When you attend a fashion show, there are a million things to look at. There are the clothes, of course, but there are also the models, the lights, and the famous faces in the front row. The real grist, though, is everything (and everyone) humming on in the background. Frantic publicists. Cadres of celebrity assistants and/or hangers-on. And, at certain shows, an alluringly handsome staff of hired servers, security guards, and doormen.
Hiring good-looking people to perform front-facing service work isn’t exactly a novel concept, but these curated staffers are an increasingly conspicuous part of the Fashion Week ecosystem. “Atmosphere models,” as some agencies call them, are often cast to mirror the brands’ taste in the models they send down the runway. (You know—thin, cheekboned, boyish.) In Paris, I’ve heard fashion people refer to these eye-candy servers as the “cravate rouge,” so named for the red neckties they’re sometimes made to wear. Nowadays, when luxury brands are constantly pulling out all the stops to garner attention, every impression counts.
