Each year, when Vogue World touches down in a new city, it brings with it a subtle theme. For London, it was fashion’s relationship with the arts; the Paris edition explored the industry’s love affair with sport; and in Los Angeles, it centered on the vital connection between cinema and style. For Vogue World 2026 in Milan, the focus will be on something Italy has long been known for—craftsmanship—and how that notion evolved throughout the past, present, and into the future.
To highlight the ways in which the time-honored practice of making clothing has changed (first it was by hand, then with machines and other technologies), we’ve created a series of videos starring the Italian supermodel Vittoria Ceretti wearing some of the country’s most showstopping creations. In them, she demonstrates how craft is not something frozen in time, but a continually changing practice.
“Regardless of where we go or how technology progresses, I still very much feel that it can’t replace certain things that are innately human,” says Bardia Zeinali, who directed the videos. Indeed, in Zeinali’s imagining, technology can be a useful tool for executing an idea, but it has its limits. “The human is really important—key—to the process of anything, but particularly creation,” he adds.
Zeinali’s cheeky videos have been divided into six parts, each with its own theme, whether it’s invention, taste, emotion, or ambition. The director began his process in a very human way—naturally—by asking fellow creatives for their thoughts on the ways in which innovation and craft overlap with recent advancements in technology, including, of course, AI. “This may sound woo-woo,” he says, “but being creative, a creator, an artist, there’s something otherworldly that comes to you, or that you pull from. It’s a source that is so deeply human that it cannot be emulated, achieved, or reached with any kind of technology.”
Zeinali cast Ceretti as a sleek, robotic embodiment of technology (inspired in part by the films Simone and Ex Machina), dubbed Vittoria.ai, and placed her in various situations that veer toward the surreal—gazing on as a malfunctioning robot sings opera from a balcony, for instance, or watching an Ancient Roman-like figure reveal a wooden wheel for a modern car.
“While technology can generate ideas and imitate styles, people bring their own experiences and emotion to art and that will forever be irreplaceable,” Ceretti says. “Today, creativity is about knowing how to lead with human imagination and judgment while knowing that powerful digital tools could potentially assist the process in positive ways.” She points to platforms like Instagram and TikTok as an exemplar. “They allow people in our industry to build personal brands, find opportunities, and communicate on a global scale,” Ceretti says. “The ability to reach a larger audience and create a professional identity based on your own style and interests has made the modeling industry more accessible and created opportunities for people who may not have had them in the past.”
Alex Hunter, one-half of the duo Hunter Hornof, knows well the creative value of technology—Hunter Hornof worked on the AI and visual effects employed in Zeinali’s videos—even if he too feels that the quixotic process of creation itself has no automated equivalent. “There’s still something extraordinary about seeing something that existed in your head come alive in front of you,” he says. “And there are so many ways to bring ideas alive. During my time at Balenciaga, we tried almost every technology out there. So what has changed is how we can develop those ideas.”
Frederick Hornof, the other half of the duo, puts it this way: “Directing with AI is like directing an actor, who has seen everything and lived nothing.”
