Paris Fashion Week (French: Semaine de la mode de Paris) is a series of designer presentations held twice a year in Paris, France with spring/summer and autumn/winter events held each year. Dates are determined by the French Fashion Federation. Paris Fashion Week is held at venues throughout the city. It is widely considered the most prestigious of the Big Four Fashion Weeks: London, Milan and New York.

The first fashion week was held in New York but the event derives from "salon shows" (French "défilés de mode" which means "fashion parades"). A fashion week consists organized events of many designer's collections. The Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture established another set of rules in 1945 to regulate and determine Haute Couture houses. In order to meet the criteria, the house had to ensure they followed the updated rules with one of them being that in each season, a couture house must present a collection of at least 35 runs with both daytime and evening wear to the Paris press.



Fashion showings were being held in Paris as early as the 1700s long before the event was recognized in New York City. These early showings were only to clients purchasing items and were shown on mannequins.

Showings began to change in the 1800s. Charles Frederick Worth, noted for haute couture, began showing multiple pieces together and of a higher design. Jeanne Paquin is the first designer to make her showings public and Paul Poiret is the first to host parties after his events.

In the mid 1800s Mme Pauline von Metternich, an Austrian Princess and wife to the Ambassador of Paris, saw one of Worth's sketches and employed him to make her a gown. He gained much recognition through his powerful clients and opened his own haute couture house in Paris in 1858, which sold luxury fashion to upper class women.


Some details were taken from Wikipedia