ABSTRACT
While the English couturier Lady Lucy Duff Gordon, known as Lucile, is said to be have first devised the idea of the fashion show in the Edwardian era, it was the great department stores such as Harrods and Selfridges in London and Wanamaker’s in New York that used them to bring fashion to the masses. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, these stores had a symbiotic relationship with fashion. It formed the bulwark of their revenue, particularly with respect to their female clientele. The stores also provided an innovative sales and distribution channel for the textile, garment, millinery and haberdashery industries. Women could experience the visceral pleasure of seeing and trying on clothes, while attending in-house fashion shows exposed them to the latest styles, with the spectacle that goes with live models, music and choreography. Fashion shows are still an integral part of the department store shopping experience, but face challenges in a world of fast fashion, where fashion is disposable, influenced by new media, including social media platforms and increasingly bought online in preference to physical outlets. Fashion businesses in a digital world have a variety of other ways to reach their customers. In this chapter, we trace the history and influence of the department store fashion show, and examine whether the reign of their catwalks is now over or has adjusted to changing times.
