Miss Sixty Walks Models Down Guggenheim Spiral

The fashion label was the first to send 43 models catwalking down three flights of the museum's fabled ramps.

September 13, 2006

To launch its spring/summer 2007 collection, Miss Sixty embodied its ask-me-if-I-care designs by eschewing the well-trod Bryant Park runways in favor of the spiral rotunda at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Currently hosting the Zaha Hadid exhibit, the rotunda’s six-level spiral atrium served as a backdrop for the show, with 43 models walking their way down three levels of spiral ramps—a feat that took each model approximately two and a half minutes to complete.

“The runway was definitely steep and long, and we were concerned about it,” said Emily Liu, Sixty USA’s director or public relations and marketing, who oversaw the event. “But we had some models walk it a month beforehand, and it worked out pretty well. They said they didn’t mind it at all, so we decided to go with it.”

Close to 600 editors and fashion-minded guests sat on white benches lining the inner edge of each level; Kevin Krier & Associates custom made the benches with one side higher than the other to accommodate the sloping floors. Light and sound posts were also custom made and placed every 20 feet behind the attendee benches. Design 1 and Audio Design Lab worked together to choreograph the light and sound with the models on the runway.

Typical to Fashion Week, the show ran almost an hour late, due mostly to late arrivals Carmen Electra and Kristin Cavallari. The show itself lasted 10 minutes, as the models worked their way down each level and onto the main floor, where Krier & Associates placed three white podiums.

The after-party was at Dome, the temporary lounge resembling a mini-Epcot Center, located in an empty lot adjacent to the Soho Grand Hotel. The event garnered roughly 600 attendees and went from 10 PM to 2 AM, while Amsterdam DJ Victor Coral and Steve Aoki took turns in the DJ booth.

—Courtney Thompson

Photos: Scott Wintrow/Getty Images (models)

Posted 09.13.06

Miss Sixty's spring/summer 2007 collection fashion show took place in the rotunda at the Solomon O. Guggenheim Museum.

The show's 43 models walked alongside the Guggenheim's Zaha Hadid exhibit.

Some 600 guests sat on benches lining three sloping levels of the Guggenheim's rotunda, watching the models embark on their two-and-a-half-minute walk down the runway.

Sixty USA public relations and marketing director Emily Liu threaded a circle motif through the fashion show and the after party. Wink created the circle-shaped invitations, while circle patterns graced the Guggenheim floor, and the Dome, the after-party venue, is circular in shape.

The Dome at the Soho Grand Hotel features a main 60-foot dome that can host 500, and a smaller dome and outdoor space that can accommodate an additional 300.