The names of designers having an address in Düsseldorf read like the 'Who's who' of the fashion business: Armani, Gucci, Kenzo, JOOP, Prada, Jil Sander, Uta Raasch, Burberry, Onofri, Féraud and many more.

Fashion trends were created in Düsseldorf as early as in Jan Wellem's days. Very soon, the taste for beautiful clothes was no longer the court's privilege but was enthusiastically taken up by the bourgeois society.

The sense of aesthetics soon proved to be fertile ground for the development of business with beautiful make-believe. In 1949, the first fashion show was staged on Königsallee. That same year, Igedo organized the first fashion fair, which has by now become the largest fashion fair worldwide. Nowadays, the Igedo and the Kronen family are an essential part of the fashion fair imperium and Düsseldorf.

Fashion designers and buyers from all over the world flock to the Rhine metropolis several times a year to attend fashion fairs and shoe fairs, of which Collections Premiere www.cpd.de and GDS (international shoe fair) www.gds-online.com are the no. 1 in their line worldwide. From there, new fashion goes straight to the city's shop windows.

A new twice-yearly highlight was introduced to accompany the fashion business in Düsseldorf in 2010: Voices of Fashion. Voices of Fashion – fashion shows, exhibitions, concerts, parties and a few surprises focusing on fashion at selected locations, shops, clubs and bars in Düsseldorf. Voices of Fashion draws attention to the many fashion highlights in Düsseldorf showing that Düsseldorf is creative, that it's full of surprises and that it sets trends.