From the Houses to Your Living Room- A Fashion’s Show Return to Intimacy

May 1, 2020 is a day that will be marked in fashion history.Roitfeld’s CR Runway and YouTube streamed live the first at home runway fashion show. Each walking the runway in their favorite outfit which in this case may be somebody’s living room. backyard, or even bedroom. How did this come to be? Well, as they say, necessity is the mother of invention.

Carine Roitfeld’s first-ever runway show, CR Runway, kicked off in June 2019 at the famed Piazzale Michelangelo in Florence. She teamed up with with Andrea Panconesi, CEO of LuisaViaRoma, to celebrate the brand’s 90th anniversary. The show featured her favorite pieces from the Fall/Winter 2019 collections as shown by the models by recreating some epic fashion runway moments in history. The show the paid tribute to the 1990’s- an ode to the decade of glamour and sex appeal. Prior to having a show of her own, Roitfeld has styled the annual amFAR Cannes runway show for many years now, whose purpose is to action off the clothing to raise money for AIDS research.

So what changed from 2019 to 2020? The world did. With the COVID-19 pandemic in full swing world wide all we know has changed. No Cannes festival, no fashion shows, no gatherings at all that we once took for granted and now will cherish. With the world in a state no one living has seen, things as “trivial” as a fashion show shouldn’t matter. However, Carine Roitfeld being the visionary she is, understood that we need these things because while some may see fashion shows as trivial, she knew many others would see it as a sign of normalcy. So what did she do? She revamped it and brought the first modern day fashion show to the living room from the living room. Thank you Carine- I have always wanted to sit front row at a fashion show live and now because of your vision I got the best seats in the house- my sofa.

This made me think- how did fashion shows originate and how did they become the spectaculars they are today? How did we get here?

Is it surprising that the concept of the fashion show originated in the Fashion capital of the world? You guessed it- we have the Parisians to thank for putting the art form of attire on display. The modern concept of fashion started in the 1700’s, under Louis XIV, culminating with the first true “haute couture” (literally, “high fashion”) house in Paris (House of Worth) in 1858. At that time fashion was displayed at the designers houses- as a way to show the wealthy and aristocracy the latest collections

Parisian-based designer Charles Frederick Worth, known as the father of haute couture, had the idea to put clothes on live models in a setting outside the fashion houses themselves. In the 1860’s Worth launched his collections at Longchamp Racecourse. While this is was not called a fashion show at the time; it is to believe this is the first time the concept of the fashion show came to be as we know it today.

The early 20th century saw the trend of “fashion parades”. In London, leading British designer Lady Duff-Gordon regularly showed collections at her Hanover Street salon, giving her models romantic names in order to make them sound more exotic. This is what we still do today- just look at the supermodel Twiggy as an example.

In New York, the Ehrich Brothers department store, began hosting their own shows in-store. Others, including Wanamaker’s in Philadelphia, followed suit from the 1910”s-1920’s. Even during the Great Depression, haute couture continued to flourish. In 1931, Elsa Schiaparelli showed a collection on a catwalk at Saks in New York. Photographers were not allowed to attend in order to avoid anyone copying the designs. Imagine- NO PHOTOGRAPHERS AT A FASHION SHOW? Fast forward to 2020 and there are no photographers flashing lights in the model’s eyes as they strut the new “catwalk.” For different reasons yes but the result is the same.

In 1943 saw the beginnings of what would know as New York fashion week: branded “Press Week” by fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert. Why did this come about? Again- necessity is the mother of invention. The American press was unable to travel to Europe during the war, this became an opportunity for Lambert to promote American talent.

In 1947 Christian Dior became one of the first designers to allow photographers to document his first collection, which Carmel Snow, the editor of Harper’s Bazaar, famously named “The New Look”. Once the photographers were allowed in they never left.

What was the “New Look” that caused the fist photographer’s flash at a fashion show? Here is how it was conveyed at the time:

In the 1970’s, ready-to-wear took over from haute couture, and the catwalk became the way to showcase collections. The rest is history- the more modern the world got, the more access we had, the larger the shows became. They became so extravagant in some cases where the show’s aesthetic, music performers, and supermodels became stars with as equal billing as the clothes themselves.

Flash forward to 2020 and now because of the limited access we have we are back to where it began- a show that seems intimate and just for you. A display that focuses on the art of the attire rather than all the bells and whistles of what is surrounding it. Roitfeld flashed us back to the 1700’s in which the fashion showcase was just for us. Except in this case instead watching it in aristocratic couture we got to watch it in our sweats.

Some of my favorite looks from the CR Runway show 2020: