From tiny dolls to “corpses” floating in the river, take a tour of 12 milestone events in the fashion show’s 125-year history.
pandora statues
Initially, it was the dolls that displayed the designs. From about the 1300s to the 1800s, the flare of skirts, the delicacy of tailoring, the embellishments of veils or the intricateness of hats were displayed by making miniature versions and placing them on figurines called Pandora or Pippen dolls, which stood about 8 inches tall.
Everyone from Mary, Queen of Scots in the 1500s to Marie Antoinette of France in the 1700s used them for reference.
By the mid-18th century, as newly wealthy merchants began to dress up and live aspirational lives, dolls began to appear in dressmakers’ shop windows. They fell out of fashion with the rise of illustrated magazines, but returned in the age of mass manufacturing, of course, as full-size mannequins.
price house
By the 1850s, the modern era had begun. The machines were dragging, the trains were wavering. People were dreaming big, and chasing those dreams.
One of these was Charles Frederick Worth (1825–1895), a teenager working in textile shops in London who decided to seek his fortune and at the age of 21 left England for Paris, where he more or less single-handedly introduced the key elements of haute couture.
He founded the House of Worth in 1858. There he replaced the dolls with live models and organized soirees where the wives of wealthy aristocrats could watch these models strutting around in their new designs.
He also sewed tags with his name on all the clothes he produced, which sparked the idea of a fashion label.
“Worth really understood the importance of showing clothes on the moving body,” says fashion historian Kirsty Hassard, co-curator of a huge exhibition called Catwalk, which traces this history at V&A Dundee (and is on display until January).
Eventually, Worth became dressmaker for women ranging from Empress Elisabeth of Austria to trendsetter Alice Vanderbilt (wife of American railroad millionaire Cornelius Vanderbilt II). Hassard says, “His intimate presentations became a reflection of the circles in which these distinguished clients of his moved.” Laying the groundwork for what will be on the front row of fashion week.
World’s first fashion show
Worth’s Salon presentations were quite simple. By the 1890s, a British designer named Lucy Duff-Gordon was changing this.
She tended to do things her own way, with spectacular results. In 1895, she divorced her first husband and began supporting herself and her daughter by working as a dressmaker for aristocrats in London.
To promote his boutique, he trained “professional models” to perform choreographed walks on an elevated platform amid elaborate sets, special lighting, and live music. Their first such event took place in 1901 and is considered the birth of the fashion show. here’s why.
These events were open only to those who received invitations.
The guests were welcomed with elaborate programs and high tea was held after the show. In addition to potential buyers, celebrities, magazine editors and the elite were also invited.
Duff-Gordon married a baronet, survived the sinking of the Titanic (in 1912), and opened branches in several cities, including Paris, New York, and Chicago.
outside the city
The catwalk created such a sensation that it soon spread beyond the closed salons. To meet public interest and demand, events began to be held in department stores, ballrooms, and hotel courtyards.
Duff-Gordon began organizing “parades” in the gardens. French fashion designer Paul Poiret staged the show among elaborate balls. From Wanamakers in Philadelphia to Selfridges in London, department stores also began hosting catwalk events.
Before the walk-in-a-straight-line-and-pose format was adopted, models would often stroll among diners in cafes, or stroll in large circles, stopping to give interested customers a closer look at the costumes they were wearing.
postwar reimagining
We are now in the 1920s. The Great War is over and so is the influenza epidemic. Amidst the spirit of excitement, women who went to work in the midst of the war are staying in the workplace, commuting, seeking spontaneity and comfort rather than frills and frills.
In a dramatic reflection of this, Parisian seamstress-turned-designer Coco Chanel uses a fabric typically used in men’s sportswear – tweed – to launch a breathtaking new silhouette.
The Chanel tweed suit was sleek, attractive, durable and comfortable. Launched in 1923, it had no shoulder pads, and the skirt was designed for easy movement (Chanel ran tests with models, making sure they could easily climb stairs, step onto imaginary buses or bend over like getting into a car). Versions of this are still in production.
new look of dior
Fast forward to the 1940s and a terrible World War II has finally ended.
A year later, Christian Dior – who had spent years designing clothes for the wives of Nazi officers in occupied France, while donating part of the proceeds to the French Resistance – decided to establish his own fashion house in Paris.
In 1947, he unveiled his first collection: suits, skirts, dresses, jackets with tight waists, rounded shoulders, a lavish use of fabrics that underlined what had been missed amid the strictures of war: luxury, femininity, fun.
