NYFW is the first-ever organised fashion week NYFW's origins go all the way back to 1943, when Paris was under Nazi siege during World War II and American industry insiders were blocked from travelling to see the Parisian shows. Enterprising fashion publicist Ellen Lambert saw an opportunity to expose the American press to its local crop of talent, creating the first ever "Press Week," the precursor to today's big event.
It used to be one big hotel party
One year later in 44, Ruth Finley published the first Fashion Calendar, Fashion Week's master planning organisation recently acquired and re-launched by the CFDA. According to Finley, early Press Weeks were held alternately at the Pierre and Plaza Hotel, where journalists would all stay. The arrangement, while probably impossible to pull off today, sounds like an amazingly convenient dream compared to the massive Uber bills we rack up scurrying between shows.
Michael Kors' falling plaster is to thank for the move to Bryant Park
As American fashion grew in popularity, designers of the 70s and 80s sought novel show spaces to bring their collections to life. In 1990, then CFDA executive director Fern Mallis was attending a Michael Kors show in a downtown loft when the pounding bass caused ceiling plaster to come crashing down, landing squarely in the lap of Suzy Menkes. Mallis told Slate, "The general sentiment was, 'We love fashion but we don't want to die for it.'" Three years later, the CFDA consolidated New York Fashion Week, first as a trial run at the Macklow Hotel on 44th Street before moving to a cluster of white tents in Bryant Park for the spring/summer 94 season.
Iman made her runway debut at NYFW
The boundary breaking super was scouted by American photographer Peter Beard en route to a political science class at the University of Nairobi. Soon thereafter, the ageless beauty landed in the United States and immediately started changing the industry. "My third day in New York City, I was working for Vogue," she told the London Evening Standard. "My first fashion show was Halston, my second was Calvin Klein."
The show didn't always go on
Once settled into its Bryant Park home in 94, NYFW continued steadily until September 11, 2001. The first day of spring/summer 01 shows was scheduled to kick off that morning, but were cancelled following the terrorist attacks downtown. The following year, New York and London Fashion Weeks switched places so that 9/11's first anniversary wouldn't fall during the bi-annual industry circus.
Source:
Emily Manning
https://i-d.vice.com/en_gb/article/five-surprising-things-you-didnt-know-about-new-york-fashion-week
0 comments:
Post a Comment