‘Quite extraordinary’: Anna Wintour launches immersive theatre fashion show

The queen of fashion Anna Wintour, has said recreating celebrated catwalks for a new immersive exhibition has been “quite nostalgic”.

Wintour, who became editor-in-chief of American Vogue in 1988, said working on Vogue: Inventing The Runway over the last 18 months had been “overwhelming”, but that it was “remarkable” to see it come together.

Narrated by actor Cate Blanchett, the show uses Vogue’s archive dating back to its first publication in 1892 and brings together leading voices in the industry to explore the history of the catwalk.

The show at Lightroom in London’s King’s Cross offers first-hand testimony revealing how the fashion show became the ultimate statement of a designer’s vision. It includes big luxury names such as Gucci, Chanel, Christian Dior and Prada, as well as younger, buzzy names such as the cult British designer Martine Rose and the French designer to thank for minuscule bags and gargantuan hats, Simon Porte Jacquemus.

Mark Guiducci, Vogue’s creative editorial director, said: “I’ve probably been to a dozen of the shows that are in this show, but it’s been amazing to work with the team on researching and recreating the shows that I had never been to, and to imagine what they were like.”

The show will feature designers who this year are moving out of the industry spotlight, such as the 65-year-old Belgian fashion designer Dries van Noten, who earlier this year staged the swansong show of his eponymous label after more than three decades at its helm.

“And for me, obviously, I’ve been to many more (shows) than Mark, so it’s quite nostalgic,” added Winrtour.

She added: “But it also makes one so proud of the creativity in the fashion world, and I hope that audiences will enjoy seeing the history of the fashion show and how it reflects our culture and changes in the world in a way that is quite extraordinary.

“From the 50s right up until the present day, when the fashion show has become, in some cases, this extraordinary spectacle – having moved from a very small, elitist, private world where nobody was invited to the parties that they are today, when everybody is encouraged to come and to see and to watch it on a livestream.”

The exhibition uses a series of chapters to bring to life locations and eras, taking the audience inside the fashion show, with the catwalk projected on to the venue’s four-storey walls.

“Fashion, whether it’s on the runway or in the street, is always a reflection of what’s happening in the world at large and so culture at large,” Guiducci added.