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Decades before Paris Hilton will perch in Fashion Week’s front rows cradling one of her beloved Chihuahuas, Sophia Loren brings her pup along to Christian Dior’s Paris presentation.

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Yves Saint Laurent is among the first to stack his entire front row with celebrities — like actress Elsa Martinelli, singer Françoise Hardy, longtime YSL muse Catherine Deneuve, and dancer Zizi Jeanmaire.

From front row bystanders to business partners: After helping finance the launch of Mia Fonssagrives and Vicky Tiel’s joint fashion label, Mia-Vicky, Elizabeth Taylor and her husband Richard Burton are made the guests of honor at the brand’s first show at Maxim's in Paris.

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In one of the earliest examples of a musical performance being staged during a fashion show, Liza Minnelli sings as looks from five legendary American designers (Oscar de la Renta, Anne Klein, Halston, Bill Blass, and Stephen Burrows) come down the catwalk in the Battle of Versailles. The landmark event, held at the famous chateau, pitted the USA’s top designers against iconic French couturiers like Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Dior — and the Americans won!

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Mere months after starring in The Blue Lagoon, 15-year-old actress and model Brooke Shields closes Valentino’s haute couture show to rapturous applause. She later goes on to front the fashion house’s spring 1981 campaign.

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A full three decades before Snapchat begins to dominate Fashion Week's front rows, Jane Birkin does double duty as a runway photographer for Vogue.

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Hubert de Givenchy asks Audrey Hepburn to join him on the runway during his 30th anniversary fashion show in Tokyo, setting the bar impossibly high for all the future designer/celebrity muse duos to follow.

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It doesn’t get much better than this photo of Liza Minnelli and Kathleen Turner in coordinating slouchy suits at one of Donna Karan’s first-ever fashion shows.

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Sixteen-year-old Sofia Coppola attends her first of many Chanel shows — not as a front-row guest, but as an intern for the iconic house.

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In addition to the shows themselves, lavish pre- and post-runway parties begin to draw a starry crowd. Here's Mike Tyson at a Fashion Week event at the infamous Les Bains Douches nightclub in Paris.

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Madonna makes a topless (!) cameo on her friend Jean Paul Gaultier’s Paris runway. File this one under Instagrammable Moments That Were Ahead of Their Time.

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Valentino taps Sharon Stone to close his spring 1994 runway show in a bridal mini not all that dissimilar from the dress she wears in Basic Instinct’s most infamous scene. (Get a load of that huge veiled hat, too.)

Photo: Ron Galella, Ltd./WireImage

Mariah Carey, dressed in a look straight out of Cher Horowitz’s closet, attends Calvin Klein’s fall 1994 show. She’s joined in the front row by a baby-faced Leonardo DiCaprio, establishing Calvin as a NYFW must-see (and must-be-seen) for the A-list.

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Four years before appearing onscreen together in Stepmom, friends Julia Roberts and Susan Sarandon keep each other company in Todd Oldham’s front row.

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Pretty in… red? Molly Ringwald pops up on Cynthia Rowley’s fall 1995 runway.

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The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show — which, while not technically part of Fashion Week, will go on to become one of the industry's most star-studded events — is staged for the second time at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. When asked the reason for his attendance, Michael Bolton tells New York magazine, "I'm here researching a fashion project." That's what they all say.

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Unlikely front-rower Woody Allen clearly isn’t a fan of the blaring soundtrack at Versus’s show. (And yes, that’s Minnie Driver two seats down.)

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“Rising Hollywood star” Catherine Zeta-Jones, mere months before The Mask of Zorro hits theaters, sits front row at the Krizia presentation in Milan. The practice of interviewing celebrities at runway shows becomes commonplace; here, Zeta-Jones appears to be doing her darnedest to dodge a reporter’s questions.

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British designer Julien Macdonald spices up his runway by having Scary Mel B close his show in a sparkly, sheer dress. Baby, Posh, and Sporty all watch proudly from the front row. Girl power!

