Catwalk: The Art Of The Fashion Show art review – Fast-tracking fashion history
Walk, walk, fashion, baby: V&A Dundee’s latest blockbuster exhibition charts the rise of the catwalk from its origins in the 1800s to modern times. Jennifer McLaren finds that ready-to-wear, supermodels and even an animated homage are all part of this journey
V&A Dundee’s Catwalk: The Art Of The Fashion Show is as chic and stylish as its title suggests, charting the 125-year story of the industry’s journey to becoming an influential and inseparable part of popular culture. From its late 19th-century beginnings in the fashion houses of Lucile, Paquin, Chanel, Dior, Balenciaga, Worth and Poiret, each room focuses on a shift in style or approach until the Big Four (Paris, London, Milan and New York) finally share the spoils of fashion’s explosion into the public consciousness.
Designer Lady Duff-Gordon, known as Lucile, is said to have been the founder of the mannequin parade, the revelation that living models could breathe life into garments. This resulted in the birth of a spectacle that has grown to become a staple part of the industry as we know it.
A 1971 pair of green suede Manolo Blahnik sandals on display created a new way of walking for unsteady models due to an oversight which meant there were no steel pins in the heel to keep them supported. Meanwhile, Paco Rabanne’s iconic Mirror Dress (c.1967) was ambitious, futuristic and purposely unwearable due to being made from metal. The rise of fashion shows as theatre is evident in images such as those from the Missoni show which took place at Piscina Solari, Milan, in 1967, where models were pushed around the swimming pool on inflatable loungers.
Ready-to-wear (or prêt-à-porter) makes its entrance with the emergence of labels such as French brand Chloé and 60s icon Mary Quant. Scotland gets in on the action with nods to 1955 fundraising Dior fashion shows at Gleneagles Hotel and Glasgow’s Central Hotel, as well as the more recent Dior Cruise show, held in June 2024 at Drummond Castle in Perthshire, and finally Chanel’s Metiers d’Art collection in 2012 at Linlithgow Palace. Also featured are pieces by designers with Scottish roots such as the late Pam Hogg, Charles Jeffrey and Jamaican-Scottish designer Nicholas Daley.
Supermodels make their meteoric ascent in the 1980s and 90s as Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Claudia Schiffer and Kate Moss bring star power to the catwalk. The question of the industry’s influence on unobtainable beauty ideals is broached and changing attitudes to body image explored.
Visitors are ushered backstage where the preparation happens; a fun piece is a simple but chic dark grey t-shirt that reads ‘Galliano’s Girl’, worn by staff at John Galliano’s shows. In the final rooms, the fashion show has officially evolved into a spectacle and V&A Dundee has its own catwalk featuring pieces by Viktor&Rolf, Dior, Chanel and Alexander McQueen. Video clips from iconic shows play on the walls, while surreal props from events such as Chanel’s Supermarket Show are ensconced behind glass.
To top it off, a crowd-pleasing episode of The Simpsons created for the Balenciaga Spring/Summer 2022 runway show at Paris Fashion Week plays on a loop, in which the residents of Springfield are transformed into fashionistas.
Catwalk: The Art Of The Fashion Show, V&A Dundee, until Sunday 17 January; Picture: Julie Howden.