“Every year the women of New York leave the past behind and look forward to the future…this is Fashion Week.” -Carrie Bradshaw
Carrie and the rest of the women from Sex in the City wasn’t the only ones secretly waiting on September to roll around like it was Christmas morning. In fact, thousands of women and men fly into fashion capitals like New York, Paris, London and Milan to get the first look at the next seasons trends and styles. If you’re anything like me, then the question has had to cross your mind at least once and that is “How did Fashion Week become Fashion Week??“
The very first concept of “fashion shows” came about in Paris during the 1800s. Different couture salons would hold private shows to their most elite cliental in their showrooms. These shows didn’t crossover to the US until 1903 where the very first New York show was held at Ehrich Brothers Department Store. This show was huge and created so much buzz and distraction to what was going on with World War II. By 1943, New York had surpassed the French and was the first to create a timeline organization for shows which allowed for the creation of Press Week which media coverage was first used. Late 1900s brought on Milan and London Fashion Week. To be exact, London was the first to use “Fashion Week” as the official name of the week of shows.
The 90s is when Fashion Week completely BLEW UP. This is the era where supermodels were born. If you wanted a groundbreaking show, you needed models like Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Tatjana Patitz, Christy Turlington or Kate Moss to strut down the catwalk. The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) executive director Fern Mallis help organized the set location, “7th on Sixth”, for where the shows will be held. In 2004, NYC shows first started being sponsored by a major brands through a marketing company called IMG making Olympus its first big sponsor. As of today, Mercedes-Benz is the main sponsor for the New York Fashion Week.
OKAY…that’s wrap! Now go and enjoy Fashion Week!