We’re not quite sure what to make of this, to be honest. Today, Virgin Australia said it had made history by hosting the first-ever fashion runway in the sky (which itself is a bit of a dubious claim). The headline name for the event was Victoria’s Secret model Kelly Gale, a Swedish-Australian model of Indian and Australian descent who flew with Virgin Australia from Los Angeles.
So what was the point of this fashion show being held at 30,000 feet? Virgin Australia says the event, dubbed ‘Runway in the Sky’, is in “celebration of Virgin Australia’s fifth consecutive year as Principal Partner of the Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival (VAMFF).”
The airline went onto say the show “will feature Gale and 13 models parading down the aisles of the airline’s Airbus A330 aircraft, wearing celebrated Australian designer label, Ginger & Smart.”
For Gale, the idea apparently seemed like a no-brainer – “Aviation runs in the family – my mum is a pilot – so I jumped at the chance to be involved in the Virgin Australia Runway in the Sky and be part of a very unique catwalk!”
For the show’s producer, Cat Rose, coordinating a fashion show in the air was just a little more challenging than normal – elements such as lighting, music, guest comfort and of course safety all had to be taken into consideration. And all within the constricted confines of an aircraft cabin.
The show, featuring Gale and 13 other models took place along the aisles of one of Virgin Australia’s A330 aircraft in front 200 passengers.
It’s probably unsurprising that Virgin Australia would jump on the fashion bandwagon – major investor, Etihad Airways is a major sponsor of 17 fashion shows around the world. According to the carrier, the New York Times even dubbed Etihad the official airline of the fashion industry.
We’ve seen in-flight entertainment take some intriguing twists in the last couple of years and it’s certainly not only Virgin Australia who are trying out live shows onboard their aircraft. Southwest has held live music shows on select flights, British Airways has had opera stars perform onboard and Icelandair even had an entire theatre performance take place.
