Fashion Flashback: The Evolution of New York Fashion Week

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New York Fashion Week (NYFW) needs a do-over. Once the go-to fashion week of all the major global fashion weeks, NYFW now pales in comparison to London, Milan, Paris, and even Tokyo. Not long ago, NYFW was the most glamorous and sought-after fashion week with a bevy of top celebrities and athletes vying for front row seats. Crashers and fashionista wannabees would stand outside of NYFW venues begging approved industry professionals for assistance in getting into top fashion shows. There was also major media from top global publications and media outlets. At some of the fashion shows—Oscar de la Renta, Anna Sui, Marc Jacobs, Ralph Rucci, Heatherette, Betsey Johnson, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Vera Wang, Rodarte, Carolina Herrera—fashion photographers were sometimes stacked seven to eight risers thick.

All that has now changed with many of the top fashion editors only go to about 12 of the top shows. And the presence of international is a thing of the past with US television networks hardly mentioning the event.

With the introduction of virtual fashion shows because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is speculation that this could be the final nail in the coffin for NYFW. Only time will tell.

That said; NYFW didn’t start out as a glamorous assemblage of fashion from top global designers. Its origins are quite humble, the result of restrictive access to the European fashion market.

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Started in 1944 by the first American fashion publicist, Eleanor Lambert, NYFW—then called Press Week—was a reaction to American press and buyers not having access to the European couture shows due to World War II. Without access to the European couture shows, the American press would have no fashion coverage of current collections in their American fashion magazines and newspapers. “The occupation of Paris by the Nazis meant that all the Allied countries were cut off from fashion news for really the first time in centuries,” explains Valerie Steele, curator of the FIT Fashion Museum.

Lambert came up with the idea to produce a fashion week for American designers. At that time Paris fashion was all the rage and homegrown American fashion talent received very little press in American fashion magazines and newspapers. Lambert saw this lack of access to the European couture shows as an opening for her American fashion clients, and she grabbed the opportunity.

For the most part, Press Week was limited to press and a few fashion buyers. There were no celebrities, no fashion parties, and believe it or not, no fashion photographers. “It was so exciting; I ran to work every day,” explained Polly Mellen, former Vogue fashion editor in an wnyc.org article. It was a whole different way of dressing,” less fancy. Less uptight. Much more exciting to a young person. I think it started Europe looking at us, the American fashion market.”

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Not only did Press Week help spawn a vibrant ready-to-wear market in the US and later in Europe, but Press Week helped solidify Eleanor Lambert’s status in the fashion industry. Lambert later forming the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), the International Best Dressed List, and the Coty Awards. And Lambert’s coterie of fashion clients included Oscar de la Renta, Stephen Burrows, Halston, Anne Klein, Bill Blass, Oleg Cassini, Hattie Carnegie, Claire McCardell, Bonnie, Cashin, Norman Norrell, and many others. Also, over time, Press Week helped turn American fashion designers into celebrities. Unlike the couture houses of Europe, most ready-to-wear clothing in the US carried the name of the manufacturer not the designer or design house. Lambert helped change all of that.

After WW II, Paris made a fashion comeback with the cinched waist and wide skirt silhouettes of Christian Dior. Still, American fashion was gaining momentum, setting a ready-to-wear standard.

Within fashion circles, Press Week became so esteemed and well-loved that other global fashion weeks followed suit. By the mid-1950s Press Week had been renamed New York Press Week, and unlike the current NYFW, not held every year.

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Eventually, New York Press Week would be a bi-annual fashion event, using such venues as a large movie theater in the garment district and later a hotel auditorium uptown. Though industry professionals still had to crisscross Manhattan for some shows, it wasn’t until the ceiling of a loft space hit noted Chicago Tribune fashion editor Suzy Menkes on the head that the CFDA realized that something had to be done.

Fern Mallis, the former executive director of the CFDA, understood that New York Press Week, now called New York Fashion Week, needed a centralized location. Through her event management company, 7th on Sixth, Mallis centralized NYFW at Bryant Park in 1993. Though NYFW was not officially named NYFW at that time—originally fashion week at Bryant Park was called 7^th on Sixth, or whoever was sponsoring that year, Olympus, Mercedes-Benz—by the mid-90s NYFW has become an international fashion phenomenon with celebrities, star athletes, and even political figures in attendance.

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NYFW resided at Bryant Park for 17 years, later moving to Lincoln Center in September of 2010. NYFW at Lincoln Center saw the introduction of streaming videos of the fashion shows in real time and a new category of fashion experts, fashion influencers. Though NYFW tenure at Lincoln Center was auspicious, in five years NYFW would again be decentralized and without a permanent home.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, NYFW was held between two main venues Spring Studios and Pier 59. For the spring 2021 season, NYFW will be mostly a virtual experience. And though some fashion pundits scoff at the idea of a virtual week, this maybe a wave of the future.