abbey lee kershaw, alexander mcqueen SS09/getty
Well if the heels don't get you - the corsets will. According to an eyewitness report, three weeks after Abbey lee Kershaw came a cropper at Rodarte due to the show's Nicholas Kirkwood shoes, Kershaw finished off Friday night's Alexander McQueen show in Paris not falling, but in fact fainting on the runway - a combination, in their opinion, of the tight corset and perilously high heels she was wearing.
According to photographer Sonny Vandevelde, who was photographing the show from the auditorium and not backstage, as usual, Kershaw fell just as she was about to exit McQueen's 'runway' space - the bare concrete floor of a venue in the 19th arrondissement.
kershaw just prior to falling/sonny vandevelde
To add to the absurdity of the moment, McQueen had decorated the runway backdrop with a number of plush toy animals [correction, stuffed animals] - and made his bow at the end of the show in a giant rabbit suit.
kershaw's mqueen corset from behind/getty
"She fainted - out cold" said Vandevelde.
"When she was coming to the end [of the runway], back near the [entrance] ramp, I could tell she was having difficulties, because her steps were getting shorter and shorter, they were more like baby steps. I was reading her face and I could see 'struggle' all over it and I was thinking, 'She's not going to make it'. But then she made it to the top of the animals and I thought she was OK, that's why I turned my back on her to to go back to the main room.
"As soon as the show finished, [model] Ali Stephens came running out to her mother to say, 'OMG, did you see that?' - she said Abbey had fainted. I asked if Abbey was OK, Ali said 'Yes, she's fine - the corset was too tight. But she's OK now'"
According to Vandevelde Kershaw was helped backstage by two members of McQueen's production crew and did not walk in the finale.
5 comments:
They weren't toy animals , but stuffed animals
I really feel for Abbey, as she is such a nice girl, and I imagined when they dressed her she would have been in pain, but like a true aussie battler , did not complain, and just tried to do the job
and THAT is the sign of a professional. she did the show, no matter what, and pulled it off. she didn't miss opportunities by staying home with 'the flu'.
"the corset was too tight"... lol, great excuse. as if her lungs are situated at her waist.
common sense tells you that the girl didn't consume enough calories beforehand.
del - people will of course speculate. as outlined elsewhere, there is no denying that runway models - particularly the top girls who are in demand - work a gruelling schedule. even covering 'fashion month' on the ground as a journalist, i speak from experience in saying that you are on the go all day, every day, from the early hours until late at night, burning calories. with little time to eat properly.
there is also no denying that runway models are under pressure to stay thin.
however the fact that kershaw was wearing a corset at the time she fainted is not so easily dismissed. there are backstage shots circulating of another model from the same show, jourdan dunn, being stitched into a crystal-encrusted catsuit and she looks extremely uncomfortable. the effects of constricting corsets were, i thought, quite well documented. the victorian era was renowned for its fashion for ultra-tight corsets to create the illusion of tiny waists - leading to the development of 'fainting rooms', where women went to recuperate
doh, doesn't take a fool to know that the lungs arent at her waist.
but with a corset so tight, you have to constantly keep your chest up, and hence it's tough breathing
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