#BUILD FASHION SHOW RUNWAY LICENSE#

License these images via Nat Farbman/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock, Nat Farbman/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock, Nat Farbman/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock, Nat Farbman/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock, and Nat Farbman/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock.

Worth’s shows were simple affairs, without music, raised stages, or many of the more theatrical elements synonymous with modern fashion shows. British designer Charles Frederick Worth began hiring young women to display his clothes in Paris. Live models were first introduced in the 1850s or ‘60s. License this image via Historia/Shutterstock. Their purpose was to sell the garments on display to the people sitting in the room at the time. These early shows were rigid, formal affairs. They’d feature looks shamelessly appropriated from the most popular and expensive designers in London and Paris.

Indeed, many of the early American fashion shows were staged by department stores for their wealthiest clientele. Turn of the century fashion parades-as the earliest fashion shows were called-often prohibited photography for fear that the designs would be stolen. The tension between publicity and counterfeit items has always been at the core of runway photography. They’ll also allow fast fashion companies ample time and visual references so they can knock off the trendiest looks before they turn stale. This runway photography will be used to disseminate the ideas presented by fashion houses to the world at large, providing brands with much-needed publicity. They’re also the closest many of us will get to attending a fabulous runway show. Designer Dupes Have Always Existedįor most people, photos are the closest they’ll ever get to owning a high-end designer’s piece of wearable art. Let’s take a look at how runway photography has influenced high fashion’s output, and vice versa, over the decades. The relationship between designers and photographers hasn’t always been this way, though. License these images via Pat English/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock, Ken Towner/Evening Standard/Shutterstock, ANL/Shutterstock, Guy Marineau/Condé Nast/Shutterstock, Guy Marineau/Condé Nast/Shutterstock, and Guy Marineau/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

Build fashion show runway