How Do You Crash a Fashion Show? 14 Industry Insiders Share Their Favorite Stories

This year’s Forces of Fashion, taking place on October 16, is dedicated to the art, drama, and influence of the runway. In honor of that, we asked their industry friends to share their favorite runway-crashing stories, some shared their own, others shared tales of legendary crashes they witnessed. It seems that almost every editor, stylist, photographer, and writer has a story to share; and the lesson here is that if you want to crash a show (which we are not condoning) the best way to do it is to quietly slip in and remain inconspicuous. Go to the standing section! Stand near the photo pit! But whatever you do, don’t sit in the front row—you’ll be a dead giveaway.

I weaseled my way into Marc Jacobs twice before I ever scored a seat the legitimate way, but my best crasher story is the time I witnessed Sacha Baron Cohen in full Brüno regalia in line at a Paris show with his camera crew. He approached the punk impresario Malcolm McLaren who didn’t quite recognize Brüno but gave him a “this is not my first rodeo” brush-off anyway. It was priceless. If you watch Brüno (not as famous as Borat but worth a watch for the way it skewers US Representative and onetime Republican presidential candidate, Ron Paul, who is cast in a sex tape in the movie), you can see Baron Cohen at that show. I think he was in the second or third row.—Nicole Phelps, Global Director, Vogue Runway

“I’m Mark Holgate,” said the guy in front of me at the check-in line for the Ralph Lauren show at Skylight Studios in SoHo one September morning some years ago. I’d been idly daydreaming up till that point—about lunch, probably, because during fashion week all I can usually think is When do we eat? Anyway, maybe I misheard him, because I’m Mark Holgate. No—there he goes again: “I’m Mark Holgate.” No, no, no—I am!

This was some truly bizarre blag to crash a runway show: To have the person whom you’re pretending to be (me) right behind you, I mean. Of course, people will do and say anything to get into a show. One of my favorites: When Edward Enninful and Pat McGrath chatted at a recent Forces of Fashion about how they used to sneak, uninvited, into shows in Paris back in the day, way before they were the industry icons they are now. When challenged about which outlet they were covering the show for, Edward would simply reply, without batting an eyelid, “Vogue Jamaica.”