Drones will make their runway debut at Fendi

In a fashion first, camera-mounted drones will capture and livestream Fendi's AW14 show during Milan Fashion Week. High-definition cameras attached to drones will capture an aerial view of Thursday's runway show and broadcast the action live to a global audience via Fendi.com. Watch the exclusive teaser for the show above. 

During the stream, Fendi fans have the choice of switching between the classic runway view captured by cameras on the ground and aerial shots filmed by the flying, Fendi-branded Drone Cam. If you miss the drone action, you'll be able to replay the drone footage on the brand's website. 

Drones have previously gotten a bad rap – they've been used extensively by the military in the Middle East as well as being used to conduct surveillance on civilian populations. But more recently, they've acquired commercial usages too: Amazon have begun to trial a delivery drone, while some enterprising techno-wonks have started using them to do anything from delivering kebabs to transporting disaster relief supplies. (You can see a full list of drone services here.)

But Fendi's use of drones marks the first time a fashion house has ventured into this field of up-and-coming technology, and the casual viewer will be lucky enough to see how this provocative experiment turns out (in real time, no less). Put it this way: it's probably the first ever designer-branded drone you'll ever see.

Log on to Fendi.com at 11.30am on Thursday 20 February to watch.