Haute Pursuit A Look At The Making Of A Fashion Show

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Since the first catwalk in 1901, the runway has morphed multiple times. Today, it can be set in a sports arena, play out as a film.

Design, choreography, technology, timing… what does it take to bring it all together? Fashion scenographers and creative directors offer a tour behind the scenes.

At Hussein Chalayan’s Fall/Winter 2000 show Afterwords, three models walked into a sparse living room, stripped upholstery off the chairs, and pulled them on as dresses, while the chairs folded up into suitcases.

The show, celebrated for its meditation on displacement, memory and trauma, used a language more akin to contemporary art, which at the time was groundbreaking, says architect-turned-fashion scenographer Dan Ricciardi.

The runway layout had to be minimal but striking. The chairs had to somehow align with the dimensions of the models.

“A set design is really a spatial representation of an idea...It is a world-building operation,” says Ricciardi’s partner Livia Grigori, also an architect-turned-fashion scenographer.

Scenographers can spend weeks trying to pin down a creative director’s references, influences and visual language before translating those abstract ideas into a blueprint, Ricciardi says.

“Outdoor shows often require two complete versions — a primary set and a backup in case of rain. Destination shows in deserts, beaches or remote locations bring another layer of complexity. It’s like creating Burning Man but for high-end fashion,” he laughs.

At the end of the day, it all pays off when a show strikes a chord with audiences. “It’s so cathartic and exciting to know you’ve been able to transform a runway into an aha moment,” Grigori adds.

It’s like a performance, says curator and theatre and opera director Fabio Cherstich.

He has worked with Miu Miu, the young, edgy sister brand of Prada, to choreograph its 2024 edition of Tales & Tellers, an immersive exhibition centred on the role of women as conveyors of knowledge, wisdom and stories.

For the performance project, Cherstich and interdisciplinary artist Goshka Macuga drew inspiration from Miu Miu’s ongoing series, Women’s Tales, which is a set of 35-plus short films directed by women and typically released during fashion weeks and film festivals, since 2011.

His task was to translate the cinematic universe of Women’s Tales into a physical space and a live fashion presentation. He worked with about 40 performers, each of whom embodied characters from the films.

The show, which debuted at the Palais d’Iéna as part of Art Basel Paris in 2024, was not a traditional runway event.

“It was like a living constellation of stories, female identities, memories and contradictions accumulated over more than a decade of filmmaking. My role as performance director was to help translate this universe into physical presence,” Cherstich says. “I think what made the project powerful was the idea of fashion becoming a living ecosystem rather than something observed from a distance.”

The performers, dressed in Miu Miu archival looks, moved around the space playing comedians, construction workers, rebels.

Cherstich approaches projects like these through the lens of his experience with the world of theatre. “I think in terms of rhythm, presence, silence, tension and anticipation — almost like composing a living score,” he says.