New York Fashion Week 2009

The first New York Fashion Week, then called Press Week, was the world's first organized fashion week. Held in 1943, the event was designed 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 Lamber organized an event she called "Press Week" to showcase American designers for fashion journalists, who had previously neglected their innovations.[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.[2] In 1993, the event was moved to its current site in Bryant Park, where it is held inside a series of large white tents in the almost-block-long park.[3] Admission is by invitation only, to the fashion industry, fashion press, and assorted celebrities.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Fashion_Week