The Glam Observer Fashion Podcast · Glam Observer - Giada Graziano

The History of Fashion Week

·27 min·2 clips

Eleanor Lambert launched the first fashion week in 1943 because journalists couldn't travel to Paris during WWII.

Giada Graziano, a fashion educator and career advisor, hosts this solo episode of her career-focused podcast. She provides a historical overview of the four major fashion weeks in New York, Milan, Paris, and London. The episode aims to educate listeners on the origins and evolution of these pivotal industry events. The narrative begins with 1850s Paris, where Charles Frederick Worth first invited clients to his atelier, moving away from private fittings. The first U.S. fashion show occurred in a New York shop in 1903, but the modern fashion week concept started in 1943. Eleanor Lambert launched New York's "Press Week" during World War II to divert attention from Paris. Her assistant, Ruth Finley, later created the Fashion Calendar, a scheduling guide printed in little pink books, to prevent event conflicts. In 1993, shows were centralized at Bryant Park's "White Tent" under the name "7th on 6th." Milan Fashion Week was officially founded in 1958, though Italy's first major show was in Florence in 1951 by Giovanni Battista Giorgini. Paris held Haute Couture shows from 1945 but established its ready-to-wear fashion week in 1973, inaugurated by the "Battle of Versailles" fundraiser. London Fashion Week launched in 1983, with its first show held in a West London car park. A surprising claim is that the first fashion week was not in Paris but in New York. The "Battle of Versailles" in 1973, a fundraiser featuring American and French designers, is framed as a pivotal moment where American fashion triumphed. Ruth Finley's Fashion Calendar allegedly gave each designer a strict 15-minute slot to ensure fairness. The 1991 Versace show in Milan, featuring iconic supermodels, is highlighted as a memorable turning point. London Fashion Week faced a severe decline in the early 1990s, reduced to a handful of shows at the Ritz Hotel. The episode notes that Princess Diana and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher both attended London fashion events in the 1980s. The tone is educational and instructive, delivered in a clear, enthusiastic monologue. The style is structured chronologically, focusing on key dates, figures, and organizational milestones. This episode is ideal for fashion students, career entrants, or enthusiasts seeking foundational industry history. Listeners preferring interviews or deep dives into contemporary fashion issues might find it too textbook-style.

As heard by us

Fashion week history told through industry mechanics, not runway gloss.

This episode tracks fashion week from private client showings to the public marketing machine it became, and it stays on the business side more than the runway side.

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Why you'd press play

Start here if you want fashion history and career advice from the inside out.

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