Style Icon Zelda Kaplan Drops Dead at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Show
A 95-year-old woman known for her love of Manhattan’s nightlife and arts scene died after collapsing at a show during New York Fashion Week.
Zelda Kaplan was sitting in the front row of designer Joanna Mastroianni’s show Wednesday at Lincoln Center at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week when she collapsed. She was pronounced dead at Roosevelt Hospital, according to hospital spokeswoman Elizabeth Dowling, who could not provide a cause of death.
Kaplan was a friend of the designer’s stylist, Mia Morgan, according to the designer’s husband, Gideon Lewin, and had attended a number of Mastroianni’s shows. Witnesses said beloved Kaplan “slumped forward” after the models had started walking out at the 1 p.m. show at The Studio at Lincoln Center today.
She was carried out of the show by security and taken to a private area where EMTs gave her CPR. An ambulance was called and Kaplan was taken to hospital. Joanna Mastroianna’s fall show at Lincoln Center was absuloteuly breathtaking unfortunatley it took away the breath of one of fashions most loved icons known for her stunning eyewear and eye-catching hats. May she rest in peace.
