Fashion show

Fashion show

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Fashion show

Nataliya Gotsiy modeling for Cynthia Rowley, Spring 2007 New York Fashion Week

Model walking the Michael Kors catwalk during Fall Fashion Week, New York City

A fashion show is an event put on by a fashion designer to showcase his or her upcoming line of clothing. In a typical fashion show, models walk the catwalk dressed in the clothing created by the designer. Occasionally, fashion shows take the form of installations, where the models are static, standing or sitting in a constructed environment. The order in which each model walks out wearing a specific outfit is usually planned in accordance to the statement that the designer wants to make about his or her collection. The way that each outfit is presented on the catwalk isn't necessarily the way the designer is trying to make people wear his or her creations in everyday life. In this instances, this is more of an intellectual/artistic construction of the designer for the same purpose of making a statement or presenting a particular idea. It is then up to the audience to not only try to understand what the designer is trying to say by the way the collection is being presented, but to also visually de-construct each outfit and try to appreciate the detail and craftsmanship of every single piece. A wide range of contemporary designers tend to produce their shows as theatrical productions with elaborate sets and added elements such as live music or a variety of technological component like holograms, for example.

History

Because "the topic of fashion shows remains to find its historian,"^[1] the earliest history of fashion shows remains obscure.

In the 1800s, "fashion parades" periodically took place in Paris couture salons.^[2]

American retailers imported the concept of the fashion show in the early 1900s.^[2] The first American fashion show likely took place in 1903 in the New York City store Ehrlich Brothers.^[2] By 1910, large department stores such as Wanamaker's in New York City and Philadelphia were also staging fashion shows.^[2] These events showed couture gowns from Paris or the store's copies of them; they aimed to demonstrate the owners' good taste and capture the attention of female shoppers.^[2]

By the 1920s, retailers across the United States held fashion shows.^[2] Often, these shows were theatrical, presented with narratives, and organized around a theme (e.g. Parisian, Chinese, or Russian).^[2] These shows enjoyed huge popularity through mid-century, sometimes attracting thousands of customers and gawkers.^[2]

In the 1970s and 1980s, American designers began to hold their own fashion shows in private spaces apart from such retailers.^[2] In the early 1990s, however, many in the fashion world began to rethink this strategy.^[2] After several mishaps during shows in small, unsafe locations, "[t]he general sentiment was, 'We love fashion but we don't want to die for it,'" recalls Fern Mallis, then executive director of the Council of Fashion Designers of America.^[2] In response to these shows, the New York shows were centralized in Bryant Park during fashion week in late 1993.^[2]