"Techtopia" by BOSS

Presented last week at Milan's Allianz MiCo conference center, the BOSS FW '-23-'24 show was a jaw-dropping spectacle of set design. Sophia the Robot, created by Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics, greeted audience members as they arrived at the reception area of what BOSS calls their Techtopia, "a vision of the workplace of tomorrow, where game-changing technologies are combined with lush green spaces." Audience members sat at desks with Sophia while the models navigated the layout of the space. Maybe I have simply seen too many sci-fi films but this seemed much more DYS-topian than U-topian. There is something eerie about the five pods scattered around the presentation space that housed a man doing yoga, the BOSS synth-lab for manufacturing fragrances, a VR pod of people reclining in chairs engaged in an unseen digital reality, and two meeting rooms filled with floating plants on a conference table. The bright, clinical lighting is harsh and unrelenting. The entire scene is absolutely worthy of a sci-fi film (it feels a bit like "THX1138") and carries an undercurrent of dread... but the clothes are lovely! While not of the experimental nature of some of my favorite designers, current head of BOSS Marco Falcioni created a collection that Vogue journalist Luke Leitch called "an almost anthropological and at times surreal excavation of the tradition of 'executive dress' at a social moment where Lazy Girl Jobs are trending and 'Working Girl' [the 1988 film] feels like a historical document." Please do take a moment to watch the show below, and marvel at the stage design on the show.

https://www.hugoboss.com/