New York Fashion Week: A Brief History

Fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert poses in this Dec. 23, 1963 photo.

Fashion week is a huge event known worldwide. Where all the new designers, models, press and even just fashion lovers want to attend. But how did this monumental event even begin? Before American fashion became well known, the French were the ones who knew that world the best. Fashion magazines like Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar were covered with fashion from Paris. When France was fighting in WWII, 1943, the journals were not able to reach Paris. So Eleanor Lambert, a fashion publicist, used this time to find and use America’s fashion designs. This blew up and America now became part of the international fashion world. She then wanted to take her plans to the next level and brought together American designers to showcase their work to all of the media. She called the event Press Week.

Reporters and Journalists were placed in to block periods to view the designers clothing and then buyers had to schedule to see the showroom. The show was a huge success and was found on pages of fashion magazines. These shows continues on till the 1950s. But after a huge accident at a Michael Kors show, where plaster fell on models during a show, the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) needed to take action. In Spring of 1994, the launched New York Fashion Week in Manhattan’s Bryant Park, this is when Mercedes-Benz became a sponsor. “The Tents” at Bryant Park were a huge deal and everything was glamorous but crazily hectic. All the fashion A- listers and celebrities were invited. In September 2010 the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week was moved uptown, to Lincoln Center. Although upsetting to other designers this location had digital check in, free wifi, and 30% more space. How could anyone dislike that?

Source: http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/02/09/a-brief-history-of-new-york-fashion-week/