ABSTRACT

In her memoir, the veteran US Vogue creative director Grace Coddington describes the catwalk shows of her early career. Editors sat in deep sofas, others on gilt chairs, with ashtrays on tall stands

next to them. Stately models came out holding cards with the number of their outfit on. ‘They continued walking very, very slowly, leaving enough time halfway to

execute plenty of twirls so the audience could absorb all the details,’ Coddington writes. ‘And that’s how the whole show went. There was no music, no scenario, and no drama to distract you from examining the clothes. It was one hundred percent about the clothes’ (2012: 99). When Grace: A Memoir was published in 2012, Coddington was still a

familiar sight at the shows, her cloud of red hair bent over her notebook as she absorbed and sketched every look. But how things had changed. Models marched out at a furious pace in

extravagantly produced shows that lasted around ten minutes – Marc Jacobs got it down to five minutes in September 2012. Models, designers, celebrities and journalists posted instant pictures and

comments on social media, and thousands of fans worldwide joined in as they watched the shows live-streamed online. Coddington wasn’t a fan. ‘There are no secrets anymore,’ she lamented. ‘I

can’t stand it’ (2012: 324). But the fashion journalists themselves loved it, many describing the shows

as their favourite part of the job. They relish the excitement of seeing the new collections and the sheer spectacle going on in front of them. ‘Some of the great catwalk shows I’ve seen will stay with me forever,’ says

Jess Cartner-Morley, fashion editor of the Guardian (in Roy, 2010). ‘When a catwalk show is really incredible, you just can’t beat it.’ This chapter will look at what is involved in covering a catwalk show, and how

journalists manage to turn these ‘11-minute puffs of smoke’ (as the Telegraph’s Luke Leitch puts it) into something that makes sense and is relevant to their audience.