Photo: Ron Galella, Ltd./WireImage

Sex and the City, then in between its second and third seasons on the air, takes New York Fashion Week by storm. Think SJP and Kim Cattrall coordinated their outfits for the Oscar de la Renta show on purpose?

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Victoria Beckham makes her runway debut at the Maria Grachvogel show in London wearing... this.

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Mandy Moore! Eve! LFO!!! Never has a front row so flawlessly captured the essence of an era as Tommy Hilfiger's. (Aaliyah, Missy Elliott, Debbie Harry, and Chilli from TLC are also all in attendance.)

Photo: George De Sota/Newsmakers

Paris and Nicky Hilton are among the many celebrity guests at Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs’s first Sean John fashion show, which is televised on E! and the Style Network. Other notable front-rowers include 3LW, Kimora Lee Simmons (who brings her dog along), and Johnnie Cochran.

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IMG, which produces Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York, hosts its first Los Angeles Fashion Week. The shows draw high-profile stars like Christina Aguilera, seen here in Lotta's front row. Her fellow "Lady Marmalade" songstress Pink is a no-show, sadly (you've got to wonder who snagged her seat in the end).

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“Hey, your hair finally grew back!” exclaims Scarlett Johansson to Keri Russell at the spring 2003 BCBG show. “Um, do you guys just want to sit next to each other?” asks caught-in-the-middle Doritos spokeswoman Ali Landry.

Photo: Evan Agostini/ImageDirect

Instead of always sitting next to her Vogue staffers or children at the shows, Anna Wintour begins (literally) aligning herself with A-list actors, musicians, and athletes. According to industry superstition, snagging a front-row seat next to Wintour’s all but guarantees you a Vogue cover. Judging by the stars who have snagged the coveted spot — Sandra Bullock, Blake Lively, Kim Kardashian, and Serena Williams among them — it’s hard to argue otherwise.

Celebrity, fashion, and music combine at the first Fashion Rocks fundraiser, held at London’s Royal Albert Hall. The evening features runway presentations from designers like Alexander McQueen and Versace accompanied by live performances from Beyoncé, Duran Duran, Björk, and more.

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Launched in 2003, the Heart Truth Red Dress Collection show at New York Fashion Week recruits celebrities to hit the runway in scarlet gowns to raise awareness for heart disease. Here, Vanessa Williams wears a design contributed by Carmen Marc Valvo. Lindsay Lohan, Hilary Duff, Ashanti, Kelly Ripa, and Fergie (this Fergie, not that Fergie!) will all go on to walk for the cause as well.

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Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen launch their new clothing line for Walmart, aimed at girls ages 4-14, with a fashion show in Paris.

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Somewhat famous NYU students Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen finally surface at New York Fashion Week — specifically, Marc Jacobs's spring 2005 show — dressed in their famous "bohemian bourgeois" layers.

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Baby Phat, the hip-hop-inspired fashion collection cofounded by Kimora Lee Simmons and her then-husband Russell, becomes one of NYFW’s hottest tickets, drawing A-listers like Mary J. Blige, Janet Jackson, Lil' Kim, and more to its front row.

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Jennifer Lopez takes her (now-defunct) Sweetface collection to Bryant Park, showing it in front of a crowd that includes Lil' Kim, Ashanti, and Kelis. If the clothes look familiar to you, that's probably because they're identical to the costumes in JLo's "All I Have" music video.

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In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, supermodel Naomi Campbell establishes Fashion for Relief and holds a charity runway show to raise funds for the storm’s victims in New Orleans. Campbell will later produce similar shows to benefit the Japan Red Cross (following the country’s disastrous 2011 earthquake), Disasters Emergency Committee (to fight Ebola in 2015), and more.

Gwen Stefani takes her L.A.M.B. line to Fashion Week, sending out clothes she describes as "A little Sound of Music, some Orange County chola girl, some Rasta, and a bit of The Great Gatsby." Lenny Kravitz, Faith Hill, and Fergie (this Fergie, puzzlingly, not that Fergie!) all sit front row.

