The earliest fashion week, held in New York City in 1943, was intended to attract attention away from French fashion during World War II, when fashion industry insiders were unable to travel to Paris to see French fashion shows.^[2] Fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert organized an event she called "Press Week" to showcase American designers for fashion journalists, whose innovations had been previously neglected.^[2] (Buyers were not admitted to the shows and instead had to visit designers' showrooms.^[2]) Press Week was a success, and fashion magazines like Vogue, which were normally filled with French designs, increasingly featured American fashion. However after the war, people returned to Paris, and to other fashion "superpowers"; London and Milan, for the new fashion weeks that had emerged. At this point in time, these four cites controlled the fashion calendar, and continue to control it to this day. In the aspects of the buying side, and journalistic side, that is good, as it means less travel and the ease of simply jetting from New York, to the next in line London, then to Milan and lastly Paris in the space of one month. For buyers abroad, the convenience of this arrangement has meant that due to the proximity of London to Milan and to Paris, it means the fashion week is getting even more important.

The one major criticism is that talented designers from emerging fashion weeks like Los Angeles or São Paulo do not get the same recognition as the designers that show in the traditional four fashion weeks of Paris, London, Milan or New York. It also means that the established designers 'rule' the market, and new designers such as those from lesser economically developed countries may not be able to open a slot in the fashion week schedule in the four fashion capitals. Therefore, although they may possess talent, their abilities to showcase this are severely hindered.