Back then, traditional fashion press (newspapers, magazines, fashion TV shows) stocked the front rows and provided the chief conduit for style news. The clothes were bought by department store buyers then produced to appear on racks six months in the future. That whole system has been upended and designers, the focus of the show, have had to adapt. They need to create their own multichannel multi-front brand anchored by personality and charisma.

But some things haven’t changed: our collective enthusiasm for watching a gaggle of young up-and-coming designers from across the country thrown into a pressure-cooker competition armed with sewing machines, needles, models and a weekly challenge.