Slouch or sashay? New V&A Dundee exhibit explores the origins of the catwalk

In 2017, Karl Lagerfeld went where no fashion designer had gone before, by launching a Chanel-branded rocket at his show in Paris. The 35-metre-tall missile may have only risen 10 metres into the air, but it created headlines around the world for his autumn collection. Three years earlier, Lagerfeld was also at the centre of one the world's most memorable catwalk moments. Chanel had built a shopping centre from scratch and had models 'shoplifting' from supermarket shelves - including pop star Rihanna and the model Cara Delevingne. More recently, French fashion house Dior took over a castle in Perthshire for a Scottish history-inspired runway. And Stella McCartney had 10 horses walk her latest show, alongside the models on the catwalk. Now the new exhibition Catwalk: The Art of the Fashion Show at V&A Dundee, made in collaboration with Vitra Design Museum, explores the origins of the fashion catwalk. Designers would use male models as mannequins to show their designs on the streets of Paris, and dispatched dolls in miniature versions of their clothes to customers. But it was Charles Frederick Worth whose House of Worth was the first fashion house to stage a catwalk show. "He and oth