Models turn mobiles on the crowd as Marc Jacobs rewrites runway rules
Marc Jacobs offered a grand finale to New York fashion week that rewrites runway etiquette in a phone-centric, celebrity-obsessed world
The future of traditional catwalk shows is under threat. One of America’s most critically acclaimed living designers sent models down a bare wooden catwalk in silence, striding through the middle of a cavernous room devoid of decoration and empty but for a long line of seated spectators.
In a break with the usual flash-mob frenzy straining to capture every move on cell phones, guests were kindly asked to refrain from taking pictures.
The layout gave an audience of around 300 each – in two back-to-back shows – a front-row seat on utilitarian fold-out chairs.
With no music, the only sound was the thud of models prowling the scuffed wooden floor.
Only when they exited the building onto Park Avenue could press photographers record the action as models took their own seats, ready to turn phones onto the guests as they poured outside.
The music – so ubiquitous at fashion shows – blared out of loudspeakers as guests and models found themselves in a mobile phone face-off on a bitterly cold February afternoon.
Guest of honour Katy Perry, the most popular person on Twitter with 96 million followers, snapped away with other lesser mortals – the commentary on celebrity-obsession as deliberate as it was unsubtle.
