New York Fashion Week
New York Fashion Week in its modern iteration was started by Fern Mallis and Stan Herman in 1993.
New York Fashion Week kicks off fashion month, and is followed by fashion weeks in London, Milan and Paris in February and September. Spring collections are historically shown in September, while fall collections are historically shown in February.
New York Fashion Week evolved from Press Week, which began in the '40s. Eleanor Lambert founded Press Week to showcase American fashion during World War II when editors couldn't travel to Europe. The event helped promote American fashion when many major European fashion houses were on hiatus during the war.
Press Week went on for decades. Then in 1993, the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) took over the event, and then-president Stan Herman and executive director Fern Mallis consolidated the citywide events into what became known as New York Fashion Week. It was initially rebranded with the trademark "7th on Sixth."
Throughout the '90s and 2000s, New York Fashion Week was held at Bryant Park in pop-up tents. In 2011, New York Fashion Week left Bryant Park and migrated to Lincoln Center. In 2015, after New York Fashion Week's organizer WME/IMG's contract with Lincoln Center ended, the event was split between Skylight Moynihan and Skylight Clarkson. After Moynihan underwent construction for Penn Station to expand in 2017, Clarkson was the primary venue until 2018. From 2019 until the present, Spring Studios has been the main venue for New York Fashion Week, though a large percentage of designers choose to show off site.
Major American designers have made their runway debuts at New York Fashion Week, including Michael Kors, Christian Siriano, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Prabal Gurung and Anna Sui.
The event has seen some historic fashion moments, such as Ralph Lauren's 50th anniversary show in 2018, when he transformed Central Park's Bethesda Terrace into a runway, drawing everyone from Hillary Clinton to Oprah to watch. There was Marc Jacobs' show for Perry Ellis in 1993, which many saw as the birth of '90s grunge. The show ultimately got Jacobs fired, but the pieces were so popular he reissued them in 2019. In 2000, Alexander McQueen hopped Stateside for a collection he showed on the West Side of Manhattan, famously dropping his jeans at the end of the show to reveal American flag boxer shorts.
New York Fashion Week
Tamara Mellon RTW Spring 2016
Tamara Mellon's favorite tribal-gypsy woman hailed from Africa and Ancient Greece this season.
Halston Heritage RTW Spring 2016
Halston Heritage designer Marie Mazelis mined the founder's archives for links to the past that she could…
Jeffrey Dodd RTW Spring 2016
Jeffrey Dodd united Native American-inspired textiles with minimal silhouettes for spring 2016.
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See by Chloé RTW Spring 2016
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Victor Alfaro RTW Spring 2016
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Sachin & Babi RTW Spring 2016
Romance was in the air at Sachin and Babi Ahluwalia's spring presentation, with bold floral prints, delicate…
Trademark RTW Spring 2016
Trademark's Pookie and Louisa Burch were inspired by Italy in the Sixties and Eighties for spring 2016, with…
O’2nd RTW Spring 2016
Contemporary brand O'2nd debuted at New York Fashion Week with a colorful, cutout, artist-inspired…
À Moi RTW Spring 2016
À Moi designer Alejandra Alonso Rojas combined craftsmanship with wearability for her spring 2016…
Flagpole Swim Spring 2016
Flagpole Swim made its New York Fashion Week debut with a collection that was sexy, functional and full of…
M Missoni RTW Spring 2016
M Missoni creative director Angela Missoni stepped into the wonderful world of the circus for spring 2016.
Charles Youssef RTW Spring 2016
Charles Youssef took his love of geometry a step further for spring, inspired by the Art Deco work of artist…
Petite Cocotte, New York Fashion Week’s New Go-to Lunch Spot
Petite Cocotte, a spinoff of the French bistro Cocotte, will serve up coffee, sandwiches and small plates…
