About a month ago on a scorching August morning, I got to walk the runway in front of fashion queen Anna Wintour.
Me and 180 other mere mortals.
We were volunteering to help popular modern dance chorographer Larry Keigwin prepare a big-scale event as part of Vogue's Fashion's Night Out, which happens for real tomorrow, September 7 (the full Fashion's Night Out is the 10th). It's to be the largest public fashion show in NYC history, featuring over 150 of the industry’s top models and giving over 1,500 guests a look at Vogue’s key trends for the fall.
Keigwin put out a call to the dance community for volunteers to be the "models" while he tested his choreography. Lincoln Center plaza was the stage, and the gray titles coiling around the new fountain marked the "runway." We were broken into groups and given different colored Gap t-shirts to wear (we were told in real life the distinction would be different fall "looks" rather than different colors). Then we took places in a giant circle, stretching from Avery Fisher Hall to the Koch Theater (I really still want to call it State Theater...) and close to the Met.
It was a game of follow the leader. Group by group we followed our real model leaders through an intricate path around the paved "runway," trying hard to avoid collisions. All the while the morning sun beat down on us - is it over yet?
After several goes and some spacing practice, we got 10 minutes to relish in the air-conditioned lobby of Avery Fisher. Then we headed out and down to Lincoln Center's new underground traffic tunnel to wait for the real deal: Anna Wintour as our audience.
When she finally arrived an hour after expected, I was already late for a class and frustrated with the heat. But...it was cool to see her in person! Each time I circled past her on the "catwalk" I tried to sneak a closer glimpse - she had huge sunglasses on and was whispering the whole time with her entourage. Probably about how un-model-like we all were, haha. (Oh and if you haven't seen "The September Issue" yet, I highly recommend it! And of course my favorite...)
The whole time Larry kept us laughing and made the mood light. There wasn't much in it for us except a free t-shirt (which, ahem, I never got...) - but it will be cool to see the real event and know I played a small part in making it happen!
There will be a live webcast of the whole evening, including Larry's show at 7:30pm - watch it here.
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