Fashion Shows Have Come a Long Way

This is a picture from what is believed to be the first ever American fashion show, held in 1903 at the Ehrlich Bros. dress shop. Hardly the flamboyant spectacle we'd expect now.

Admittedly, in those days the endeavor might have seemed even less unusual: at a time when many dresses were custom made, high end dress shops sometimes kept models on staff to wear display versions of gowns that the store could produce: the customers then decided based on this living mannequin what gowns they wanted. In fact, this job was the very origin of the career of modeling. The Ehrlich Brothers was a shop aimed at the middle class, and their one time "parade" event may have been a more cost-effective way to add that high end touch to their wares.