fashion weeks

 

Paris, New York, London, Milan…

Fashion weeks are events in which designers, labels and design houses exhibit new garment lines in runway shows. The intention of fashion weeks is to expose the media and, importantly, buyers to the newest trends set by designers in new collections. The most well-known fashion weeks take place in the four design capitals of the world: Paris, London, New York and Milan. There are, however, many other cities renowned for the quality and size of their own fashion weeks. These include Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, Buenos Aires, Los Angeles and Singapore. Certain fashion weeks are also genre specific and exclusively cater either to swimwear, prêt-à-porter (ready to wear lines), Couture (one of kind apparel), bridal wear or eco-wear.

In the four fashion capitals, fashion weeks are held biannually, once for the spring/summer collections, and once for the autumn/winter collections. The fashion weeks held to showcase each respective season’s lines occur several months before the season itself. The reason for doing this relatively straightforward: the difference in time between fashion show and season allows the press and buyers (company representatives who buy designs for retail sale) to preview the collections and make the necessary arrangements needed to purchase and successfully market designs. Fashion weeks are seen as the definitive moment wherein the industry lets the press and buyers know what’s currently “in” and “out”. The latest collections are covered by the press extensively in magazines like Vogue and designerzcentral, on the net, and on fashion journalism channels like Fashion TV.

The schedule for the central four fashion weeks is as follows: the autumn/winter collections are shown from January to April, and the spring/summer collections are shown from September through to November. It should be borne in mind that the seasons in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres are inverted (for example, December is winter in the Northern Hemisphere and summer in the Southern Hemisphere), and that the January to April spring/summer shows precede the advent of spring by many months. Some designers, however, are increasingly giving inter-seasonal shows in between the two main fashion weeks held in each design capital per year. These shows are different from the main fashion weeks in that the lines shown are of a primarily commercial nature.

The first New York fashion week was held in 1943 to distract attention away from French fashion (on which the United States had been dependent for trends). France was occupied by German forces during most of the Second World War, and because America had entered into the War on the side of the allies, travel to, and trade with, France was severely limited. It was upon the instigation of Eleanor Lambert that local New Yorkers put together their own week, showcasing American designers and their lines. The week was covered in Vogue, and proved a popular and critical success.