Which city hosted the world's first Fashion Week in 1943?

New York City hosted the world's first organized Fashion Week in 1943. Known originally as Press Week, the event was created by fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert and the New York Dress Institute.

The timing was significant: World War II made it difficult for American fashion journalists and buyers to travel to Paris, then the leading center of couture. Press Week gave American designers a dedicated platform and encouraged magazines such as Vogue to cover U.S. fashion more prominently.

The event was not initially called New York Fashion Week. The modern centralized name and format developed much later, especially after the Council of Fashion Designers of America began coordinating the official calendar in 1993. The original 1943 event is nevertheless recognized as the first organized fashion week.

A common mix-up is to confuse the first fashion week with the oldest fashion-show traditions. Paris had long hosted influential couture presentations, but New York organized the first event specifically structured as a recurring press-focused fashion week.