Catwalk

A Stage Shaped Like a Walkway

The definition is architectural before it is glamorous: a narrow, usually elevated platform. Narrowness is functional. A model walking a narrow platform is seen from both sides at close range, the garment is in motion for the length of the walk, and the audience is arranged along the route rather than in front of a single viewpoint, as in a theatre. Elevation does the same work as a stage, lifting the clothing above seated eye level so that a hem, a shoe and a silhouette can be read from several rows back. That is why the entry can describe the catwalk as a stage for a fashion exposition: the platform exists so that clothing and accessories can be demonstrated, in movement, to an audience gathered to judge them, which a static display of garments on stands cannot do.

Catwalk and Runway: Two Names for One Platform

A catwalk is also known as a runway, and the two words divide by vocabulary rather than by object — the same narrow elevated platform carries both names in fashion usage, and the fashion show that uses it is described through both. The related terms gathered around the definition show the structure of that event: fashion shows in spring and fall editions, couturiers, haute couture, ready to wear and fashion week. A fashion week is built out of individual shows, each show out of individual walks, and each walk out of a single model's passage along the platform and back. Understanding the platform therefore explains the format of the whole season's presentations, from a couture house showing one-off garments to a ready-to-wear label showing a collection intended for production.

The 1993 Documentary of Life on the Runways

Catwalk, a documentary covering life on the fashion runways, was filmed in 1993 by director Robert Leacock and premiered in 1996. The film followed models Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell, Yasmin Le Bon, Kate Moss and Carla Bruni as they jetted around London, Milan, Paris and New York during Spring Fashion Week, including behind-the-scenes footage. It was shot in black and white and color, and featured many top designers at work, like a young John Galliano, Karl Lagerfeld, and Gianni Versace four years before his death. A documentary built around the platform rather than around a single collection takes the travelling circuit itself as its subject: four cities in one season, the same models appearing in show after show, and the designers preparing the clothes that the catwalk exists to demonstrate.