Model Coco Rocha interviews both Cindy Crawford and Iman in this month's issue of ELLE magazine, and an interesting point about the future of modelling is raised. When asked about celebrities pinching magazine covers and beauty contracts from models, Iman replies, "at least the last sacred ground for a model is the runway. So far." Prompting Coco Rocha to wonder whether the runway -- just like the pages of magazines -- will soon be invaded by the cast of 90210, and the like.
Celebrities are hardly strangers to the catwalk. Paris Hilton once walked in Julien MacDonald's A/W 2006 show, Beth Ditto for Jean Paul Gaultier's S/S 2011 collection, and, once upon a time, Victoria Beckham even strutted up the London Fashion Week runway for Maria Grachvogel. But an all celebrity line-up? Could that really work?
Probably not.
Not only is there the near-impossible task of clearing the schedules of enough pretty A-listers to walk in a designer's show, but there's also the tricky issue of body size. Sure, many stars are a sample size anyway, but when it comes to height Coco, Anja, Freja and Co tower over Hollywood's elite. Factor into this the issue of paychecks (campaigns pay much more generously than catwalk shows) and the disagreements that could arise when an Oscar-nominee is asked to bleach her eyebrows/shave her head/dye her hair blue at the last-minute, and you have a nightmare situation.
More than the impracticalities, though, would a designer even want an all-star line-up? The recent Mugler A/W 2011 show, in Paris, was a great example of what happens when a celebrity takes to the catwalk. Lady Gaga made her runway debut; and whilst her presence was memorable, it's hard to recall exactly what she was wearing. She was smoking, her hair was in bunches, and her heels were ridiculously high, but there's little memory of the clothes she was sent out to model. Because, when you send a famous personality out onto the runway the clothes are never the first thing you notice. And no designer wants their clothes to be the second most exciting thing on the runway.
It's best for everyone concerned if models stick to the runway and celebrities stay safely on the red carpet. Coco Rocha shouldn't have anything to worry about.