LAST UPDATED SEPTEMBER 5, 2019, 12:29 P.M.
There was a moment when Brittnee Blair was on her hands and knees, in the middle of the runway of Hilary MacMillan’s Toronto Fashion Week spring/summer 2020 show when she stopped and thought, "what would Naomi Campbell do?" Blair was on her second walk in her second outfit of the show. Her first strut down the catwalk at TFW’s Fashion House in Toronto’s Yorkville neighbourhood had been shaky, but she made it. The next time, she didn’t. Her foot slipped out of her left heel and every model’s nightmare came true — she went tumbling down to the ground as Toronto’s fashion elite looked on in shock.
"Naomi would get up and she would walk," Blair says she told herself, recalling the supermodel’s famous tumble in ’93 during a Vivienne Westwood show. "So, I got up and I walked. I thought, 'I’m not going to ruin this show. I'm going to serve lewks!''' And serve she did. The crowd's gasps turned to cheers of support as she as she picked herself up and continued her walk, which wrapped around the intimate venue and concluded by climbing up a staircase. She finished her walk with one shoe on and without breaking her model-stare, to a roar of applause.
Afterwards, I found the 30-year-old Calgary native leaving Fashion House dressed down in a denim skirt and sweater (and bravely, a pair of high-heeled boots). Despite having just fallen on her face in front of about 100 people, Blair was laughing. "My shoes just got hot and sweaty," she shrugged. "There’s only a thin strap — very Kim K — and I popped right out of them. She makes it look flawless, but I slipped right out." She added: "I couldn’t believe they were clapping for me. I was like, 'Thanks y’all. I needed y’all right now!' Ultimately, I’m disappointed that it happened but I’m happy I got back up."