Lingering looks: Dior, dolls and drama on the runway

From little dolls to “corpses” floating down a river, tour 10 milestone events in the 125-year history of the fashion show.

- Sukanya Datta

Pandora figurines

In the beginning, it was dolls that showcased designs. From about the 1300s through the 1800s, the flare of a skirt, delicacy of stitching, trimmings of a veil or tilt of a hat were displayed by creating miniature versions and placing them on figurines nicknamed Pandora dolls, about 8 inches tall.

Everyone from Mary, Queen of Scots in the 1500s to France’s Marie Antoinette in the 1700s used them for reference.

The House of Worth

By the 1850s, the modern era had set in. Machines were chugging, trains were tooting. People were dreaming big.

One of these was Charles Frederick Worth (1825-1895), a teenager working at textile stores in London, who left for Paris at 21, and pioneered key elements of haute couture there. He set up House of Worth in 1858.

There, he replaced dolls with live models and held soirees where the wives of the wealthy elite could watch these models walk about in his new designs.

“He really understood the importance of showing clothing on a moving body,” says fashion historian Kirsty Hassard, co-curator of an exhibition titled Catwalk at the V&A Dundee museum (on display until January).

Worth also sewed tags bearing his name into all the clothing he produced, pioneering the idea of a fashion label.

The world’s first fashion show

By the 1890s, a British designer named Lucy Duff-Gordon was training “professionals models” to perform a choreographed walk on a raised platform, amid elaborate sets, special lighting and live music. Her first such event was held in 1901 and is considered the birth of the fashion show. Here’s why.