kaplan
Zelda Kaplan (R) is seen just before the start of the Joanna Mastroianni Fall/Winter 2012 collection show during New York Fashion Week February 15, 2012. Kaplan, 95, collapsed and died while on the front row of the Joanna Mastroianni show after the models had started walking at Fashion Week. Reuters

Revelers were completely immersed in creations by Joanna Mastroianni in the middle of her Fall 2012 show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York on Wednesday when an elderly woman suddenly collapsed and was seen being carried away by two men.

Zelda Kaplan, a 95-year-old woman prominent in the fashion world, was pronounced dead at Roosevelt Hospital shortly after the incident.

Kaplan was seen sitting front row before the show began fashionably late at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Those sitting around her told The Associated Press that she slumped over while models walked down the runway.

I was sitting right next to her. She flopped over in my lap, Ruth Finley, publisher of the Fashion Calendar, told The AP. The show was just starting. I thought she fainted. Two men carried her out.

Roosevelt Hospital spokeswoman Elizabeth Dowling did not announce the cause of death.

According to The AP, Kaplan was friends with the Joanna Mastroianni show stylist's, Mia Morgan, daughter.

Famous for running around in the New York City nightlife scene, Zelda Kaplan was the subject of Her Name is Zelda, a documentary film in 2004 which showcased her transition into old age as a fixture in the art, fashion and nightlife world.

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