Likely the author is more into the runways of Milan and Paris than anything so stogy as last week's fashions.
You're right! Any fruitloop who uses "tableau vivant" as a term of encroachment probably feels more at home on Rue du Rivoli than on America's Main Street. Now that you've pointed it out, I cannot imagine a hippy or a Bob Woodward using french adjectives to insult someone. Despite their questionable masculinity, at least they aren't as catty and effeminate as the author of this article.
Tableau vivants are set stage pieces, with every person standing stock still and usually at least partially NAKED. The were common place in the late 19th and early part of the 20th centuries. Many times, they were recreations of famous paintings, but not always and were used in the ZIGFIELD FOLLIES and THE FOLLIES BERGERE.