For those working in the fashion system, the holy events of the year are three: Christmas, Easter, and Fashion Week. When it comes to this last “festivity”, stylists, art directors, journalists, models, and many other media professionals, know that they better start working their butt off at least three months prior to all the glam and allure.

Held in February and September, Fashion Weeks paint the major fashion capitals of the world with the colors of the last trends. New York, Milan, Paris and London become during this time of the year the nerve center which captures all the giants of the Fashion world.

The reality for those who do not belong to the system, or that are simply “fans”, could be odd sometimes. So, here we are to help you understand a little more the story of this holy fashion events.

The fashion weeks we’re familiar with today are generally held twice a year (February and September) and in the four ‘fashion capitals’ of the world (New York, Milan, Paris, and London). 

It feels like it’s always been here! But how and when did this start?

The very first fashion week actually went by a different name. Way back in 1943, it was called ‘press week’. You might think it’s a little insensitive to start having these large-scale fashion shows during the height of the Second World War. But there was a smart reason behind it. Paris was under occupation and could no longer be at the centre of the fashion world. Instead, United States took the opportunity to step in and show the rest of the world the next season’s trends. This was America’s open door and, ultimately, it led to them dominating the industry right up, at least until the London youthquake of the 1960s (but that’s another story!). United States held lavish shows at various venues across New York and Eleanor Lambert invited journalists from all over the world to see what the American Dream had to offer. New and upcoming American designers of the time such as Claire McCardell, Hattie Carnegie, and Norman Norell rapidly found their way in this brand new press week and the famous Vogue did not waste time in mentioning them.

In the meantime, what happened to the other Fashion Capitals?

Taking a good decade to recover from the devastation of the Second World War, it wasn’t until 1958 when Italy became the second country to hold a fashion week on its own. After various cities, including Rome and Venice, competed to become the Italian fashion capital, Milan scored the title. In 1958 The National Chamber of Italian Fashion was founded in order to protect and promote their national design talents. Under this institute, Milan flourished and continued to grow to earn its place as one of the Big Four. 

Following on fifteen years later, Paris finally re-joined the fashion game in 1973. Not mourning about US’s complete fashion take over for too long, Paris bounced back in 1947 with their Golden Key: Dior with his New Look. Eventually, with more and more designers training under Christian Dior, Paris held their first ‘fashion week’ show, dubbed, The Battle of Versailles. In this show, five top French designers, such as Pierre Cardin and Yves Saint Laurent were pitched against five unknown American designers in what became known as a ‘fight’. We surely all regret to not have seen that!

And last, but not least, London joined the party in 1984. Having started up the previous year, the British Fashion Council hosted the first ever London Fashion Week in a car park. Yes, you read that right, a car park. At least it was the Commonwealth Institute car park in Kensington and not any old car park.

Fashion Weeks over the years also faced many crisis and unexpected or dramatic events. On 11th September 2001, the horrific 9/11 terrorist attack happened right in the middle of New York fashion week. Running from September 7th to 14th, 52 collections had already been paraded up until the morning of the disaster. Designers and models there at the time reported the hysteria and sheer panic ensuing as a show was due to start at Bryant Park, just as the news broke. The show didn’t go ahead. In fact, the rest of New York Fashion Week Spring 2002 was rescheduled. Julie Mannion, charmain of fashion services agency KCD, recalls a call from a city official saying, «We see you have this tent [from the Marc Jacobs show]. Can we confiscate it for triage?” So we’re clearing it out, and then I remember getting a call later that afternoon: “Never mind. We don’t need it anymore because there are no survivors.» In times of unprecedented disasters, fashion does what it can to help. 

During the pandemic, shows were cancelled, rescheduled, cancelled again, and then made virtual. In a way, it seemed kind of wrong to be celebrating something that can seem so frivolous when people were dying. I guess that’s the lifelong debate. Is fashion purely about aesthetics or can it play a crucial role in our lives, even in the worst of times?