New York Fashion Week this season had a largely buoyant mood, one which reflects the renaissance of the city that seemed to unfold this summer (call it the Mamdani-Knicks effect). Established labels like Calvin Klein, Tory Burch and Khaite showed some of their strongest outings in some time, while a slew of younger labels – which now arguably dominate the schedule, having been absent for some time – showed up and delivered. These included LII, the label helmed by Zane Li that won the LVMH Prize Karl Lagerfeld Award earlier this month in Paris, Rachel Scott’s Diotima, and Ashlynn Park’s Ashlyn – each is distinct, but they share a similarly creative outlook.

There were also energetic debuts from Henry Zankov at Diane von Furstenberg, who channelled the free-spirited roots of the label, and Conner Ives, who showed for the first time at New York Fashion Week, having up to this point shown in London, where he lives and works. His homecoming show (Ives was born in Bedford, New York) took place at The Grill in Midtown, featuring his usual cast of it-girls – this time, from both sides of the pond.

The week was not without controversy, however. At COS’ S/S 2027 runway show, several PETA protestors interrupted proceedings to highlight the brand’s use of wool, before being physically restrained by Steven Kolb, the head of the CFDA. His use of force has been heavily criticised after videos of the event circulated on social media, prompting the CFDA – which organises New York Fashion Week – to put him on leave, pending a full investigation.

Explore our pick of the best shows of New York Fashion Week S/S 2027 below.

Coach

This season, Coach celebrated its 85th anniversary, a moment marked by Stuart Vevers’ latest runway show, held at Pier 36 on New York’s Lower East Side. But, despite models donning party hats and the type of bows that might adorn a gift, as well as a Coach-meets-Studio 54 after-party with shrimp cocktail towers and an enormous glitterball, the collection itself had a more lovelorn feel: this was not polished party attire, rather a selection of garments that sought to capture the idea of time passing. ‘I was thinking about memory and the way familiar things change as we live with them,’ he said, a continuing fascination of the designer, who has often drawn inspiration from the brand’s vintage handbags and enjoys fabrics that bear the marks of wear. ‘I didn’t want to make a retrospective. We turned familiar Coach ideas inside out, exposed their construction, softened them and left traces of a celebration on them.’ In the collection, this figured in slouchy, inside-out tailoring, battered leather tabard vests, and deconstructed knits, while other fabrics conjured peeled-away layers of wallpaper. Accessories drew a more distinct link with the past: a new ‘Turnlock Tote’ was inspired by the turnlock hardware introduced by the brand’s first lead designer, Bonnie Cashin, in the 1970s. Jack Moss

Proenza Schouler

A confident second outing from Rachel Scott at Proenza Schouler saw the Jamaica-born designer – who rose to prominence with her own 2020-founded label Diotima – look towards the New York woman for inspiration. ‘I think that there’s a lot of liberty in how women dress here,’ she told Wallpaper*. ‘We’re not following rules, like: eveningwear must be worn with this kind of shoe, or bag. I mean, you see people in New York in the middle of the day with a gown on, and it’s totally normal and invisible, and I find that really inspiring.’ Cue an amalgam of the dressed-up and the pragmatic: overcoats were adorned with bold zebra prints, sheer floral shirt-dresses were worn over a vest and jeans, while a series of sequin gowns were cut to appear thrown on. Vivid colour (a Scott signature), sinuous cuts and jutting peplums completed the freewheeling look. ‘There's just a freedom [to the way women in New York dress], a boldness and lack of inhibition that I find inspiring,’ said Scott. ‘I really want [my Proenza Schouler] woman to show up now, not just her quieter side. I want to see her in her truthfulness, feeling a bit wild. Summer her!’ Jack Moss

Tory Burch

Tory Burch continued a run of strong collections with a S/S 2027 outing that saw the designer advocate a ‘more is more’ aesthetic. Shown in the round at the Isamu Noguchi Sunken Garden in Lower Manhattan, the collection comprised intriguing combinations and a typically inventive use of colour and print. ‘Granny cardigans’ (which Burch said were the things she was most excited to wear) were richly embroidered; jacquard fabrics recalled fabric wallpapers; and ‘feather’ boas and poms were actually made from shredded silk velvet. This ‘opulent femininity’, as Burch described, was countered by something more pragmatic, like military-style tailoring, colourful trenches (some cut with the voluminous line of an opera coat), and knits constructed with chenille for lightness. ‘I was thinking about how people want to feel joy and optimism right now, that you still need to dream,’ said Burch. ‘Everything feels quite dystopian, so I was thinking about how do you dream, and how do you escape? You can do that through self-expression.’ Jack Moss

READ: At New York Fashion Week, Tory Burch says ‘more is more’

Tommy Hilfiger

For decades, Tommy Hilfiger lived in the penthouse of New York’s Plaza Hotel. Though he has since decamped to Palm Beach – he and his wife Dee now spend the majority of their time in Florida – he chose the landmark to show his S/S 2027 collection in what was something of a homecoming. Taking place in the Plaza’s Palm Court, he assembled perhaps the starriest guest list of the week: a handful of New York Knicks sat alongside Kate Moss, Patrick Schwarzenegger and Camila Cabello, while buzzy American artist Slayyyter provided a live soundtrack to the finale (joining Hilfiger on the runway was a fluffy white dog, rumoured to be owned by Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, the latter having recently appeared in a Tommy Hilfiger campaign). The collection itself hit on the sporty, collegiate signatures that have long defined Tommy Hilfiger the label, and which are currently having a wider renaissance in fashion (houses like Dior and Celine have incorporated preppy elements into recent collections, while Polo Ralph Lauren has become increasingly ubiquitous). ‘Preppy is having a moment,’ said the designer, who also said he had looked towards the everyday style of New Yorkers for the collection. ‘For 40 years, I’ve been inspired by the style of New Yorkers – how the people of the city take the classics and make them their own.’ Jack Moss

