What does the office of the future look like? This was the question posed by BOSS and answered with its ‘TECH-TOP.IA’ showcase. Held in Italy’s business and fashion capital Milan on Friday night, the German superbrand spared no expense in transforming its biannual style showcase into a utopian vision of the workplace. This corporate wonderland, imagined by creative agency Villa Eugenie, pods of cyber-chic meeting rooms - the like of which 2023’s Silicon Valley could only dream about - were dotted around the catwalk. Inside, workers clad in all-white uniforms could be found conferencing via VR headsets or mid-meditation, while technicians tinkered in a lab aided by a robotic arm.
Upon arrival, guests were welcomed by Sophia, the most humanlike robot currently in existence created by Hanson Robotics. Using her advanced AI dialogue system - Sophia can speak 18 languages and experience emotion - the social humanoid conversed with astonished showgoers who, part-way through the gruelling international fashion month circuit, had thought they had seen everything.
Sophia also wore custom-made BOSS for the occasion, dressed in a grey pinstripe satin dress and tailored wool overcoat. Later, she took to a desk to watch the show from the FROW, alongside Naomi Campbell, Burna Boy and Demi Levato.
Also modelling the See Now Buy Now collection was Gigi Hadid, who opened the catwalk show wearing a double breasted skirt suit and a plunging cowl neck burgundy silk shirt, accessorised with a pair of semi sheer tights and a pencil stuck through her scrapped back hair bun.
The corporate-yet-cool mood prevailed, with starched white shirts left open and sharp tailoring deconstructed with a full length back zip.
Gigi was not the only recognisable face on the catwalk. Ashley Graham and Paloma Elsesser also made a strong case for the skirt suit, while Boxer Anthony Joshua took a turn, dressed in contrasting layers of cream, navy and khaki, together with a burgundy leather car coat complete with faux fur trim.
The menswear offering in the collection was particularly compelling, spanning double breasted power suiting, tailored coats and briefcase bags.
After the final model left the catwalk, the show space transformed into an after-party, complete with Petri dish canapés and cocktails served in test tubes - with Sophia dancing long into the night.