Project runway: showing the stuff

The edict came down from Karl Lagerfeld himself: The platform shall be round, not rectangular.

Three thousand miles from Lagerfeld's rue Cambon office in Paris, Museum of Fine Arts designer Jaime Roark was struggling with the request. Attempting to replicate a Chanel runway show in a museum gallery was already causing its own set of headaches, especially a show that took place in a palace. Lagerfeld's request for a circular runway was, as Roark says, "going against my design intuition."

"They really wanted it to look as close to their show as possible," she says. "I submitted sketches with rectilinear runways. But they came back and said 'Karl really wants this to be round.' "

This was a first for Roark in several ways. As a museum designer, the laid-back 30-year-old is accustomed to creating exhibition displays for paintings. In many cases, those artists are no longer around to offer input on how their art should be displayed. With "Fashion Show: Paris Collections 2006," Roark not only was required to re - create the catwalks of Paris, she also needed to work with 10 of the world's top design houses. And unlike deceased painters, fashion designers have no problem offering an opinion.

"It wasn't that bad," says Roark, with a diplomatic grin between forkfuls of crab timbale at the MFA's Bravo restaurant. "I came through it all with just a few bruises and scratch marks."

"Fashion Show" presented Roark with the biggest challenge of her MFA career. She was expected to re - create 10 Paris runways in the 10,800 - square - foot Gund Gallery, and she needed to do it in collaboration with fashion designers who are notorious for being particular about the way in which their clothes are presented.

Roark, who moved to Boston from Denver seven years ago, had never been to a fashion show. She had also never been to Paris. Although she is well-dressed and clearly knows her way around a boutique, her background is in civil engineering and architecture.

"It was very intimidating," she says. "There were times when I was a little scared. There were so many parts to create. And it wasn't just one person to work with, it was 10."

Roark's fashion education began on her first trip to Paris earlier this year, where she saw ready-to-wear runway shows from Dior, Viktor & Rolf , Rochas, Yamamoto, and Valentino . Those who have attended runway shows know that the wait for the spectacle to begin is always much longer than the show itself. Most shows last in the neighborhood of 15 minutes, which means Roark had 15 minutes to soak up the space, the music, the lighting, and how the clothes worked in conjunction with their surroundings.

"What I really wanted to capture was a mood," she says. "There's this very weird sensation that happens when the lights dim, and everyone suddenly stops talking at a runway show. I took a lot of pictures, but what pictures and video can't do is convey the feeling that you get when you're there. It's the music, it's the lights, it's whether or not the models are smiling or not. These things are monumental."

Because she was unable to attend all the runway shows, Roark was often forced to rely upon photos and video. And then there were the cases where Roark had nothing to use as a template but her own imagination.

Azzedine Alaïa , a master craftsman of fashion, does not participate in the seasonal shows. Instead, he hosts clients in his showroom, a former cafeteria that is now modern and flooded with smooth lines and natural light.

When in Paris, Roark met with Alaïa (who speaks no English), and determined that he is an admirer of the minimalist British designer Marc Newson . After studying Newson's furniture and interiors, Roark created a dream runway at the MFA to display Alaïa's shapely frocks.

"It wasn't the exact replica that Chanel ended up being," she says. "But it was inspired by his environment, and I think it captured a part of his personality."

In some cases, re - creating the Paris runways was a simple process. Representatives from Yamamoto sent samples of materials used in their runway construction. But even if she wasn't duplicating the exact look of the runway, she was at least creating an artistic showcase for the clothes that elicited compliments from sometimes fussy personalities.

"It doesn't exactly look like the runway we used," said Viktor & Rolf spokesman Bram Claassen as he arrived to dress the mannequins. "But we're very fond of it."

Roark, who appears unflappable as she recounts her "Fashion Show" experience, cringes slightly only when talk turns to Chanel and Maison Martin Margiela . The enigmatic, mysterious Margiela doesn't hold a couture show, but instead shows an artisanal collection that is constructed of second hand items (dresses are made of bow ties, vests of playing cards).

For the spring-summer 2006 collection, which is showing at the museum, Roark was required to re - create a box that Margiela used to show its clothes. Models stood inside the box, and holes were cut into the box, giving a view of the clothes inside.

"I asked , 'What is the box made of?' and was told a very stiff fabric," she says. "I didn't know what that meant exactly, but they told me it was very experimental."

Because Roark did not have access to the experimental stiff fabric trade of Paris, she instead constructed her box of acrylic. She tried to describe the material in e-mails to Margiela, but something was lost in translation and weeks before the exhibition, there was a minor international incident when it was understood that the box was made of plastic, and not fabric.

When representatives from Maison Martin Margiela arrived in Boston last month, the acrylic box was deemed more than acceptable. But there was another problem. In the original Margiela box, the models turned. Could the mannequins turn as well?

With less than a week before the show was scheduled to open to the press, Roark was ordering turntables for five of the mannequins. The floor was cut, the turntables installed, and, magically, the mannequins were turning by the time members of the press got their first look at the show last Friday.

"It's brilliant," said Margiela communications director Patrick Scallon at last Saturday's black tie opening. "This woman clearly deserves an award. Not only for doing what she did here, but for working with all of the fashion houses. I wouldn't wish that on anyone."

Christopher Muther can be reached at muther@globe.com.