There are no crowds waiting for the occasional celebrity guests outside the venue. There are no street style photographers. There are no influencers loitering around. There are no endless black cars blocking traffic. Instead, on a rainy Wednesday evening, I walk into an office building on a quiet street in Milan. I’m heading to Etro headquarters, one of eight people asked to watch the live fashion show for the first time through Apple Vision Pro headphones (more on that later).
The atmosphere was different from any other fashion show I’ve experienced. I’ve been working on social and video content at AskMe for over seven years, and I’ve been lucky enough to attend many fashion shows. But that morning, I walked into a room and was served champagne and small sandwiches — like many lunches or dinners, a welcome addition to the fashion show experience. I still had to sit and wait, but I did so on a comfortable green Etro paisley couch instead of the backless metal bench you usually see at fashion shows.
After a brief introduction, we wait for the start of the 2025 Spring show designed by Marco De Vincenzo for Etro. Roberto Cavalli’s show had just taken place, so some guests arrived late, causing the presentation to fall behind schedule – some things never change, even in the digital world. This is the first thing I miss from my IRL show experience: not the waiting, but what we did while we waited. Usually, during this down time, I sit and chat, make small talk with colleagues and people-watch. I also have a habit of arriving early to shows and going backstage, and I can’t stop myself from thinking about all the events I’ve missed. The time before a show is when most of the content is created. Gathering crowds at fashion show events is part of our storytelling at AskM, so it can be weird not knowing what’s happening and when the show will start. Keeping my phone in my pocket was a no-no for me during this whole experience. When the show starts, my battery usually drops to about 20%.
It’s important to say here that I didn’t watch the show live, or at least not at the same time as everyone else. It’s just recorded and we’re getting it immediately, so I feel a little behind. That’s the funny thing about working in media, social media and askew – we’re used to acting immediately.
I put on my headphones, the lights went off and I was suddenly on set. Instead of being in a brightly lit studio, I was sitting at a show in the dark. I could see people in the audience pulling out their phones to film the first model as she walked out. Like a live broadcast, you could see the clothes moving and the models walking down the runway. I was fully present. So much so that during the live broadcast I could see my colleague Virginia Smith running out at the end of the show, but I couldn’t meet her and ask her what she thought and if I could join her for the 60th anniversary of Escame Italia. Go to a birthday celebration. The best part of being at a show with colleagues is that I get to hear their ideas, jokes and find out what they are interested in and imagine what they would shoot for a magazine or what would they include in their review? Watching through headphones, you’re not really in the room, so you miss out on the soundtrack or the smell or feel of the room. You can’t catch the eye of other people on the runway. It’s almost like being in a glass box.
The unique thing about this experience was that the designer Di Vincenzo recorded a special and unique message for us, which we watched through Apple Vision Pro. It was as if he was talking to me right in front of me, I raised my hand to confirm and found out that it was just air. This is special.
When it was all over, I had only one thought: I’ll never have to leave the couch again! This sounds great…until it doesn’t. My verdict: Watching fashion shows with Apple Vision Pro headphones is better than any other type of livestream I’ve experienced, making it a great option for fashion fans who want to watch fashion shows. But the conclusion? Nothing beats the real thing. It almost made my back hurt. I returned to those cold metal benches.
