The Vitra Design Museum opens its doors to a landmark exploration of the fashion show as both a cultural mirror and a performative art form. The exhibition, Catwalk: The Art of the Fashion Show, runs from October 18th 2025 to February 15th, 2026 in Weil am Rhein, offering a sweeping journey through more than a century of fashion’s most theatrical ritual.
Organized in collaboration with the V&A Dundee and supported by Louis Vuitton, this fashion exhibition examines how designers, set designers, choreographers, and artists have shaped the runway—from its discreet beginnings in Parisian salons to today’s digitally amplified spectacles.
A fashion exhibition that traces the evolution of a modern ritual
The curators, Jochen Eisenbrand and Katharina Krawczyk, alongside Kirsty Hassard and Svetlana Panova, invite visitors to experience the fashion show as a living, evolving art form. Divided into four immersive sections, Catwalk retraces fashion’s transformation from exclusive couture presentations to global pop-cultural phenomena.
The first gallery evokes the early 20th century, when couturiers such as Charles Frederick Worth, Paul Poiret, and Gabrielle Chanel presented their creations to select clients in elegant salons. Archival films and rare photographs document these intimate performances, while original mannequins from Balenciaga’s archives recall the legendary Théâtre de la Mode—a miniature post-war revival that brought hope and craftsmanship back to Paris in 1945.
From couture salons to counterculture: the democratization of style
The exhibition’s second section captures the moment fashion burst from the salons onto city streets. With the advent of prêt-à-porter in the 1960s and 1970s, designers like Courrèges, Paco Rabanne, and Kenzo turned the runway into a stage for social change and youth rebellion.
One defining moment—The Battle of Versailles (1973)—is reimagined through rare footage and ephemera, revealing how American designers and Black models such as Pat Cleveland revolutionized perceptions of the catwalk. Nearby, archival invitations and press materials illustrate how the aesthetics of fashion show set design became integral to each brand’s identity, transforming invitations and scenography into collectible art forms.
Fashion show set design as art and architecture
The third gallery explores how the fashion show set design evolved into a form of monumental architecture and storytelling. The early 2000s saw fashion houses stage elaborate productions that blurred the lines between commerce and art.
Highlights include Karl Lagerfeld’s Chanel Supermarket (Fall/Winter 2014/15) and Chanel Rocket Launch (Fall/Winter 2017/18), represented through intricate architectural models and original props. By contrast, designers such as Alexander McQueen and Martin Margiela deconstructed the spectacle: McQueen’s No. 13 (Spring/Summer 1999) featured robots spray-painting a model live on stage, while Margiela’s shows turned empty hospitals and parking decks into catwalks of conceptual beauty.
A standout display is a garment from Margiela’s Spring/Summer 2006 show, still marked by the melted traces of ice jewelry—a haunting reminder of the show’s ephemeral artistry.
The digital catwalk: fashion in a hybrid age
The final section brings visitors into the 21st century, where fashion merges with technology and performance. From Dior’s miniature dollhouse runway (Fall/Winter 2020) to Balenciaga’s collaboration with The Simpsons (Spring/Summer 2022), the exhibition reveals how fashion houses now craft narratives for both the stage and the screen.
Recent works highlight the body as a political and poetic space: Rick Owens’ Spring/Summer 2016 show, where women carried one another; Gucci’s Fall/Winter 2018 presentation inspired by Donna Haraway’s Cyborg Manifesto; and Dior’s collaborations with choreographer Sharon Eyal, represented here by a dancer’s catsuit by Maria Grazia Chiuri.
The fashion show as a Gesamtkunstwerk
Ultimately, Catwalk: The Art of the Fashion Show presents the runway as a Gesamtkunstwerk—a total work of art that fuses design, choreography, sound, and architecture. Drawing from over a hundred years of transformation, the exhibition reveals that beyond glamour and trend, the fashion show remains a cultural ritual—a mirror reflecting who we are and how we imagine ourselves.
Accompanying the exhibition is an illustrated catalogue designed as an A–Z of the Fashion Show, featuring essays by Caroline Evans, Cathy Horyn, Valerie Steele, and model Małgosia Bela, alongside sound designer Michel Gaubert and curator Andreas Murkudis.
Catwalk: The Art of the Fashion Show proves that the runway, in all its fleeting brilliance, is more than spectacle—it is the stage on which fashion tells its most human stories.
From: Käthe von Porada, Mode in Paris, Frankfurt a. M., 1932
Courtesy of VITRA DESIGN MUSEUM ARCHIVE
Unknown photographer, courtesy of CHLOÉ
Courtesy of GETTY, photography by ALAIN LOISON
Courtesy of STEFAN AÏT OUARAB
Courtesy of ALAMY, photography by AURORE MARECHAL
Courtesy of VITRA DESIGN MUSEUM, photography by BERNHARD STRAUSS
Courtesy of VITRA DESIGN MUSEUM, photography by BERNHARD STRAUSS
Courtesy of VITRA DESIGN MUSEUM, photography by BERNHARD STRAUSS
Courtesy of VITRA DESIGN MUSEUM, photography by BERNHARD STRAUSS
Courtesy of VITRA DESIGN MUSEUM, photography by BERNHARD STRAUSS
