New York Fashion Week : An Epitome Of Fashion

Nov 8, 2022

By Vibe Fabriclore

New York Fashion Week An Epitome Of Fashion

New York City is full of life, fashion, museums, roadside live music, amazing food, aesthetic buildings, colorful walls, concerts, and much more. Even if you haven’t ever gone here still we are sure through movies you too must have fallen in love with its beauty. Along with all of this one more exciting thing about this city is its fashion shows. Along with Paris, London, and Milan, New York Fashion Week is ranked amongst the top four fashion weeks.

The Antiquity of New York Fashion Week

This fashion week dates back to the time of the second world war when people used to come into old narrow nightclubs with perished ceilings. But the biggest contribution goes to Eleanor Lambert, an American fashion publicist. Born and brought up in Indiana with her fashion and background in sculpture studies, she changed the meaning of fashion in New York City. In the year 1941, she helped in setting up the New York Dress Institute.

Furthermore, another addition to it was Press Week, so that as and when the fashion shows happened media used to come even from different regions also. Lambert’s planned to have Press Week in a central location, she even paid and called reporters from different places to come and join. This created a great impact as now, homegrown fashion talent was taken seriously after this.

Later in 1945, Ruth Finley began coordinating what now we know as the Fashion Calendar, so that show timings don’t clash, and access to the audience for a list of events.

Thriving From Base

After a few decades, packed fashion calendars made it more popular and gave rise to today’s big brands, such as Oscar da la Renta, Ralph Lauren, and many more. The meaning of silhouettes changed, hemlines rose, and cultural touch took new ways. Moreover, the presentation of shows changed, each designer wanted the best view for their event. In the beginning, it was mainly departmental stores and showrooms. But with time the locations too evolved into nightclubs, lofts, and galleries. Additionally, Eleanor further continued setting up the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 1962. To have recognition of the US fashion industry both culturally and economically.

Doom of the New York Fashion Week

In the early 1990s, the press and buyers were bushed. The reason behind this was the poor selection of locations, in 1991, a part of the ceiling collapsed at a Michael Kors show. Later on, the media complained about many other incidents such as stuck elevators, power failures, and more.

But along with some unpleasant news, there were a few memorable events also. Like, Marc Jacob’s infamous, grunge-inspired 1993 Perry Ellis show, to Kate Moss's catwalk for Calvin Klein. Besides the supermodels, there was a boom of celebrities sitting in the front row. For instance, Julia Roberts, Leonardo Di Caprio, Drew Barrymore, and Mariah Carey. And as soon as there was a shift in location to Bryant Park it lead to more sponsorships and soon the event was rebranded as the Benz Fashion Week in the late 90s.

Newfangled New York Fashion Week

Even after a big bumpy ride, in 2000 it was not the end, as in 2001 the show once got canceled. But then new designers started to flourish like, Rodarte, Thakoon, Jason Wu Prabal Gurung, and Alexander Wang. Moreover, there was a dramatic change in the New York Fashion street style which was captured by Bill Cunningham. Soon, the show expanded its dimensions to approximately 300 shows in Lincoln Center, providing a lot of space. But there also after some time Damrosch Park claimed to have a bad effect on it.

In recent times, it is held in Tribeca’s Spring Studios and numerous fashion designers are coming back for off-site presentations. Currently, it happens twice a year for about seven to nine days at a stretch or depending upon the number of shows. This year it was a five-and-a-half-days long event. The runway shows included Gabriela Hearst, Prabal Gurung, LaQuan Smith, Collina Strada, and Batsheva.

This Years’ Eminent Designers

Brandon Maxwell this year preferred staying with minimalistic designs in different textures. Overall, it was all about being comfortable and hollow, as it was a representation of her grandmother who passed away last year. Next was, Proenza Schouler, inspired by Swiss art Meret Oppenheim aesthetics. Its collection was themed on wrap dresses and coats. Further Jaso Wu, took its ideas from retro fashion illustrations and created voluminous clothing with a modern touch. For instance, ruffled dresses, skirts, and much more. But this was not the end, the list of designers goes on and on and their outrageous collection.

The future of fashion is born here!