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Budding socialite Olivia Palermo — seen here at Zac Posen — pops up for the first time at New York Fashion Week. She will go on to become a front-row fixture.

Photo: Clint Spaulding/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

At the same time, another then-little-known celeb — Kim Kardashian — makes her front-row NYFW debut. She’s pictured here at Heatherette’s spring 2007 show, flanked by her sister Kourtney and Mischa Barton’s billionaire ex-boyfriend Brandon Davis.

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“They gave me a time slot at Miami Swim Week, so I made some bikinis, I guess!” exclaims shockingly successful fashion designer/erstwhile songstress Jessica Simpson.

Photo: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images for IMG

As true A-listers become scarcer in Fashion Week’s front rows, plenty of B-, C-, and D-listers scurry forth to claim their seats. A curious pattern emerges: Each season, one marginally famous person (typically a CW actress or recent Olympic medalist) winds up attending every and any show for no apparent reason. One Tree Hill’s Sophia Bush is among the first to exhibit this behavior, prompting The Fug Girls to bestow the "New Sophia Bush Award" to a different starlet each season thereafter in her honor. (Kelly Rowland and Alison Brie are also recipients.)

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In an apparent bid to prove that any celebrity is capable of launching her own fashion line, The Hills villainess Heidi Montag holds a runway presentation for her Heidiwood collection for Anchor Blue. The collection is met with a standing ovation by Montag’s husband, noted crystal collector Spencer Pratt.

Photo: Victoria Beckham

From Posh Spice to power designer! Victoria Beckham sends her first collection of dresses down the NYFW runway to critical acclaim. "Her sheaths and shift dresses... will sell not on the power of her name but on the sophistication of their cut and fit," writes Vogue. She'll later grow her dress capsule into a full ready-to-wear collection.

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Proving that the runway is also the perfect place to stage a career comeback, Pamela Anderson walks Vivienne Westwood’s fall 2009 show.

Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Oscar de la Renta

As an answer to the recession’s retail slump, Vogue and the CFDA launch Fashion’s Night Out with the goal of encouraging consumers to shop again. Thousands flock to the in-store appearances hosted by Sarah Jessica Parker, Rihanna, Gwen Stefani, Charlize Theron, and more around NYC — but unfortunately, few actually shop. In 2013, the event is put on hiatus.

Photo: Dominique Charriau/WireImage

Just one month after being appointed artistic adviser at Emanuel Ungaro, Lindsay Lohan and the French label’s designer Estrella Archs send their first collection down the Paris Fashion Week runway to scathing reviews. WWD calls it “an embarrassment,” while the New York Times more kindly deems the collection “controversial.”

Photo: The Row

Four years after launching their high-end collection The Row, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen make their NYFW runway debut to rave reviews. To this day, The Row is still one of Fashion Week's most sought-after tickets.

Making his long-awaited return to womenswear, Tom Ford taps his celebrity pals like Lauren Hutton (!), Julianne Moore (!!), and Beyoncé (!!!) to walk in an intimate runway presentation in NYC.

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In a show of support for her stylist Nicola Formichetti’s Mugler womenswear debut, a latex-clad Lady Gaga premieres a new song, “Government Hooker,” at his runway show in Paris.

Photos: WireImage

Kendall and Kylie Jenner make their NYFW modeling debuts within a few days of each other; Kendall on the Sherri Hill runway, Kylie on Avril Lavigne’s (!) Abbey Dawn catwalk.

Photo: Francois Guillot/AFP/Getty Images

Kanye West shows his debut namesake collection on the Paris runway; despite being the week’s most buzzed-about presentation and wrangling a front row including Anna Wintour, Carine Roitfeld, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Azzedine Alaïa, Olivier Theyskens, and many more, reviews are absolutely brutal. “It had the earnest veneer of a beginner,” writes WWD, adding that the clothes seemed “cribbed from the work of the designers [West] admires.” The Wall Street Journal’s headline simply reads “Good Thing Kanye West Has a Day Job.” The collection only lasts one more season before, to quote West's own lyrics, it fades away.

