Model’s dramatic runway stomp even made Anna Wintour smile
It’s a walk-off that would put Derek Zoolander to shame.
A male model with an incredibly intense strut stormed Paris Fashion Week and garnered heaps of praise online — including a smile from ice queen Anna Wintour.
German model Leon Dame — clad in hot pants, a thigh-grazing leather jacket, platform knee-high boots and a cadet hat — closed the Maison Margiela Spring 2020 collection show at the Grand Palais with a dramatic pounding of the catwalk that turned heads. Even the Vogue editor-in-chief couldn’t help but direct her attention to the model, flashing a big smile from the front row, as seen on Aimee Song’s Instagram.
Dame is no stranger to the runway, having walked for Alexander McQueen, Gucci and Burberry while capturing attention on social media.
The Business of Fashion’s editor-at-large, Tim Blanks, wrote that Dame positively “murdered the catwalk.”
“Leon Dame is Everything. E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G,” one fan wrote, with many others simply adding, “Work!”
Still, some were not impressed with the erratic walk. “Is this a freaking joke?” wrote an Instagram foe. One person even compared his walk to a “brash baby giraffe leaving [a nightclub] at 7 a.m. on a Sunday morning.”
While Dame’s walk has both fans and foes online, the model told Vogue he actually worked with a choreographer to perfect his runway moment.
“I already had something on my mind, but I worked it out during the rehearsals with [movement director] Pat Boguslawski the night before the show,” he said.
This marks the second time Dame graced the runway for Margiela helmed by John Galliano, who is no stranger to controversy. The designer was fired from Christian Dior over a racist tirade in 2011 before taking over Margiela in 2014.
