Part 1: The Birth | Part 2: Making the Mark | Part 3: The Glitz Factor

Taking in the iconic words of Frank Sinatra, “New York is a hell of a town.” New York Fashion Week is as much part of the cultural landscape as is opera season, the Thanksgiving parade, and now, Ryan Seacrest hosting New Year’s Eve!

Click here for FUR TRENDS Book | Fall-Winter 2011-2012

Tourists Viewing NYC From Observation Room of Empire State Building

As Frankie also said, “If you can make it there, you’ll make it anywhere”, Fashion Week New York is one of the big players now and makes household names of the fashion designers who show their collections here for the world to enjoy. Let’s not forget that the U.S. invented sportswear, or should we say prêt-à-porter, or ready-to-wear? Yes my friends, what the United States introduced a century ago is still being done around the world today.

'New York Fashion: The Evolution of American Style', by Caroline Rennolds Milbank

'American Ingenuity: Sportswear 1930s-1970s' by Richard Martin

What made (and still makes) American fashion special is the practicality of the designs. Presenting items that can be mixed with older and newer ones, be they from the same designers or not, is rather revolutionary… and frankly brilliant.

1940s American sportswear

American Sportswear, circa 1954

Fashion design pioneers like Claire McCardell revolutionized the industry in the 1950s by introducing softer [less-constructed] pieces that draped well and changed silhouette drastically with the application of a belt or another garment. “Easy to wear” is nothing new, just check out the British designer Jean Muir in the 1970s or even Donna Karan and Calvin Klein in the 1980s… McCardell rocked it then and still influences today. Anne Klein even took it another step by designing collections of ‘separates.’

Claire McCardell

1950s American Sportswear at its best

Absolutely Fabulous' Joanna Lumley modelling Jean Muir, early 1970s

Donna Karan wrap-dress, 1980s

One of the reasons New York Fashion Week hit the ground running was post-WWII American consumer purchase power, which was unparalleled and turned American department stores like Bloomingdale’s, Bonwit Teller, Henri Bendel, Neiman Marcus, and Saks Fifth Avenue, to name a few, into strong partners that helped redefine New York’s fashion influence and Fashion Week in the process.

Woman Shopping at Takashimaya's Department Store

Department store shopping bags can be fashionable and artistic

Aside form designers and retailers, New York also catered to established boutiques that purchased looks from fashion designers in Europe as well as New York, and just like some department stores did, they reinterpreted them for clients ­­–think of it as an early License Agreement. Even Jacqueline Kennedy often purchased in such places, her iconic pink “Chanel-looking” suit she wore in Dallas was actually by Upper East Side favorite boutique, Chez Ninon (the hat was, of course, by Halston via Bergdorf Goodman).

Joanna McCormick in a cropped jacket by Ben Zuckerman, jewels by Van Cleef & Arpels, Vogue cover by Karen Radkai, Jan. 1959

President John F. Kennedy had asked wife Jacqueline to wear her Chez Ninon pink suit during their trip to Dallas, where he was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963

Watch for still more on the history of New York Fashion Week!

Part 1: The Birth | Part 2: Making the Mark | Part 3: The Glitz Factor