Well, Now We Know What Vogue World Is

A fashion show — with a side of bread!

Thank you for subscribing to Back Row. Today’s special fashion week issue is available in full to paying subscribers, and features:

• A recap of Vogue World.

• Recaps of Gabriela Hearst and Area.

• Other loose threads, including wax Anna Wintour.

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Vogue World

I didn’t watch the Vogue World livestream. What the hell was it after all?!

Actually, a lot of people had this question. Yesterday, a fashion-following friend texted me:

i still don’t know what that is despite seeing ads for it that i never pay attn to

is it like, bravocon?

Well, was it like BravoCon? In the sense that it included celebrities and selling tickets to the public, yes. If you consider Anna Wintour and her team of editors to be Vogue-lebs, sure. But in the sense that it was a half hour fashion show performance followed by luxury fashion brands handing high-calorie food out of trucks, no.

voguemagazine

A post shared by Vogue (@voguemagazine)

So it was just a fashion show? No panels? No Andy Cohen?

Yeah, basically, but a fashion show as entertainment for the general public, versus most fashion shows that are tailored to an industry audience with garnishes of social media catnip. I imagine Anna Wintour wishes every fashion show was like Vogue World, in a way. The runway seemed consistently filled with models, meaning there was never a moment where the audience was forced to just look at one or two of them at a time. They were interspersed with groups of dancers. This was as efficient a viewing of fashion as I would expect any AW production to be. And as I report in ANNA: The Biography, she is nothing if not efficient.

Has Vogue ever done anything like this before?

Actually, yes, only you don’t remember because it occurred in the dark fall of 2016 — and who wants to remember anything about the dark fall of 2016?