8 Top Designers on Their First Runway Shows
Tommy, Betsey, Marc... and where Kim Kardashian hit her first front row.
Nostalgia is always a trend on the catwalks, especially at New York Fashion Week. But while we're waiting to see which decade gets a retro revival in the Spring 2016 collections, let's look back at some of our favorite designers' debut shows. (Yes, Kim K was involved...but so was Liza Minelli.)
Tommy Hilfiger (1985)
"I'll never forget what an adrenalin rush it was to show my first menswear collection in New York in 1985. It's hard to believe it was thirty years ago!" says Tommy Hilfiger.
Tommy Hilfiger (1985)
"My first collection was inspired by a fusion of the classic East Coast styles I grew up with and the relaxed, youthful spirit of the West Coast," notes Hilfiger, who also worked with Coca Cola on a series of rugby shirts at the time. "It was the kind of clothing I wanted to wear but couldn't find anywhere."
Donna Karan (1985)
"She is a working woman, constantly on the move," Donna Karan told ELLE in 1986, after Kathleen Turner and Liza Minelli graced her front row. "She needs to dress to go from day to night, she doesn't have time to change her clothes and she's constantly traveling [sic]. It's really a mirror image of my friends and I – we all dress the same way." And soon, so would every stylish woman in America...
Marc Jacobs (1986 and 1994)
Few labels get two runway debuts, but Marc Jacobs is just that cool. After launching and shuttering his own line in the '80s, he staged a 1994 comeback show loaded with supermodels and forward-thinking fashion. (The modern military trend that's still going strong? That's MJ 101.) "I don't want to be as intimidating as Calvin Klein," Jacobs told The New York Times in 1986, so he became an actual celebrity instead.
Betsey Johnson (1981)
"I've done more shows than a Broadway chorus girl," Betsey Johnson told us, but her first official NYFW runway happened in 1981. Janice Dickinson (pictured) walked the runway with a bottle of champagne, and Betsey cartwheeled for her big finale. The tradition continues tomorrow, as Johnson launches her Spring 2016 collection at Skylight Studios!
Jeremy Scott (1997)
He's Moschino's main man and Katy Perry's BFF, but Jeremy Scott's first collection premiered in a Paris dive bar close to the Bastille. "I was so broke that sometimes I slept in the Metro," he admits. But he also convinced Devon Aoki to star in his catwalk debut, which featured incredible pieces like couture gowns made from hospital scrubs. The next year, Colette began placing orders, and Scott's ascent—as chronicled in the new documentary Jeremy Scott: The People's Designer—began.
Charlotte Ronson (2006)
Before she had a runway show, Charlotte Ronson opened a trendy clothing boutique in downtown New York. But her catwalk debut put Ronson's bohemian vibes in the industry spotlight, and soon celebs like Sienna Miller and Nicole Richie wore Ronson's beaded silk sundresses in countless paparazzi shots. Charlotte's first fashion show also marked the NYFW debut of Kim Kardashian, who wore one of the label's breezy designs straight off the catwalk. If only we'd known then...
Alice + Olivia (2003)
"My first fashion show was like a Page Six item!" laughs Stacey Bendet. "I was only designing pants, and I had Lulu De Kwiatkowski paint some of them, and my models went topless down the runway, which was basically a dining room table at the Russian Tea Room... I was making websites back then, so a florist I was working with made bouquets the models held over their breasts, since they were topless. Paris Hilton came. Devon Aoki was in it...Moby helped with the music... These people were just my friends from going out, but when they came to the show, it created a big spectacle... Barneys came and placed and order, and I met Andrew Rosen, who became my mentor. All because of those crazy pants!"
Alexander Wang (2007)
True story: Alexander Wang's debut fashion show was so mobbed, a line formed around the block to get in, and the fire department showed up before guests were even seated. Behati Prinsloo was one of the models—it was one of her first-ever fashion shows—and Mischa Barton was a guest. No wonder ELLE proclaimed the designer "the king of downtown cool"... and obviously, we still mean it!
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