Liverpool beats world fashion record on catwalk
Liverpool celebrated the 4th of July by breaking the Guinness World Record for the Most Models on a Catwalk in its The Very Big Catwalk extravaganza.
The record-breaking spectacle, formed part of the city’s Transatlantic 175 celebrations to mark the 175th anniversary of the first transatlantic crossing.
The Saturdays’ singer and newly announced Xtra Factor presenter Rochelle Humes and The Only Way is Essex star and DJ Lauren Pope were among the 3,651 people to sashay, strut and saunter their way down the 40 metre-long catwalk, located at the city’s Pier Head. The Guinness World Records attempt took a whopping three hours fifty minutes from start-to-finish.
Everyone from school children to pensioners came together to break the Guinness World Records title, with ‘tribes’ such as Cruise Liverpool to Liverpool Signing Choir and basketball teams to Biggins all strolling down the runway under the shadow of the Liver Birds and the RMS Queen Mary 2, which was docked at Liverpool Pier Head preparing to recreate its inaugural voyage to Boston.
The previous record for the most people modelling on a catwalk is 3,083 and was achieved by the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Moda, Casa de Francia (Mexico) in Mexico City, Mexico, on 24 November 2013.
The successful Guinness World Records attempt formed just one part of the first day of the two-day Transatlantic 175 event, organised by Liverpool City Council and curated by iconic British designer Wayne Hemingway.
Other highlights included ‘Vintage on the Dock’. A bespoke version of Wayne Hemingway MBE’s highly acclaimed Vintage Festival, this event saw visitors take part in everything from pop-up Charleston, Jive and Jitterbug dances to retro makeovers and ‘make do and mend’ creative workshops. There was also a vintage marketplace, where fashion, homewares, vintage vinyl and memorabilia from the 1920s through to the 1980s was available to purchase.
Once visitors had worked up an appetite, they could enjoy the delights of the Eat the Atlantic Food Festival, which tickled taste buds with its array of food demonstrations, street theatre, hands-on food art workshops, live music, children’s ‘fishy tales’ storytelling sessions and, of course, an abundance of delicious food, including a number of American diner-style eateries and international dishes served from vintage vehicles.
The day was topped off by the departure of the Queen Mary 2 cruise liner from the city, which set sail towards the bright lights of New York City in a recreation of the 1840s maiden voyage that originally sailed to Boston. This finale included a massive firework and light display as the city waved farewell in style to the majestic cruise liner.
The Transatlantic 175 weekend marked the end of a seven-week programme of spectacular events in Liverpool, all under the banner of ‘One Magnificent City. The celebrations were to honour the city’s internationally renowned maritime history and transatlantic links, and mark Cunard’s 175th anniversary.