The History of New York Fashion Week

Before New York Fashion Week began, Paris was seen as the fashion capital of the world. So when France was under occupation by the Nazis during World War II in 1943, this was the perfect time to prompte American fashion designers. France could not have their regularly scheduled shows as a result and Americans could not travel to Europe either due to the war, but this did not mean that there could not be fashion shows in the United States. American publicist Eleanor Lambert had the idea of having multiple shows labeled under “New York Press Week” as a more efficient way of displaying and selling garments to the public. On March 10th, 1943, New York Press Week would debut and successfully help to show the impressive strength of American fashion to the entire world. This event would later be known as New York Fashion Week.

Gradually, many other cities from around the country would have their own version of the event. As time has passed, there have also been more and more changes to the event as society has changed greatly. Not only has fashion itself changed through time, but the diversity of the types of models on the runway has also increased greatly compared to the past. Not only is it completely different from the early days where the event was still called “New York Press Week”, but there is also an evident difference that can be seen from data that is just 4 years apart. Like most things in our world, New York Fashion Week is ever changing.