The history of New York Fashion Week can be traced back to the 1940s. In 1943, under the organization of Eleanor Lambert, an exhibition which is called Media Week comes into being. This is the first Fashion Week in New York, as well as the first organized Fashion Week in the world.

It was hold both in Pierre Hotel and Plaza Hotel. Editors and journalists were invited. While buyers who are noble today only have the chance to choose clothes in the designers’ show. Eleanor Lambert’s Media Week gave a chance to contact the United States designers for the fashion https://modoweinspiracje.com/  editors and journalist. To be more exact, it gave a chance to the US designers to show themselves to the whole world.

Before the Media Week, United States already have a decade of fashion show history. In 1903, a shop named Ehrich Brothers in New York has organized a fashion show. This is the first Fashion Show in the United States; its aim is to attract the middle-class housewives to go to the shop. In 1910, many large stores start to hold their own fashion show as an effective means of sales promotion. While in the 1920s, the fashion show has become a mainstream. Compare to today’s fashion show, it is more dramatic. These shows always have a theme, some with exotic elements such as Paris, Persia, Russia and China.

In the view of some fashion scholars, the birth of New York Fashion Week is a counterattack to the “fashion tyranny” of Paris. Eleanor Lambert’s Media Week is thought as the smart PR behavior. Her purpose is to utilize the special opportunity of World War II and turn the fashion attention from Paris to New York.

After Nazi occupied Paris, Paris fashion status was in jeopardy; on the one side, the original activities cannot be carried out because of the war; on the other hand, the US media announced that the time of Paris’ “Fashion dictatorship” had been over, New York was becoming the new fashion center. New York Sun writes, “With the collapse of Paris, the designer which belongs to us will lead the fashion.” Facts prove that New York’s counterattack is productive. The World War II not only helped shape the new image of the international politics, but also won the new identity in fashion field for the United States.