FIDM Museum Registrar and Capturing the Catwalk Curator Meghan Hansen finishes her three-part series on the making of the exhibition. In her final post, she explores the seminal moments that made it into her “Catwalk History” slideshow.

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One feature of Capturing the Catwalk that I am particularly proud of is the slideshow, called “Catwalk History.” While I could only feature approximately 80 printed photographs in the gallery due to space constraints, I was able to incorporate a wider range of images in this presentation projected on the gallery wall. The runway shots are from all four fashion capitals — London, Milan, New York, and Paris — and range throughout Michel Arnaud’s career in fashion (1970-1998).

Gallery 1 of Capturing the Catwalk, Editorial Vision & Catwalk History.

Hitting on some of the most noteworthy moments in the history of runway collections, this grouping of images tells the story of the runway’s emergence as a center of popular culture, particularly in the age of the Supermodel.

In my planning for this slideshow, I was selecting one image to encapsulate a single moment — until our Creative Director Peter Lam designed the layout. The horizontal orientation of the high definition video projector worked best two photographs per slide — giving me the chance to double the number of photos. I was thrilled! Many hours of picking and choosing images later, I had over 100 images to share with my audience.

Here are some of my favorite runway moments from the Michel Arnaud Fashion Photography Archive.

Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, and Christy Turlington walk the Gianni Versace runway lip-synching George Michael’s “Freedom,” Milan, Italy, Fall/Winter 1991-1992.

Sara Stockbridge appears on the Vivienne Westwood runway with her baby, London, England, Spring/Summer 1991.

Naomi Campbell, wearing purple platform shoes, falls during Vivienne Westwood show, London, England, Fall/Winter 1993-1994.

Jean-Paul Gaultier show takes place on ice skating rink, Paris, France, Fall/Winter 1991-1992.

Giorgio Armani uses a long catwalk of lit frosted tiles, called ‘La Pedana’ (the platform), Milan, Italy, Spring/Summer 1996.

Christian Lacroix presents his first haute couture collection, Paris, France, Fall/Winter 1987.

Thank you to Michel, his wife Jane, and his son Will for bringing their support and enthusiasm to this project. We couldn’t have done it without you!