London enters the chat
Last to join the big four was London in 1984, who officially coined the term “Fashion Week”. Organized by the British Fashion Council, who still manages the entire week today, LFW was also the very first of the fashion weeks to live stream for a global audience in 2010.
But back in New York, despite the growth and popularity of fashion shows during the late 80s, shows were happening simultaneously at different locations across the city.
Following the lead of LFW, New York Press Week officially became New York Fashion Week in 1990, and three years later the shows started happening in one event location under white tents at Bryant Park in Midtown Manhattan. From there, title sponsorships began – with companies like IMG and Mercedes-Benz cashing in on the infamous events.
But why is this all important?
To the outsider viewer, fashion weeks look like a really fun party (and I’m sure they are) but in reality, it’s an opportunity to study the brand strategy of an est. $1.5 trillion USD industry.
Fashion weeks help reveal the goals and priorities of a brand, plus what trends they think will drive sales throughout the year ahead. This impacts different players across the industry.
From a buyer perspective, they come to see what’s happening in the upcoming season so they can put in orders, where fashion media will use it as a trend forecaster – and to determine what they will feature in their magazines for the next six months.
Then there’s the content angle of it all – through visual storytelling, it’s more than just a collection of clothing. It’s product marketing – both digital and IRL.
I almost like to think of it as an integrated PR campaign come to life – press, product, suppliers, buyers, celebrities and hype – which really comes as no surprise given that a PR girlie founded the entire thing.
With the rise of the social media cycle and consumers wanting to buy very quickly (think TikTok shop, IG stores), fashion week and the industry started pushing ready to wear much more vs its origins of showing a collection that wasn’t even put into production yet.
Much like Andy (Anne Hathaway) being confused as Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) looked down upon her as she explained the importance of handpicked cerulean blue, Miranda Priestly rightly described both the impact of fashion week and the fashion industry as a whole on the erage consumer: