How to get the perfect fashion front row

Take a dash of celebrity, add a clutch of big fashion buyers, sprinkle on a handful of influential fashion editors – with the less glamorous elements out of sight – and voilà: the perfect fashion show front row.

It is not an art; it is a science. With designers painfully aware that the bigger the celebrities their shows attract, the more media coverage their collections get, the couture houses are locked in a constant battle to show off the best front rows.

How do they guarantee the right mix of famous faces? Private planes, luxury hotels, frocks worth thousands and generous cash gifts to cover "expenses" are just a few of the tactics employed by designers.

"Some big designers pay celebrities to be in the front row," said Caroline Fragner, a spokesperson for Karl Lagerfeld, chief designer for Chanel. "We are not looking for VIPs – we don't have people there just because they are known. Most of the people who go to see Karl are people he likes."

Luckily the Chanel designer is not short of famous friends – supermodel Claudia Schiffer and socialite Jemima Khan both had a perfect view as he unveiled his latest collection in Paris. "A show is made for press and buyers, so in the front row are the biggest buyers and the editors-in-chief," said Ms Fragner.

But a great front row requires much more than just than a line of famous faces. Couture houses have to weed out the so-called "fashion whores" who turn up at every show, rendering their celebrity status worthless by failing to align themselves with any one designer. And they must ensure that any last-minute VIPs can be accommodated. The whole business is fraught with pitfalls.

"It is difficult when there are important people that aren't in the public eye. It is important for fashion brands to dress the right people, and they need to be seen supporting them," said a spokesperson for the designer Issa, whose recent London show attracted Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, and actresses including Rosamund Pike and Tamsin Egerton.

Influential fashion buyers, the editors of leading fashion magazines and wealthy clients who are not famous all expect prime positions. "We separate the room into sections – one side of the tent has an all-press front row; another one has buyers; another, celebrities. Luckily in London there are benches so you can squeeze 40 people into 20 seats," said the spokesperson.

Designers have different tactics for getting around this problem. These include massaging celebrities' egos by sending out invitations with seat numbers on them so that they know they have been chosen to be in the front row.

"I think that the front row is very important. It gives you a block celebrity endorsement, but I do think that it can distract attention from the clothes," said the designer Katharine Hamnett.

Perhaps mindful of this, a growing number of designers have come up with strategies to make sure that the collections that they have slaved over don't end up playing second fiddle to a clutch of celebrities.

"We didn't invite any celebrities to our show this year," said a spokeswoman for fashion designer Amanda Wakeley, who has dressed stars including Scarlett Johansson, Charlize Theron and Mischa Barton.

Last season, ex-Big Brother housemates Sam and Amanda Marchant gatecrashed Amanda Wakeley's show, positioning themselves in the front row alongside A-list celebrities and influential fashion buyers. "We dress big Hollywood stars, and wanted to stay away from the downmarket celebrity culture in the UK," she said.

Other designers who have bypassed celebrity culture – downmarket or otherwise – are Viktor & Rolf, and British designer Alexander McQueen. The Dutch duo held a catwalk show without any guests, using just one model to showcase their entire collection, and posted the footage on to their website. Alexander McQueen also dipped his toe into the all-inclusive world of virtual fashion, posting his entire collection on the fashion website Net-a-Porter.

In the crowd...

1 Roisin Murphy

Quirky former singer with Moloko.

2 Eva Herzigova

Czech model best known for the Wonderbra ads.

3 Claudia Schiffer

The supermodel stars in Chanel's new autumn advertising campaign.

4 Monica Bellucci

Italian actress who starred in a series of raunchy Dolce & Gabbana ads.

5 Petra Nemcova

The Czech model founded a charity after being seriously injured in the 2006 tsunami.

6 Dita Von Teese

The burlesque queen also dropped by at Dior, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Vivienne Westwood.

7 Marc Anthony

Puerto Rican singer and Mr J-Lo.

8 Jennifer Lopez

Last spotted snuggling up to new best friend Victoria Beckham at the Marc Jacobs show.

9 Camila Alves

The Brazilian model recently had a boy with her fiancé Matthew McConaughey.

10 Matthew McConaughey

Better known for his cheesy rom-coms than for his fashion sense.

Anna Wintour, he US 'Vogue' editor, is a front-row regular.

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