Fashion capital

A fashion capital assumes a leadership role in the design of fashion, the creation of styles, and the emergence of fashion trends. In addition, fashion capitals have a broad mix of business, artistic, entertainment, cultural, and leisure activities that are internationally recognized for each having a strongly unique identity.Gemperli, Natalia. "Fashion World Mapper: Your City on the Trend Radar". Master Thesis, University of the Arts Zürich. June 2010. The fashion capital status is also linked to the city's domestic and international profile.{{cite news|last=Florida|first=Richard|title=The World's Leading Cities for Fashion|url=http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2012/09/worlds-leading-cities-fashion/3182/|access-date=2 May 2014|newspaper=The Atlantic Cities|date=7 September 2012|archive-date=15 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140515072125/http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2012/09/worlds-leading-cities-fashion/3182/|url-status=dead}} Fashion capitals are part of a wider social construct scene, with design schools, fashion magazines, and powerful market of affluent consumers of fashion.

In the 16th century, Milan came to be regarded as the world's fashion capital. Nowadays, while the term fashion capital is still used to describe cities that hold fashion weeks—most prominently, in chronological order, New York, London, Milan, and Paris{{cite news|last=Armstrong|first=Lisa|title=Is there a future for Fashion Week?|url=http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/article/TMG10324975/Is-there-a-future-for-Fashion-Week.html|access-date=2 May 2014|newspaper=Daily Telegraph|date=22 September 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502190831/http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/article/TMG10324975/Is-there-a-future-for-Fashion-Week.html|archive-date=2 May 2014|df=dmy-all}}{{cite book|last1=Bradford|first1=Julie|title=Fashion Journalism|publisher=Routledge|year=2014|page=129|isbn=9781136475368|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H2xeBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA129}}{{cite book|first=Susan|last=Dillon|title=The Fundamentals of Fashion Management|publisher= A&C Black|year=2011|page=115|isbn=9782940411580|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3XFMAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA115}}{{cite book|title=Unveiling Fashion: Business, Culture, and Identity in the Most Glamorous Industry|first=Frédéric|last=Godart|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2012|page=57|isbn=9781137000743|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H0U0wsIIhMEC&pg=PA57}}{{cite web|title=The Big Four : Fashion Capitals of the World|publisher=Fashion Days|date=5 February 2014|url=http://www.fashiondays.com/the-daily-issue/the-big-four-fashion-capitals-of-the-world/|access-date=30 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141030145348/http://www.fashiondays.com/the-daily-issue/the-big-four-fashion-capitals-of-the-world/|archive-date=30 October 2014|url-status=dead}}—, it is the economic development and stylistics created by a fashion capital city that matter to the showbiz and fashion industry.{{cite web|title=The Big Four: Fashion capitals of the World|publisher=Fashion Days|date=5 February 2014|url=http://www.fashiondays.com/the-daily-issue/the-big-four-fashion-capitals-of-the-world/|access-date=30 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141030145348/http://www.fashiondays.com/the-daily-issue/the-big-four-fashion-capitals-of-the-world/|archive-date=30 October 2014|url-status=dead}}{{cite news|title=The Figures Behind the Catwalk|first=Stephen|last=Heyman|date=1 October 2014|newspaper=New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/02/arts/international/the-figures-behind-the-catwalk.html?_r=0}} Tokyo, with its fashion week, is also widely viewed as the fifth key city of fashion, and Asia's most important fashion capital.{{Cite web |last=Wetherille |first=Kelly |date=2013-05-20 |title=Retail Meccas: Tokyo |url=https://wwd.com/business-news/retail/retail-meccas-tokyo-6940315/ |access-date=2023-12-18 |website=WWD |language=en-US}} Also, nowadays, the term fashion capital includes other world cities known for hosting notable fashion events and have influential designers in the world of global fashion.{{cite web|title=Top fashion weeks around the world|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/2011-top-fashion-weeks-around-the-world-paris-new-york-milan-tokyo-2174288.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110105112324/http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/2011-top-fashion-weeks-around-the-world-paris-new-york-milan-tokyo-2174288.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 January 2011|work=The Independent|access-date=31 October 2014|date=2 January 2011}}

