What is a fashion show? The easy answer would be that it’s just a way for the designers to show their creations, but is that really all? Was it just a show, to name a recent example, when Matthieu Blazy literally took us to space in his Spring/Summer 2026 Chanel presentation? To describe a runway as ‘just a show’ would be reductive. It is music. Architecture. Art. Creativity. And performance — all at once. It is an indicator of social change. It doesn't just tell us something about what is being presented but also about the era and the historical context in which it takes place. From October 18th to February 12th, 2026, The Vitra Museum, with its new exhibition Catwalk: The Art of the Fashion Show, takes us on an immersive journey through the history of runway shows and tries to answer that very question.
Before fashion week as we know it, there were just mannequins presented to a selected clientele, mostly in the salons of the couturiers. Then a man named Charles Frederick thought that maybe people would prefer to see how dresses actually looked when worn, and had models walk in his creations to present them to his elite clientele. It wasn’t until the Second World War, when it became difficult to draw influences from Europe, that the first fashion week was held in New York City to promote American fashion — and the idea was then adopted in Italy (Florence, not Milan). Then came the ‘80s, the 90s, and the new millennium, and fashion shows became what we know today.
From their beginnings and their intimate settings in salons to their conquest of cities, through four thematics rooms, visitors can walk through the Théâtre de la Mode, recreated with original mannequins from the Balenciaga archives, join Kenzo’s fashion parties, witness the Battle of Versailles in 1973 between French and American designers, experience the supermodel mania of the ‘90s and the iconic shows of Alexander McQueen, and finally arrive at our days, take a step back to the Covid-19 era, sit and watch the iconic Simpsons episode where the characters walked down the Balenciaga runway.
So, what is a fashion show? In this exhibition, it is presented as a total work of art, like a modern Greek tragedy. And perhaps there’s no better answer to that question. Richard Wagner once said that in his time, all the artistic disciplines had separated and the works produced had lost their meaning, that there was no longer something like a Gesamtkunstwerk. Well, RIP Richard Wagner, you would have probably loved major fashion shows.
The exhibition Catwalk: The Art of the Fashion Show opens on the 18th of October and will be on view through the 12th of February, 2026, at the Vitra Museum, Charles-Eames-Str. 2, Weil am Rhein, Germany.
Alexander McQueen, Ready-to-Wear S/S 1999, No. 13, © Robert Fairer
Dries van Noten, Ready-to-Wear S/S 2005 © Helmut Fricke / VG Bild-Kunst Bonn, 2025
Alexander McQueen, Ready-to-Wear, A/W 2006/07, The Widows of Culloden, mit Kate Moss als Hologramm, © Helmut Fricke / VG Bild-Kunst Bonn, 2025
Alexander McQueen, S/S 2010 Plato's Atlantis © Helmut Fricke / VG Bild-Kunst Bonn, 2025
Chanel, Ready-to-Wear, A/W 2014/15, Grand Palais, Paris, © Helmut Fricke / VG Bild-Kunst Bonn, 2025
Supermodels Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, and Christy Turlington at the Versace Ready-to-Wear, show, A/W 1991/92, Milan © Shutterstock, Photo: Paul Massey
Chanel, Ready-to-Wear, S/S 2015, Grand Palais, Paris © Helmut Fricke / VG Bild-Kunst Bonn, 2025
Chanel, Ready-to-Wear, A/W 2017/18, © Helmut Fricke / VG Bild-Kunst Bonn, 2025
Jacquemus, Ready-to-Wear, S/S 2020, Le Coup de Soleil © Alamy, Photo: Aurore Marechal
Hussein Chalayan, Ready-to-Wear A/W 2000/01, Afterwords, Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London © Alamy