Image: Rex USA
1. The Supers Moment
We’d take front row at any runway show the supers walked, but they had an extra special place on Gianni Versace’s Fall 1991 runway. Glamazons Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington closed this particular show in Milan in flirty black and primary color dresses that still look relevant thanks to one of the greatest designers of our time.
Image: Sipa USA
2. The Battle of Versailles
Five French designers (Marc Bohan for Dior, Pierre Cardin, Emmanuel Ungaro, Yves Saint Laurent and Hubery de Givenchy) competed against five U.S. designers (Halston, Oscar de la Renta, Bill Blass, Anne Klein and Stephen Burrows) in a scheme to raise money to restore the palace, thought up bu New York fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert and French art expert Gerald Van der Kemp. In a 1973 walk-off before “Zoolander” was ever a though, the American came out on top, critically – securing respect for a legion of young labels.
Image: Getty
3. Nurses On Call
Marc Jacobs collaborated with Richard Prince on bags for Louis Vuitton’s Spring 2008 season and appropriated the artist’s well-known nurse paintings on the runway—to perfectly creepy and iconic results. Some of those creepy—yet artful—nurses were Stephanie Seymour, Eva Herzigova, and Naomi Campbell, by the way.
Image: Sipa USA
4. Dior’s New Look
When Christian Dior was 42 years old, he presented his first collection to the press at 30 avenue Montaigne in 1947, with flowers by Lachaume. Editor in Chief of Bazaar at the time, Carmel Snow, declared the dresses to have, “such a new look!” A writer from Reuters coined the phrase and fashion history was made.
Image: Getty
5. Bianca’s Birthday
Photographer Rose Hartman was one of the lucky ones at Studio 54, capturing the night Bianca Jagger rode into the club on a white horse for her 30th birthday in 1977. The horse was a gift from owners Steve Rubbell and Ian Schrager. We don’t know the details of what went down after that grand entrance, but we’re almost certain everyone had some fun that night, and were wearing a lot of Halston.
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6. Chanel On A Plane
Lagerfeld’s Spring 2012 Haute Couture presentation on a plane at the Gran Palais is the one we would have really loved to attend. Who doesn’t appreciate a little drama and being included on an extremely elite guest list? Firs Class only allows for so many, after all.
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8. Holographic Fashion
Fashion at its most creative can be nothing short of magical, and, arguably, no one provided that more consistently and with such innovation as Alexander McQueen. One of the deceased designer’s most memorable runway, for Autumn/Winter ’06, included a finale with a hologram of Kate Moss. Towards the end of the show, inside a glass pyramid structure, white smoke appeared and began swirling and turning to eventually reveal the supermodel in an ethereal white dress.
Image courtesy of patrickmcmullan.com
8. Valentino’s Extravaganza
Donatella Versace, Karl Lagerfeld, Princess Caroline of Monaco, Countess Jacqueline de Ribes, Mick Jagger, Uma Thurman, Sarah Jessica Parker and countless other luminaries made the trip to Rome in 2007 for the $10 million affair to celebrate the career of one of fashion’s greatest—the event culminated in fireworks and a human aerial show at the Colosseum. It wasn’t just a party, it was a 36-hour affair.
Image: Corbis
9. Yves’ Final Bow
There can be something special about being there at the beginning and the end. Saint Laurent’s final show for his namesake label in 2002 – after a 40 year career – served as a retrospective of his designs that changed the way women dressed, with looks from his Mondrian collection, Russian Steppes, Le Smoking and beyond. The 65-year old walked the runway with Catherine Deneuve, in front of Paloma Picasso and Jeanne Moreau, after 300 looks were shown.
Image: Getty
10. The Black and White Ball
It’s been called the “Party of the Century.” Before falling out of favour with his swans, Truman Capote hosted a black and white gala in 1966 at the Grand Ballroom at New York’s Plaza Hotel. The incredibly tight guest list included Upper East Side society mavens, literary figures, starlets and tycoons of business – everyone from Marlene Dietrich to Tennessee Williams to Richard Avedon dressed to the nines.