Historically, several cities have taken turns being fashion capitals. During the Renaissance era, different city-states in what would become modern-day Italy were Europe's main trendsetters,{{cite web|url=http://www.renaissance-spell.com/Renaissance-Fashion.html |title=Renaissance Fashion |publisher=Renaissance-spell.com |date=9 May 2007 |access-date=2013-02-07}} due to the cultural power they exerted in that period. This included cities such as Florence, Milan, Rome, Naples, Genoa, and Venice.{{Cite web |title="Beauty Adorns Virtue": Italian Renaissance Fashion {{!}} Fashion History Timeline |url=https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/beauty-adorns-virtue-italian-renaissance-fashion/ |access-date=2022-10-04 |website=fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu}}

Progressing into the late 16th century, with the influence of the English royal court, London became a major city in European fashion. Similarly, due to the power of Spain during the period, the Spanish court started to influence fashion, making it a major centre. In the 17th century, as the Renaissance began to fade away, with the power of the French court under Louis XIV, Paris established itself as Europe's main fashion centre.{{Citation | last = Godart | first = Frédéric | title = The power structure of the fashion industry: Fashion capitals, globalization and creativity | url = http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Article,id=17684/ | journal = International Journal of Fashion Studies | volume = 1 | issue = 1 | pages = 39–57 | date = 2014 | doi = 10.1386/infs.1.1.39_1 | access-date = 8 October 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160321022500/http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Article,id=17684/ | archive-date = 21 March 2016 | url-status = dead | url-access = subscription }}

During the 19th century, with the powerful British Empire and young Queen Victoria on the throne (from 1837), London once again became a major fashion leader.{{cite web|last=Johnstone|first=Lucy|title=Corsets & Crinoline in Victorian Fashion|url=http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/c/corsets-and-crinolines-in-victorian-fashion/|publisher=V&A|access-date=2 May 2014}} However, it continued to look to Paris for stylistic inspiration, and the British 'father of haute couture' Charles Frederick Worth relocated to Paris in 1846. He did this to perfect and commercialize his craft, holding the first fashion shows and launching the concept of fashion labels there.{{cite news|last=staff|title=Worth|url=http://www.vogue.com/voguepedia/Worth|access-date=2 May 2014|newspaper=Vogue|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502165833/http://www.vogue.com/voguepedia/Worth|archive-date=2 May 2014|df=dmy-all}}

File:Garment District NYWTS crop.jpg, 1955]]

During the Golden Twenties, Berlin was considered the vanguard fashion capital.{{cite news|last1=Schreiber|first1=Mathias|title=The Age of Excess: Berlin in the Golden Twenties|newspaper=Der Spiegel|date=23 November 2012|url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/spiegel-series-on-berlin-history-the-golden-twenties-a-866383.html|publisher=SPIEGEL|access-date=3 June 2014}}

Throughout the 20th century – but particularly after World War II – New York City rose in stature as a fashion capital, challenging the dominance of Paris with a different approach, especially in its development and popularization of sportswear as fashion during the 1940s and '50s.{{cite web|title=Fashioning the City: Exploring Fashion Cultures, Structures and Systems|date=27 January 2012|url=http://fashioningthecity.wordpress.com/call-for-papers/|publisher=Royal College of Art|access-date=2 May 2014}}

During the 1950s, Italy rose in prominence again.{{cite news|last=Fearon|first=Francesca|title=Exhibition at London's V&A Museum to chronicle rise of Italian Fashion|url=http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/fashion-watches/article/1459392/exhibition-londons-va-museum-chronicle-rise-italian|access-date=2 May 2014|newspaper=South China Morning Post|date=31 March 2014}} Florence re-emerged as a leading city in fashion,{{cite web|url=http://www.gbgiorgini.it/italianfashion.htm|title=the birth of italian fashion|publisher=Gbgiorgini.it|access-date=2013-02-07|archive-date=16 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111016202714/http://www.gbgiorgini.it/italianfashion.htm|url-status=dead}} although focus shifted to Milan from the 1970s on as leading design houses moved to the city.{{cite book|last=Bruzzi|first=Stella|author-link=Stella Bruzzi|title=Fashion Cultures Revisited 2013|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|location=Abingdon, Oxon|page=23|isbn=9781136474736|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a0xJAgAAQBAJ&q=rise+of+Milan+fashion&pg=PA23|display-authors=etal}}

