A fashion week is a fashion industry event, lasting approximately one week, which allows fashion designers, brands or ‘houses’ to display their latest collections in runway shows and buyers to take a look at the latest trends. Most importantly, these events let the industry know what’s ‘in’ and what’s ‘out’ for the season!

The most prominent fashion weeks are held in the four fashion capitals of the world:  New York City, Lond, Milan and Paris. New York City, London, Milan and Paris each host a fashion week twice a year with New York kicking off each season and the other cities following.

The New York Fashion Week (held at Lincoln Center) is by invitation only, and only fashion magazine editors, fashion magazine journalist, model (and former models) and celebrities are invited. Other buyers are restricted to the showrooms and stores and the articles in the fashion magazines.

Some fashion weeks can be genre-specific, such as a Miami Fashion Week (swimwear), Rio Summer (swimwear), Pret-a-Porter (ready to wear) Fashion Week, Bridal Fashion Week. Portland, Oregon Fashion Week shows some eco-friendly designers too!

The shows typically last anywhere from  10 minutes to 30 minutes featuring the top models in the industry. There can be up to 30 models (female and male) with about five being the ‘top models’ of the season. Backstage there are dressers, photographers, stylists, makeup artists, the media and of course quite a few personal assistants.