First fashion film

The first fashion film was Fifty Years of Paris Fashions 1859–1909, a silent short film produced by Gaumont (UK) and released on 10 Feb 1910. The short film consisted of a series of tableaux, each depicting examples of high fashion from a particular period. The film was advertised as being 600 ft long (which would have given it a very approximate run time of 10 minutes).

The contemporary trade press described the film as showing "magnificent examples of the art of the dressmaker and milliner, and a lady sitting in the picture theatre where this is being shown can imagine that she is in the showroom of a fashionable modiste with the mannequins walking round for her inspection".

Short films like this one proved to be a hit with women audiences, and soon various newsreel companies were producing their own, usually showcasing the latest fashions for the season in Paris or London. These shorts were often filmed using a process called "Kinemacolor", which added red and green channels to a black and white master to produce a usable – if oddly tinted – colour image.

Due to their subject matter, these fashion films were looked at with scepticism by some censors. In 1913, a showreel of designs by the daring early 20th century designer Paul Poiret – who once declared that he "waged war" on corsets – were seized by US customs officials as "obscene".