Who needs mere mortal, six-foot-tall supermodels to stomp down the runways when designers can fly their clothes down the catwalk instead?

At Tuesday's fashion spectacle known as Silicon Valley Fashion Week, drones replaced living models. The inaugural techie event launched the same day in San Francisco.

The three-day affair promises all attending it will take tech fashion from geek to chic. Its runway show last night at The Chapel showcased startup brands from the likes of Betabrand, for example.

Except, no models were to be seen.

Image: Betabrand

Instead, models of the flesh were replaced by aluminum drones that whizzed down the catwalk, hovering over the audience. Different looks literally flew across the stage.

“Drones are lovely,” says Chris Lindland, CEO of Betabrand and founder of Silicon Valley Fashion Week. He partnered up with the San Francisco-based collective, Game of Drones, who provided all of the "models" for the night.

“Drone-flown clothing flutters beautifully in the prop wash and floats down the runway like a ghost,” he adds.

The drone company is participating for “the experience,” rather than any monetary gain.

What started out as a startup has now become a bona fide business, one that Marque Cornblatt, Game of Drones’ founder and CEO, says has potential for mass appeal in various sectors.

“Two years ago we were playing with our robots in something like a fight club,” he says. “Today, I see that there’s so much potential for them: advertising in parks, marketing at baseball games and, of course, fashion. If you’re walking up to an Abercrombie & Fitch where there are no longer any sexy models, maybe there will be drones out there instead. Slowly but surely, drones are going into the mainstream.”

It's not too far of a stretch for the fashion industry, which readily embraces technology. Perhaps drones will have a place on ready-to-wear high fashion runways in the near future, perhaps even accompanied by real-life models.

But will they replace human models entirely?

Probably not, mainly for two main reasons. Firstly, buyers and editors will want to see what these clothes look like on a human to visualize what’s flattering: the length of a garment, how it flows, etc. A drone won’t be able to do that — hanging clothes are too flat and don't respond to human movements. Secondly, fashion still depends on selling sex, so until drones are sexualized (not too far-fetched), models will keep their day jobs.

Still, Lindland sees the advantage of his drones.

“They require far less food than average models — none, in fact,” he tells Mashable. “In a few years, we predict they'll become sentient, turn into fashion divas...then kill us all.”

Until then, we stand by Karlie Kloss.