Ten Runway Shows That Redesigned the Catwalk and the Spectator's Gaze

Key facts

• Thierry Mugler's fall 1984 show at Le Zénith in Paris drew more than 6,000 people, including paying members of the public.
• Maison Martin Margiela's spring/summer 1990 show was presented in fall 1989 on a playground in Paris's 20th arrondissement.
• Viktor & Rolf's fall 1999 couture collection Russian Doll featured Maggie Rizer on a rotating platform dressed layer by layer by Viktor Horsting and Snoeren.
• Alexander McQueen's spring/summer 2001 show Voss seated guests around a two-way mirrored box so they saw their own reflections before the interior became visible.
• Prada's men's spring/summer 2012 show, designed by AMO, seated 600 guests on blue foam blocks across a 1.5-by-1.5-meter grid over artificial grass.
• Anya Hindmarch's spring/summer 2017 set at the Royal Horticultural Halls in London hid a sunken amphitheater and spiral path beneath a lifting circular platform.
• Dior Men's fall 2019 show used a 76-meter moving walkway inside a dark box, with models standing still as the belt moved them.
• Balenciaga's spring/summer 2020 show arranged about 500 seats as an elliptical double spiral across five levels in a 2,000-square-meter blue room.
• Dior Men's summer 2024 show opened 51 panels in a three-by-seventeen grid, raising the cast on individual lifts.
• Chanel's spring/summer 2025 haute couture show, designed by Willo Perron, placed two curving ramps in a figure-eight through the Grand Palais.