The Fantasy Front Row

John Galliano’s recent couture show for Maison Margiela reignited our love for fantasy fashion. So we asked the industry’s new guard to share their dream-scenario shows and the front rows they would most like to see.

You all know the fantasy dinner party game: if you could pick anyone, dead or alive, to gather around a table, who would it be? Choose your answers wisely. You’ll want to curate a crowd that is simultaneously smart, fun, and interesting. (Naturally the answers are reflective of your personality as well.)

We’ve got our own new game to play, though: the fantasy front row. In keeping with this issue’s theme, we asked fashion’s rising power players to tell us who they’d want to see sitting next to each other at a runway show—past, present, or future. Not only that, but they were also required to describe the scene: Who would be walking, what the clothes would look like, and why they chose to create that moment in their minds. It could be anyone, or anything, from Taylor Swift to Tikathe Iggy. Behold their highly imaginative responses.

BLAKE ABBIE

Editor-in-chief, A Magazine Curated By

“I’d love to be a fly on the wall at Pierre Cardin’s first show in Beijing, in 1979, where he showed a collection of 220 archival looks. It was the first fashion show put on in China in nearly 30 years. For a country where everyone was wearing blue, green, and gray Mao suits, Cardin’s colorful and futuristic designs were a shock to see. I reimagine it with Gong Li, Michelle Yeoh, ZhouXun, and Stephanie Hsu sitting front row watching the Chinese supers Du Juan, Liu Wen, and Xiao WenJu walk the show. Sadly, no Chinese models actually walked in Cardin’s show. All these women have come to define a new Chinese beauty. How amazing would it be to change history? At that time, Chinese people didn’t necessarily understand what it was like to be beautiful—or were actually told to not think of themselves in that way—and moreover the ‘ideal appearance’ was strictly defined. For a country that was hidden behind a cultural wall for years, this group of women could have broken the mold early on, moving towards the future of fashion—Cardin shifted the nation’s fashion market in the following years—and created a perspective shift around the sense of self for a whole new generation.”

PEYTON DIX

Social media strategist

“I’d like to see Christine Baranski and Effie Trinket from The Hunger Games sitting front row at Thierry Mugler Haute Couture FW95, with Precious Lee, Gia Carangi, Alex Consani, and Grace Jones walking the runway. Why is this my front row fantasy? I am gay.”

VANESSA HONG

Fashion influencer and blogger

“I’d love to see Faye Wong sitting next to Maggie Cheung at the next Loewe spring/summer show. Greta Lee will open it. I remember the season that Taylor Russell opened and it felt so fresh and unexpected. Faye is an icon in Hong Kong—she was the original fashion indie It girl. She shows up on a lot of people’s mood boards who don’t know who she is. So we need a Faye crossover! Maggie is very altas well, and I feel the two of them together in custom Loewe front row… it would be the moment.”

GUTES GUTERMAN

Co-editor-in-chief, Byline

“It’s 2023 and I’m sitting front row with hospitality’s finest—Keith McNally and Martha Stewart. We’re laughing up a storm and they can’t stop saying my name—‘Gutes’—because it’s so funny to them. Don’t ask me who the designer is, I’m literally not paying attention. I’m sitting next to Martha Stewart! Whatever she thinks of the collection, I think the same. Slick Woods walks out, followed by my crazy, estranged aunt, and I’m starting to think I’m hallucinating. Victoria, Jordan, Kendall, Charlotte Rose Hansen, all the girls, stomp down the runway. The finale approaches and closing the show is Laa-Laa, the yellow Teletubby. At this point I realize I’m definitely hallucinating. I’m sweating, my pulse is heightened, my mouth is dry, and everyone is staring at me. But I’m so happy. I’m living my dream—I’m on mushrooms with Martha Stewart.”

WILLA BENNETT

Editor-in-chief, Highsnobiety

“Dries Van Noten’s spring/summer 1996 menswear show. I sit beside Willa Cather—my namesake—Madonna, or Lady Gaga. I wear a glittery tie and, after the show, I spend the night dancing under a disco ball three times the size of my face. I’m meeting models, editors, and critics I will know for the rest of my life. Everything feels right. Why, you might ask. Well, for this show, DVN hung a giant disco ball over the naked statue of David in Florence’s Piazzale Michelangelo, which naturally turned the show into a huge party. It has always felt like fashion history—a moment in time, a community gathering, with exquisite suiting.”

MEGAN O’SULLIVAN

Co-editor-in-chief, Byline

“I want Rei Kawakubo to guide Taylor Swift on her first fashion girl journey for the forthcoming CDG show. I’m sorry, I’m just a girl! I’d like to imagine that Taylor came to her as a student and said, ‘Teach me.’ Taylor has suddenly made a departure from her quintessential red lip and is shocking the audience in something demure, as if these girls got ready together. I’d kind of love for Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers to be there too, cheering Taylor on in this new territory. They are such cheerleaders in Las Culturistas and I love the idea of there being some light humor in this moment. The collection is especially artful and wacky but also serious. It’s dark inside—I like the idea of it being so dark that you have to squint to even see this situation happening. They are not going for a flashy moment, but it happens anyway, obviously. Troye Sivan also walks but no one recognizes him because 1) he passes as a supermodel, and 2) he is really disguised in his look. He gives Taylor a look. Otherwise, it’s not a star-studded show. Why do I want this? We’ve never seen Taylor have a true fashion moment, and it’s fun to imagine people deciding they want to adopt a whole new look or immerse themselves in something completely different. This specific situation is obviously never going to happen, but what a sight it would be!”

JALIL JOHNSON

Fashion office coordinator, Saks

“Isaac Mizrahi FW94. I am sitting next to André Leon Talley and Tika the Iggy—talk about a time warp! We are watching the greats—Naomi, Linda, Cindy, Shalom, and many more—saunter down the catwalk in those fabulous ball gown skirts and colorful faux-fur coats. Why did I choose this moment? Well, Unzipped[1995] is one of my favorite fashion documentaries and to witness such a moment would be a dream!

ANDREW NGUYEN

Fashion editor, Paper

“It’s September 2023 in Paris. I’m at the Christian Cowan show sitting next to Lisa Barlow from The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City and Pitbull. We’re all watching [Cowan’s boyfriend] Sam Smith perform live, and a model in a giant fur ball outfit is running into the audience and even toward Sam, like a tender wrecking ball. The feeling is exhaustion, dread, and joy. Lisa is gagged. Pitbull is yelling remarks like, ‘Dale!’ He’s also being positive about the situation, saying, ‘Turn a negative into a positive.’ And he’s so right. Together we all giggle and make plans to get Thai afterwards because we’re so tired of the bland French food.”

LAUREN MCCARTHY

Editor-in-chief, Nylon

“I’d like to see Taylor Swift and Julian Casablancas sitting front row at Chanel spring/summer 2012. Kristen Stewart walks the finale, unveiling a groundbreaking collaboration between Chanel and Converse. This is my fantasy because, first of all, I would just really like to meet Taylor Swift. But this is also an opportunity for musical history. As Florence Welch emerges from a clamshell to perform, Swift and Casablancas bond over the power of song and decide to collaborate on a Strokes and Swift record that no one knew they needed. I am thanked from the podium as they win album of the year—in custom Chanel.