A Page from Fashion History

The flashing lights on the stage, the smooth surface of the runway and the stunning models in beautiful clothes is what fashion shows are made of. People have always desired to look their best, making fashion one of the oldest existing businesses. Today there are countless fashion shows in London, Milan, Paris, America, India and almost every country in the globe so much so that it has become a common occurrence. But, the commencement of fashion shows has a vague history. France, one of the prime places where fashion flourished could be said to be the first ones to start the tradition of fashion shows. It is hard to narrow down the time or place for the first ever fashion show but let’s explore history.

Our story begins somewhere in the 1800s, during which time a horde of fashion parades took place in Fashion saloons; the glitz or glamour was mellow during that time, compared to what we are used to today. The models, who were called ‘Mannequins’, at that time, were taught the art of walking and posing in a saloon for onlookers. This was a way of displaying their collection and the latest trends. In all technicality it was a fashion show, though the models that time had fuller figures, but that too changed later on. In fact, depleting of the figure has been so much that we have size zero now!

In 1903 there was a resemblance of fashion show in New York City in Ehrlich Brothers boutique. The events had more of a theatrical flair to them compared to today. The show was generally organized around a theme which was narrated by someone. A couple of years later many of the large department stores such as Wanamaker’s and Philadelphia were also organizing these shows. 

The events exhibited couture gowns from Paris or gowns inspired by Paris fashion. Soon these events were taking place across New York City. But towards the end of the century, somewhere around the 1970s and 80s designers started having private shows which became the start of what would eventually become fashion show.

Nowadays we have fashion shows running on for weeks all over the world. For this we have some bright minds in the past to thank who in difficult times, when war was looming bring with it million of problems along, did not let the art die and found a way to reach the world. So remember when you see a fashion show next this all started in some saloon tucked somewhere in France.