Fashion's newest trend: silence in the front row

New York

IT'S A tried-and-true ritual of New York Fashion Week. Designers hold shows and invite a few celebrities to sit in the front row: perhaps the star of a new hit television series or a rising ingénue or even someone who has recently won an Oscar or who may be nominated for one. Sometimes money is exchanged or clothes given or old favours called in.

Said celebrity arrives a few minutes before the show, poses fetchingly for the scrum of photographers gathered in front of her, and answers a few questions from the fashion press, larg…