Fifty years ago, part of Manhattan’s Seventh Avenue became Fashion Avenue.
On September 23, 1972, the stretch of Seventh Avenue between 26th and 42nd Streets in the Garment District became known for everything it was bringing to life: fashion.
Although the subtitled name Fashion Avenue was intended to be temporary at first—it was part of a campaign to revitalize New York as a global fashion city—the name stuck and has remained synonymous with American fashion ever since.
At the time, the rebranding campaign was led by Fashion Capital of the World Inc., a group formed a year earlier and consisting of a board of 50 influential business leaders, most of them coming from the womenswear sector ( those from the menswear industry will join at a later date). Well-known industry businessmen as well as designers such as Jerry Silverman and Abe Schrader were part of the group. Oscar de la Renta also lent his name to the events the group organized, which had financial support from New York City and then-Mayor John Lindsay.
In addition to the renaming of the street, promotional events led by Fashion Capital of the World Inc. included a series of events and fashion shows in September 1972 as part of the first New York Fall Fashion Festival. The aim was to attract buyers from all over the world to promote and strengthen the city as the fashion capital of the world.
The whole affair, including a live fashion show in front of Rockefeller Plaza, was captured in the pages of WWD as well as aired on local television, successfully boasting a host of Seventh Avenue designers and their industry counterparts—from clothing to the accessories. , events and promotions highlighted Fashion Avenue’s factory workers, buyers and contractors who, as then, continue to make American fashion a vital economic force today.
And further bringing American fashion to the fore, a year after the renaming of Seventh Avenue, the famous Battle of Versailles—so named by legendary WWD publisher John B. Fairchild—a fashion show spotlighting American designers against their French counterparts all in the name of increasing funds for the historically ill country, all but confirmed America, and in particular New York, as central to the global fashion industry; not only as a place to live, work and do business, but as a reputable fashion capital in its own right.
