Runway Train

The modern-day fashion show originated in Paris in the 1800s.

(Photos courtesy brands.)

It’s showtime! The September fashion show gauntlet is about to commence. The fashion diary is packed with couture, menswear and resort shows, but most people see the pinnacle of the calendar as the semi-annual woman’s ready-to-wear shows held in the four major fashion capitals—New York, Paris, London and Milan. For those who make fashion their business it can feel like a never-ending cycle.

So, what’s the point of the runway? It’s a question even those on the inside are querying. Traditionally a vehicle for selling clothes but in the age of the Internet, its purpose is not so defined with arguments being made that shows are more a marketing tool, for art or social media. Does the traditional format of collections shown months before customers can buy the clothes still work? While insiders navigate the options, the public continues to crave the drama of spectacular shows.

Stitching together show history, we need to look back to 1858 Paris when designer Charles Fredrick Worth first began to employ models to display his clothes. This quickly morphed into fashion parades, intimate affairs held by couture houses where ladies and journalist sipped champagne while watching models slowly parade past in the designer’s newest creations.

For decades much remained the same until two monumental things happened. The first was the invention of the Internet in 1989, revolutionizing access to information and eventually giving everyone the ability to see the latest runway creations with just one click. The effect of the second was much more immediate. In the ’70s and ’80s, fashion press and photographers would galivant across New York City attending shows in run-down spots, but in 1990, the then-head of the Council of American Designers of America, Fern Mallis was seated in a New York loft space watching a Michael Kors show when models and prominent journalists were hit by falling plaster. Fern Mallis went to task looking for a singular safe space to hold the shows collectively. Jump to 1992 and New York Fashion Week was born, moving to the iconic Bryant Park the following year where shows where staged in a cluster of white tents. Runway shows grew in popularity and the business of fashion grew exponentially.

Today the shows are again held in venues across the city. Currently, some designers are choosing to shun the big expense of a formal runway with celebrities seated front row, opting for instillations or going for more intimate settings. New York Fashion Week is still a hugely important time of the year for fashion, but there’s discord in the industry and a revolution in the works brought on in large part by the rise of the digital age. Where things eventually land is still very much to be seen.

Kim Smith has been a professional wardrobe stylist in Honolulu since 2004. Born a true Londoner, Smith had a successful career in public relations in the fashion industry in London for more than eight years before moving to Hawai‘i in 2002. Smith’s work spans a vast array of magazines, retailers and television as well as working with individual clients on their specific style needs. See her work at kimsmithstyle.com.