Afashion capital is a city with major influence on the internationalfashion scene, from history, heritage, designers, trends, and styles, to manufacturing innovation and retailing of fashion products, including events such asfashion weeks, fashion council awards, andtrade fairs that together, generate significant economic output.^[2]

With exquisite fashion heritage, structured organization, and the most vauntedfashion designers of the 20th century, four cities are considered the main fashion capitals of the 21st century. Called theBig Four, the most prominent fashion capitals of the world—in chronological order of their eponymous fashion weeks, areNew York City,London,Milan, andParis, which receive most press coverage.^[3]

A fashion capital assumes a leadership role in thedesign of fashion, the creation of styles, and the emergence of fashion trends. In addition, fashion capitals have a broad mix of business, artistic, entertainment, cultural, and leisure activities that are internationally recognized for each having a strongly unique identity.^[4] The fashion capital status is also linked to the city's domestic and international profile.^[5] Fashion capitals are part of a wider social construct scene, withdesign schools, fashion magazines, and powerful market of affluent consumers of fashion.^[5]

In the 16th century, Milan came to be regarded as the world's fashion capital. Nowadays, while the term fashion capital is still used to describe cities that holdfashion weeks—most prominently, in chronological order,New York,London,Milan, andParis^{[6][7][8][9][10]}—, it is the economic development and stylistics created by a fashion capital city that matter to theshowbiz andfashion industry.^[11][12] Tokyo, withits fashion week, is also widely viewed as the fifth key city of fashion, and Asia's most important fashion capital.^[13] Also, nowadays, the term fashion capital includes other world cities known for hosting notablefashion events and have influential designers in the world of global fashion.^[14]

Historically, several cities have taken turns being fashion capitals. During theRenaissance era,different city-states in what would become modern-dayItaly were Europe's main trendsetters,^[15] due to the cultural power they exerted in that period. This included cities such asFlorence,Milan,Rome,Naples,Genoa, andVenice.^[16]

Progressing into the late16th century, with the influence of the English royal court, London became a major city in European fashion. Similarly, due to the power of Spain during the period, the Spanish court started to influence fashion, making it a major centre. In the 17th century, as the Renaissance began to fade away, with the power of the French court underLouis XIV, Paris established itself as Europe's main fashion centre.^[17]

During the 19th century, with the powerfulBritish Empire and youngQueen Victoria on the throne (from 1837),London once again became a major fashion leader.^[18] However, it continued to look to Paris for stylistic inspiration, and the British 'father of haute couture'Charles Frederick Worth relocated to Paris in 1846. He did this to perfect and commercialize his craft, holding the first fashion shows and launching the concept of fashion labels there.^[19]

During theGolden Twenties,Berlin was considered the vanguard fashion capital.^[20]

Throughout the 20th century – but particularly afterWorld War II – New York City rose in stature as a fashion capital, challenging the dominance of Paris with a different approach, especially in its development and popularization ofsportswear as fashion during the 1940s and '50s.^[21]

During the 1950s, Italy rose in prominence again.^[22] Florence re-emerged as a leading city in fashion,^[23] although focus shifted to Milan from the 1970s on as leading design houses moved to the city.^[24]

In the 1980s,Tokyo claimed its place as a fashion capital with a new generation of avant-garde designers, includingIssey Miyake orRei Kawakubo ofComme des Garçons gaining worldwide attention, even if most of the city's newcomers gained prominence after showcasing their clothing in Paris. The fashion was radically different in its use of textiles and the way designers cut and draped.^[25][26]

Since then, new fashion hubs have emerged worldwide, and the old order has faced challenges from all corners of the globe, including Africa, South America, and Australasia.^[27] Since 2007, Berlin has again been highlighted as an increasingly important centre for global fashion trends.^[28][29]

A 2011 issue ofFashion Theory: Journal of Dress, Body and Culture explored the move away from the traditional dominance of five key cities (New York, Paris, Milan, Tokyo, and London), with co-editor Lise Skov, suggesting what she described as a "poly-centric" fashion industry developing in the 21st century.^[21]

In 2019, theVienna-based fashion intelligence firmIFDAQ under the leadership of fashionsociologist ProfessorFrédéric Godart measured in a scientific approach the importance, influence, and impact of cities in the fashion industry with neural networks from a largedata lake. The resultingIFDAQ Global Fashion and Luxury Cities Index^[30] revealed New York as the leading fashion capital, followed by Paris, Milan, and London.A further elaboration of the data in cooperation with theInstitution of Engineering and Technology visualized the impact of geopolitical events on the fashion capitals, includingBrexit and theUS-China trade war.^[2]

• Fashion week, for a partial list of cities with fashion weeks.
• Fashion tourism
• French fashion, for more information on the fashion influence of Paris
• German fashion, for more information on the fashion influence of Berlin and Germany
• Italian fashion, for more information on the fashion influence of Italy.

• Global Fashion & Luxury Cities IPX Index atIFDAQ