The CFDA is pleased to announce the relaunch of the CFDA Fashion Calendar website, featuring an enhanced user experience, design, and updated features. The 2.0 unveiling of the site comes on the heels of a CFDA collaboration with the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) who launched the second phase of their Fashion Calendar Research Database (FCRD) called Archiving New York Fashion Week: FCRD x CFDA, bringing the New York Fashion Week timeline to the present.
Since 2015, The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) has independently managed the CFDA Fashion Calendar and the Official New York Fashion Week (NYFW) Schedule. This ongoing initiative integrates fashion show listings and data from the CFDA Fashion Calendar from 2015 to 2025 into the database, ensuring that this open-source research tool continues to reflect the fashion and creative communities of the United States.
Launched in 2023, the FCRD is a first-of-its-kind open-access research tool and digital humanities project developed by FIT’s History of Art Department (School of Liberal Arts and Sciences), in collaboration with the Gladys Marcus Library and Special Collections and College Archives (SPARC). The project originated with the donation of the complete collection of Finley’s Fashion Calendar to FIT and was supported by a “Digitizing Hidden Collections” grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR).
The FCRD has become an indispensable tool for scholars, journalists, and designers alike, with more than 15,000 users worldwide accessing its digitized collection of more than 3,000 issues and 30,000 pages from Finley’s original Fashion Calendar (1941–2014). Now, with the addition of the CFDA’s 10-year archive, the database provides a seamless, searchable record of New York Fashion Week’s evolution — from its origins under Finley and fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert to the CFDA’s stewardship of the CFDA Fashion Calendar today.
“Capturing the current history of New York Fashion Week is just as important as preserving its past,” said Steven Kolb, CEO and president of the CFDA. “Since the CFDA took stewardship of the Fashion Calendar, we’ve understood the value of maintaining this living record. The Archiving NYFW: FCRD x CFDA initiative continues that mission—honoring Ruth Finley’s trust in CFDA as the organizer of NYFW and ensuring that the evolution of American fashion is documented for generations to come.”
“This expansion of the database—with its new visual and text-based content, including short articles, data visualizations, and essays exploring topics such as the history of NYFW, Eleanor Lambert’s legacy, and the CFDA’s role in shaping American fashion—make the information even more valuable to users,” said Natalie Nudell, adjunct assistant professor, History of Art Department, FIT, and director of the FCRD. “These will be released on the FCRD website and across social media platforms throughout the launch period.”
The Fashion Calendar has long been the premier event resource for fashion, beauty, media, and culture. Originally a bi-weekly publication on iconic pink pages, the Calendar continues to serve as the foremost scheduling and planning tool for fashion designers, press, and retailers connected to the fashion industry. The CFDA acquired it in 2015 and continues to oversee the Official NYFW Schedule today.
