Fashion Runway, Hold the Models

As if staging a vertical runway, dangling David Blaine from a crane over Times Square and buying out all of the ad pages in The New Yorker hadn't created enough buzz stunts for Target in the past few years, the cheap chic discounter has unveiled yet another publicity doozie. This week, Target showcased its fall and winter apparel lines in a one-of-a-kind fashion show--with no models, and no real apparel for that matter. The retailer partnered with Musion Systems Ltd. to create a hologram system that features two-dimensional moving images that give the illusion of having three dimensions. Rad. Projected in a section of New York's Grand Central Terminal Tuesday and Wednesday, "model-less" apparel garments strutted (floated?) down virtual runways, wowing oohing and ahhing would-be Target shoppers with grandiose technology. To widen the viewing beyond the more than one million expected passersby in Grand Central, Target will post a video of the show on YouTube, Facebook and Target.com.

Perhaps this is how the fashion industry bucks the trend of waify, 7-ft.-tall supermodels sporting clothing options for the "everyday shopper." Although I must admit, the whole idea seems a bit creepy, freaky, post-Halloween, ghost-like to me. Casper, is that you wearing the striped boxer shorts...or the hologram??

--Alison Embrey Medina