This collection was a huge hit. Harper’s Bazaar editor Carmel Snow famously said, “Your dresses look so new!” And this is the name by which his first collection is known even today.
ready to wear
By the 1960s, a generation emerged that knew nothing about the war. They grew up amid an economic boom, and enthusiastically entered the Swinging Sixties.
As markets and mindsets changed to accommodate them, a new culture was born through magazines, films, Beat poetry, the hippie movement, and rock music. It was a culture defined by cultural and social rebellion.
In reflection of this, Mary Quant and her boutique Bazaar give the world the miniskirt (as well as hotpants, and short tunic dresses worn over brightly colored tights). Window displays go from grand and formal to whimsical.
Fashion shows began to be held in places where young people were considered good: cafes (a show by the brand Chloé), wine cellars (Pierre Cardin), nightclubs (Paco Rabanne). Models danced while walking on the ramp.
This was not the generation that wanted to go for multiple fittings in closed rooms.
By 1966, Yves Saint Laurent had launched Rive Gauche, the first prêt-à-porter or ready-to-wear boutique line by a major couture house. Brands like Carven and Nina Ricci soon followed.
paris fashion week
New York first did this in 1943 to promote its domestic fashion industry. But Paris Fashion Week, started in 1973, remains the gold standard.
The first edition of this exclusive event – open only to those who were invited, or who paid a large enough sum for a pass – was organized by the French Fashion Federation to raise funds for the restoration of the Palace of Versailles.
It turned into a friendly showdown between five French design houses (Yves Saint-Laurent, Emanuel Ungaro, Dior, Pierre Cardin and Givenchy) and five visiting American couturiers (Bill Blass, Oscar de la Renta, Anne Klein, Halston and Stephen Burroughs).
The designers pulled out all the stops. “The Yves Saint-Laurent show featured a Bugatti luxury vehicle, while Dior had a giant pumpkin carriage,” says Maria Costantino, a lecturer in fashion culture and history at the University of the Arts London. “The American line-up was considered a ‘win’ overall as it included a series of live performances by Liza Minnelli and Josephine Baker.”
Feathered Corset, Ribbon Top
What could be more fashionable? By 1999, Alexander McQueen was answering that question in spectacular fashion.
His spring/summer collection that year combined fashion with machinery combined with art.
The British icon held his show in a London warehouse, and used the event to celebrate the craftsmanship and industrial aesthetic of the Machine Age. On display were feathered bodices, fan skirts, ribbon tops and belts made of wood, buckles and straps. This set looked exactly like a factory floor. But it was the finale that took the crowd by surprise.
As model Shalom Harlow stood on a revolving platform in a white dress, two industrial robots sprayed black and yellow paint onto her garment, and moved her from canvas to art in real time.
“walking on water
New concerns, new statements in 2004. Carole Christian Poel’s Mainstream Downstream Spring/Summer collection uses a river to make a point.
On a calm afternoon in Milan, 17 people floated silently in the polluted Navglio Grande canal. Eyes closed, body limp, they are carried forward on invisible inflatable rafts.
They wear items from Poel’s collection. More pieces of it keep floating around them like debris.
“It was scary but poetic,” says Livia Grigori, who runs the research project and Instagram page Atlas of Shows with her partner Dan Ricciardi. “It was a searing critique of consumerism, the endless cycle of fashion trends, and the industry’s own ruin.”
walking through snow
Demna’s (now creative director at Gucci) Balenciaga Fall/Winter 2022 show seated its audience around a glass-enclosed arena while a fierce blizzard raged inside.
Inside the dome, models wore pre-wrinkled trench coats and carried oversized luxury garbage bags as they waded through deep snow piles.
The show was intended to force viewers to consider the war being waged by Russia in Ukraine (which had just begun) and the larger themes of displacement and climate concerns, Demna said.
out of air
Parisian brand Coperni packed a series of surprises in its Spring/Summer 2023 showcase: cropped bomber jackets, silk dresses covered in jagged glass shards, a Swipe bag coated in 18-karat gold.
But the finale of the show is the part that really grabbed the headlines. Paying homage to McQueen’s 1999 robot-spray-painted outfit, it featured model Bella Hadid walking across the stage in nude innerwear before a fabric called Fabrican was sprayed onto her body. It dried instantly, creating a custom-fit ivory-silver sheath dress that moved even when she walked.
Coincidentally, Fabrican is a fashion-tech startup that has been experimenting with new materials for apparel, as well as breathable bandages and casts.
