The story goes that to turn his 1990 loft Fashion Week show into a party, Michael Kors put on Odyssey’s “Use It Up, Wear It Out.” At a crucial moment in the song the bass went up… and the ceiling plaster came down.  Right onto the heads of prominent front-row guests including Anna Wintour, who picked pieces of ceiling out of fashion critic Suzy Menkes’s hair.

“Michael is really the shot heard from Sarajevo that started the war,” Fern Mallis, then executive director of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, told VF Daily about the day.

“It was a historical moment,” echoed Simon Doonan. “That was when the CFDA decided we’re all going to get killed unless we find a functioning location.”

Publicist Eleanor Lambert organized the first “Press Week,” clustering shows into the now-familiar weeklong time frame.

While initially designers traveled to the editors, locations evolved creatively in the 70’s and 80s — shows  staged in places like galleries, nightclubs, restaurants, and, well, rickety lofts. When the ceiling at Michael Kors peeled, Fern Mallis took  action.

She persuaded the privately-owned Bryant Park to erect two white tents, and the designers to showcase there. The tents became Fashion Week’s hub from spring of 1994 until 2010, moving to Lincoln Center until 2015. A short stint at Skylight Clarkson Square brings us to today, where show locations again are scattered throughout the boroughs.

As Steven Kolb, CEO of the CFDA, declared in 2017:  “The  official venue of New York Fashion Week is New York City.”

In Spring 2014, Chanel converted Paris’s Grand Palais into a supermarket with themed products: Chanel bread loaves, even Chanel detergent. Models roamed the aisles loading up their baskets — which was adorned with a Chanel chain, of course.

In 2016 Kanye West debuted The Life of Pablo simultaneously with his Yeezy Season 3 Collection at Madison Square Garden. West piped the album while dozens of models — famous faces like Naomi Campbell and Veronica Webb included — were positioned around on raised platforms and in the pit below.

Ralph Lauren transformed a 1928 downtown space into the decadent Art Deco “Ralph Club.”  Champagne was served from silver punch bowls while models walked to a jazz band.  The evening was capped off by a concert by Janelle Monáe. In contrast, newcomer Hillary Taymour of Collina Strada displayed commitment to sustainability, staging her show in a constructed farmer’s market. Guests were encouraged to sample produce while models showcased clothing of repurposed materials.

CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund winner Jean-Raymond of Pyer Moss booked the historic Kings Theatre in Brooklyn.  The brand sold tickets to the public for the show, which included a live band, 65-person chorus, and sermon.  In Harlem, Zendaya and Tommy Hilfiger turned the Apollo into a block party, with live performances and retro convertible cars.

And Tom Ford went underground, to a decommissioned Bowery subway platform.  Grit and glam inspired by a 1965 photo of Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick emerging from a New York manhole. The models weren’t the only ones dolled up for that show.  Sporting bright neon safety vests were MTA workers, on hand to make sure nobody fell into the tracks.  As we embark on yet another Fashion Week, we are looking forward to the creative elements and experiences the world’s best fashion brands create.  As production companies take Fashion Week to new levels every year and new venues open in New York City, such as The Glasshouse , we expect to see a perfect symbiosis between tradition and innovation.

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