Since 2022, when McQueen and Roksanda staged runway shows to coincide with the fair, fashion has been migrating aggressively to Frieze Week, and this year's VIP day made the pilgrimage impossible to ignore. ARTnews's report from the tents describes a Wednesday preview that looked more like a front row: Tilda Swinton, Raf Simons, Dries Van Noten, Monica Barbaro and Bianca Jagger — reportedly wearing John Galliano's Zara collection — turned up, while outfits ranged through leather, fur and sequins to two attendees in matching PVC catsuits.

The fashion crowd's presence has split opinion. British Vogue's Mahoro Seward told ARTnews that "the glut of selfie-hungry fashion girlies may have somewhat cheapened the experience" — a judgment she applies to herself as a self-described member of the species. An anonymous fashion editor offered the industry's own diagnosis: in fashion, shamelessness gets praised and the industry has made "a gimmick" of itself, whereas the art world tends to dress expressively rather than theatrically.

Frieze's executive director of fairs, Kristell Chadé, is firmly in the "more the merrier" camp. The economics are on her side: Stone Island partnered with Frieze London in 2023 and funded bursaries for 34 emerging galleries, Dunhill opened a partnership with Frieze Masters, and Tiffany & Co. now backs the Artist-to-Artist initiative, with Loewe sponsoring the VIP programme. "Frieze is a platform for various voices," she said, and the galleries ultimately benefit from the footfall.

Seward's closing line may be the most quotable: Frieze is not exactly hallowed ground, she said — there is work of critical merit on show, but "it's fundamentally a commercial forum." The piece captures a fair at a genuine inflection point, where the spectacle around the art has become as newsworthy as the art itself.