the traditional venue for the shows. But the popularity of the event and the number of
those who wished to visit it forced the organizers to search for a new spot – the Lincoln
Centre. Mercedes-Benz sponsors the New York Fashion Week, and the full name of
the event is the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.
When in 1945 the war ended, the French fashion industry was extremely
exhausted and destroyed. Losses had to be restored and professional activity to be
revived. This required significant investments, which designers didn’t have. Robert
Ricci, the son of a famous couturier, invited leading fashion houses to make their
products in miniature and, thus, save expensive materials, but continue to demonstrate
creative achievements. These miniature shows were called “Le Petit Théâtre de la
Mode” or Little Fashion Theaters. In 1945 two hundred mannequins, which were made
in a third of a human height, were used to demonstrate exclusive couture clothing from
Cristóbal Balenciaga and Jeanne Lanvin in the Louvre. In essence, this unique
experience was not a fashion show, but an exposition in the museum, which gave it a
somewhat different air. However, the lack of live models and the dynamics of the show
did not make it less spectacular [8]. The main functions of informing and advertising
for the purpose of selling also remained relevant. After the exhibition in Paris, the
fashion theater travelled over Europe. In 1946, French creators used the same
mannequins to present their new collections over the ocean.
Fig. 3. Exhibition of Parisian fashion on mannequins in New York in 1946.
In the pre-war period, fashion shows were held in the salons next to the workshops
of designers: space was scarce, and the clients were few. Actually, before the fashion
runway appeared, all the attention was focused on customers and the real publicity of
presentations was little thought of. It was enough for designers to invite the press and
a fashion critic, whose opinion the public listened to. Meanwhile, the show of the first
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