Mary Kate Steinmiller, Teen Vogue

At the Gerlan Jeans S/S 2010 show, I was seated on the right side of the runway. Eager to run out and catch a taxi right when the show ended, I made a mad dash for the door on the other side of the runway as soon as the lights in the show went up. At that point most people were still in their seats. As I crossed the runway, of course my heels slipped on the runway, and I fell. A full on wipeout, nothing cute, or discreet about it, in front of everyone at the show. I thought I would just recover quickly, stand up, and continue my run out, but my dear friend, and Gerlan’s publicist at the time, Matt Kays, saw me, and without skipping a beat stopped me and yelled into his headset (which presumably was broadcast to the entire show staff) “EDITOR DOWN. WE HAVE AN EDITOR DOWN ON THE RUNWAY. MARY KATE STEINMILLER HAS HIT THE RUNWAY.” Even today, when I saw him at my first show and I was wearing sneakers, not heels, he said “Oh, you wore Nikes so you don’t wipe out on the runway again?”