Fashion Events

Fashion Month is the roughly four-week stretch, held twice a year, when the international ready-to-wear collections are shown across the “Big Four” fashion capitals — New York, London, Milan and Paris. It runs in February–March for the autumn/winter season and September–October for spring/summer.

The Big Four always run in the same sequence: New York first, then London, then Milan, and finally Paris. Beyond the Big Four, cities including Copenhagen, Tokyo, Seoul and Shanghai host their own increasingly influential weeks through the year.

The main ready-to-wear shows happen twice a year: autumn/winter collections are shown in February–March, and spring/summer collections in September–October. Haute couture is shown separately, in Paris, each January and July.

A Fashion Week refers to a single city’s shows — London Fashion Week, for example. Fashion Month is the whole back-to-back run of the four major cities’ weeks together — the full circuit the industry travels each season.

Haute couture is made-to-order, largely hand-finished clothing presented in Paris each January and July. The term is legally protected in France, and only houses that meet strict criteria set by the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode may use it.