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It’s not often that menswear shows command the same star power as the women’s collections. But leave it to Miuccia Prada to shake things up by casting Willem Dafoe, Adrien Brody, Garrett Hedlund, Gary Oldman, and a handful of other actors in her label’s fall 2012 men’s show!

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A news story claiming that Rihanna was paid around $100,000 to sit front row at Karl Lagerfeld’s fall 2012 show in Paris — and that Beyoncé can command the same fee — spreads like wildfire, causing many to question the practice of paying celebrities for Fashion Week attendance.

Photo: Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week

Rebecca Minkoff, long known for tapping new musical talent to perform during her runway shows, outdoes herself by enlisting Janelle Monae to serenade the audience at her spring 2014 presentation.

Photo: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week

Kendall Jenner walks in Marc Jacobs’s fall 2014 show in a sheer sweater. She’s instantly labeled a supermodel and goes on to snag spots in the Givenchy and Chanel shows in Paris that same season. (Interestingly, Jenner’s BFF Gigi Hadid also makes her major runway debut this season, walking at Desigual and Jeremy Scott.)

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Miley Cyrus creates a collection of neon beaded jewelry and headpieces for her friend Jeremy Scott’s show at NYFW — and joins him for the final walk. The pieces, which incorporate plastic candy, pacifiers, and pom-poms, are part of Cyrus's larger art project entitled Dirty Hippie.

Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Adidas

Kanye West returns to New York Fashion Week — this time to show his first Yeezy collection for Adidas to a packed room of editors and celebrities including Rihanna, Beyoncé, Jay Z, Anna Wintour, and several members of the Kardashian extended family. Reviews center more on the star-studded front row and diverse cast of models than they do on the actual clothes — but overall, the reception is primarily positive.

Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images For Paramount Pictures

Capitalizing on the hype surrounding the upcoming Zoolander 2, Valentino enlists Ben Stiller Derek Zoolander and Owen Wilson Hansel for a catwalk cameo. The duo’s Paris Fashion Week walk-off goes viral (but sadly, the movie still sucks).

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Walking Pinterest board Lauren Conrad shows her LC Lauren Conrad collection at New York Fashion Week for the first time; stars Chrissy Teigen, Ashley Tisdale, and Olivia Culpo sit front row. From the models’ hair (milkmaid braids!) to the pre-show cocktail reception (champagne and macarons!) to the décor (overwhelmingly floral!), it is a wholly Lauren Conrad production.

Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Marc Jacobs

Marc Jacobs enlists The Gossip frontwoman Beth Ditto to close his spring 2016 fashion show, making headlines and sparking conversation about body diversity in the fashion industry.

Photo: JP Yim/Getty Images for Fenty Puma

Over a year after being named Puma’s new creative director, Rihanna debuts her first full Fenty collection for the brand on the runway. Highlights include thigh-high boxing boots, sweatband chokers — and yes, those creepers.

Photo: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Yeezy Season 4

Editors lose their cool — literally — at Kanye West’s Yeezy Season 4 fashion show, an all-day event during which press are shuttled out to Roosevelt Island and forced to wait outside in 85-degree heat for hours until the show (finally) begins. Models faint, the clothes are basically Spanx, and the show is panned. “Fashion and the press have only ourselves to blame,” writes WWD’s Jessica Iredale. “We’ve been world-class enablers of Kanye West, allowing him to put us at his mercy.”

Photo: Randy Brooke/Getty Images for Tommy Hilfiger

Almost a year after announcing the news of their upcoming collaboration, Gigi Hadid and Tommy Hilfiger debut the first Tommy x Gigi collection in an extravagant carnival-style event at the South Street Seaport complete with rides, arcade games, lobster rolls, and a Taylor Swift front-row cameo. The show is a sweeping social media success, proving the impact celebrities still have at NYFW.