As we all know, Paris, Milan, New York, London is the birthplace of the world's four major fashion weeks, the birth of countless designers and fashion brands in these cities, and the city has witnessed the history and rise and fall of the fashion industry.

Each year, two fashion events are held in these cities, providing an opportunity for brands to showcase their new products of the season and a platform for industry insiders to network. Fashion week is not only a guide to the fashion trends of the season, but also leads the development of accessories, makeup, hair and other trends.

So how did the four major fashion weeks originate? Today, Woman No. 1 will take you to see the development of fashion week and the story behind it.

01

Paris Fashion Week

Paris has always been known as the "capital of fashion", and it is also the stage to witness the annual fashion change.

Paris Fashion Week is known for Haute Couture and is the most sophisticated and luxurious of the four major fashion weeks.

The heritage of history and elegance.

Karl Lagerfeld and supermodel Linda Evangelista at Paris Fashion Week

In the early days of Parisian fashion, from the late 19th century to the early 20th century, designers began to move away from static displays of clothes and began to employ models to perform dynamic displays for their guests. They were Charles Worth (the father of haute couture) and Paul Poiret (couture couturier and founder of the Hobb dress).

Charles Worth

Paul Poiret during a fitting for a model
At the same time, because of Poiret's extravagant sex life, he would often host social business dinners, and invited guests had to wear their finest clothes to attend.

At that time, the Parisian fashion world extremely valued pedigree and rank, although Paul Poiret was born into an ordinary businessman's family, but with his design and social fame, his party became a social circle that many people spent a lot of money to enter.

At these parties, Paul Poiret's wife would wear his proud haute couture gowns, which attracted many customers who wanted to buy his clothes.

By the 1920s and '30s, Paris had produced more world-renowned designers, For example, Coco Chanel, who opened up the freedom of women's clothing, Madeleine Vionnet, who invented the "unloading method" of clothing, and Elsa Schiaparelli, who introduced the surrealist style into fashion.

Instead of using social dinners to show off seasonal collections, designers hold small private "shows" in fashion houses. The guest list was heavily screened, and photographers were barred for fear of plagiarism.

Until the World War II in 1943, many Europeans fled to New York due to the war, which directly promoted the development of New York fashion industry, and thus there was New York Fashion Week, then known as "Fashion Press Week".

Fearing that the fashion industry next door in New York would be so far ahead, the French Haute Couture Federation demanded that each house in Paris produce at least 35 day and evening dresses each season, and that gowns be customized.

Christian Dior show in 1948

By 1968, national strikes under the influence of the "May Revolution" and the "Young Storm" had devastated the haute couture industry, and haute ready-to-wear had emerged.

In the 1970s, in order to save the haute couture industry, the French government merged the Haute Couture Association, the Haute Ready-to-wear Association, and the Regulation Men's Association into the French Clothing Federation, and held the first official "Paris Fashion Week" in 1973.

The French government attaches great importance to its clothing industry, not only provides various welfare for designers, but also encourages them to hold shows around the world and provides subsidies, and also attracts designers from many other countries to hold shows here with the policy of opening up to the outside world.

This is why the Paris clothing industry can survive.