECCA HORN'S 1991 INSTALLATION HIGH MOON, IN WHICH TWO GUNS SHOT RED PAINT AT EACH OTHER.
05IN MARCH 2023 COPERNI USED BOSTON DYNAMICS ROBOTS. ONE TOOK THE JACKET OFF RIANNE VAN ROMPAEY'S SHOULDERS.
06AT VOGUE WORLD IN MILAN ON 22 SEPTEMBER, HUMANOID ROBOTS WALKED IN WEARING NO CLOTHES AND WAVED FOR APPLAUSE.
07MCQUEEN'S ROBOTS PAINTED A DRESS. COPERNI'S TOOK A JACKET. MILAN'S WAVED.