File:Londons Carnaby Street, 1966.jpg, {{circa}} 1966]]

In the 1980s, Tokyo claimed its place as a fashion capital with a new generation of avant-garde designers, including Issey Miyake or Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons gaining worldwide attention, even if most of the city's newcomers gained prominence after showcasing their clothing in Paris. The fashion was radically different in its use of textiles and the way designers cut and draped.{{cite web|title=Japan Fashion Now|url=http://fitnyc.edu/8726.asp|work=2010–11|publisher=Fashion Institute of Technology|access-date=2 May 2014|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140502173617/http://fitnyc.edu/8726.asp|archive-date=2 May 2014|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|title=Miyake, Kawakubo, and Yamamoto: Japanese Fashion in the Twentieth Century|url=http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/jafa/hd_jafa.htm|publisher=Metrolopolitan Museum of Art|access-date=2 May 2014}}

Since then, new fashion hubs have emerged worldwide, and the old order has faced challenges from all corners of the globe, including Africa, South America, and Australasia.{{cite news|last=staff|title=2011 top fashion weeks around the world: Paris, New York, Milan, Tokyo...|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/2011-top-fashion-weeks-around-the-world-paris-new-york-milan-tokyo-2174288.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110105112324/http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/2011-top-fashion-weeks-around-the-world-paris-new-york-milan-tokyo-2174288.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 January 2011|access-date=2 May 2014|newspaper=The Independent|date=2 January 2011}} Since 2007, Berlin has again been highlighted as an increasingly important centre for global fashion trends.{{cite web|last=Staff|title=Germany's fashion capital: the improbable rise of Berlin|url=http://www.fashionunited.co.uk/fashion-news/fashion/germanys-fashion-capital-the-improbable-rise-of-berlin-2012011713844|work=17 January 2012|date=17 January 2012|publisher=Fashion United|access-date=2 May 2014}}{{cite news|last=Scholz|first=Kay-Alexander|title=The Phoenix of Fashion Rises in Berlin|url=http://www.dw.de/the-phoenix-of-fashion-rises-in-berlin/a-15673135|access-date=2 May 2014|newspaper=Die Welt|date=18 January 2012}}

A 2011 issue of Fashion Theory: Journal of Dress, Body and Culture explored the move away from the traditional dominance of five key cities (New York, Paris, Milan, Tokyo, and London), with co-editor Lise Skov, suggesting what she described as a "poly-centric" fashion industry developing in the 21st century.

In 2019, the Vienna-based fashion intelligence firm IFDAQ under the leadership of fashion sociologist Professor Frédéric Godart measured in a scientific approach the importance, influence, and impact of cities in the fashion industry with neural networks from a large data lake. The resulting IFDAQ Global Fashion and Luxury Cities Indexhttp://research.ifdaq.com/cities/ IFDAQ Global Fashion and Luxury Cities - Top 30 revealed New York as the leading fashion capital, followed by Paris, Milan, and London.

A further elaboration of the data in cooperation with the Institution of Engineering and Technology visualized the impact of geopolitical events on the fashion capitals, including Brexit and the US-China trade war.

• Fashion week, for a partial list of cities with fashion weeks.
• Fashion tourism
• French fashion, for more information on the fashion influence of Paris
• German fashion, for more information on the fashion influence of Berlin and Germany
• Italian fashion, for more information on the fashion influence of Italy.
• Met Gala
• Time 100

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• [http://research.ifdaq.com/cities/ Global Fashion & Luxury Cities IPX Index] at IFDAQ

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Category:Fashion

Category:Types of cities

Category:History of fashion