Diane von Furstenberg

Henry Zankov chose New York’s High Like to present his first collection for Diane von Furstenberg, which marked a homecoming of sorts: the designer, who rose to prominence with his 2020-founded label, worked at the American brand from 2014-2018 as knitwear design director. It made for an assured start which saw the designer channel the label’s free-spirited roots: ‘She is a rebel; she dresses for herself and no one else,’ he told Wallpaper* of his woman for the season, citing von Furstenberg’s liberatory spirit as inspiration. ‘She moves through life to her own rhythm.’ Cue a collection of bold colour and vivid prints, with garments reflecting the sinuous line of the wrap dress, which von Furstenberg introduced to the house in 1974 (the design took women from office to evening; by 1976, she had sold one million pieces). New tailoring, cut with a roomy, 1970s silhouette, was described by Zankov as ‘languid and easy’, while a series of diaphanous gowns seemed to float on the body. ‘I believe clothes feel modern today when they feel light,’ said Zankov. ‘When a garment is made in the most wonderful fabric and constructed lightly, it is true luxury.’ Jack Moss

READ: Henry Zankov on his Diane von Furstenberg debut: ‘It’s all about body language’

Michael Kors

This season, Michael Kors took guests to the sculpture garden at New York’s MoMA, part of a continuing tour of the city’s cultural landmarks (last season, it was to the Lincoln Centre for opera). The idea had emerged from a summer of travel and visiting museums and galleries, which Kors sees as the epicentre of a city: ‘I love the idea of the mix of people that you see at a museum,’ he said at a preview. ‘Sometimes, it can be as interesting as the art.’ One inspiration for the collection was the modernist movement – particularly its architectural icons like the Breuer Building and the TWA Terminal – which lent the collection a precise, architectural sensibility through clean lines (the simplicity of 1960s silhouettes seems to have been a reference), moments of vivid colour, and sculptural jewellery and accessories. ‘Throughout the whole show, you’ll see these architectural accents, whether it’s the jewellery, the paddle earring, stripes, pops of colour,’ he said. ‘There’s an optimism about it, but it’s realistic optimism; it’s optimism for a city. I think we all need a little bit of optimism in the world today.’ Jack Moss

Calvin Klein Collection

The works of American Minimalist Walter De Maria provided the backdrop to Veronica Leoni’s latest show for Calvin Klein Collection, which took place in Manhattan’s Terminal Warehouse. ‘American Minimalism was a discipline of removal: take away everything that does not carry the work, until only what is necessary remains,’ said creative director Veronica Leoni, who applied the same principles to her collection this season. Taking menswear off the runway, she stripped things back to six foundational pieces that have defined Calvin Klein, but are also the elements of most women’s wardrobes: ‘the coat, the shirt, tailoring, the trouser, the pencil skirt, the slip’. This focus led to her strongest outing at the house yet: particularly appealing were a series of shrunken satin overcoats in powder pink, blue and black, while blazers were cut from cotton for lightness. Dresses, meanwhile, came nipped at the waist or in twisting handkerchief cuts. ‘Calvin drew from [American Minimalism] and turned it toward the body,’ said Leoni. ‘I turn it toward the woman inside it. My minimalism begins there, in the relation between design and a body, with nothing in between. Take everything away. What is left is desire.’ Jack Moss

READ: Calvin Klein Collection’s showspace featured the work of pioneering American Minimalist Walter De Maria

Eckhaus Latta

At Eckhaus Latta, Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta continued to hone their intriguing blend of the sexy and the homespun with a S/S 2027 collection held on Tribeca’s Walker Street. Modelled by their usual cast of friends and collaborators, the collection eschewed thematics in favour of a comprehensive proposition for a spring wardrobe, from the quotidien (blazers in-set with technical hoods; rumpled skirts; utility trousers and jeans) to the more sensually charged, like beaded mesh trousers that revealed models’ underwear beneath, or sinuous sheer double-layered tops and dresses. The collection also featured a preview of their collaboration with J Crew, which saw the pair put their riff on the American brand’s preppy staples; as that took to the runway, guests were invited to open the envelopes on their seats – each was filled with confetti and glitter, which soon rained down on the showspace. It made for another strong outing from the New York label, which in the past few seasons seems to be enjoying a renaissance. And, 15 years in, that’s something to celebrate. Jack Moss

Conner Ives

This season, Conner Ives shifted from London – where he has shown since the advent of his label – to New York, choosing The Grill in Midtown Manhattan’s Seagram Building to do so (the landmark formerly housed the Four Seasons Grill Room). It was a homecoming for Ives, who was born in Bedford, New York, just an hour or so out of the city, and his playful, pop culture-inflected designs (kimono-style jackets with fur trims; shrunken polos and miniskirts; slogan T-shirts and embellished denim) found new energy here. Though he also did not leave London entirely behind: his usual cast of it-girls were in attendance, both on and off the runway, including the London-based writer and Wallpaper* contributor Osman Ahmed, who walked the show for the third season. ‘I had thought about this show for so long, and I really wanted something that spoke to old New York,’ he said. ‘When I lived upstate, and I came to the city, I think The Grill was one of those places that felt like a kind of hallowed hall or something. It's always really been about bringing my people into these spaces.’ Jack Moss

Ashlyn

Amid a city as frenetic as New York, Seoul-born designer Ashlynn Park managed to carve out a quiet moment of contemplation for her latest collection, which was shown in the intimate, sunlit Cristina Grajales Gallery on Saturday afternoon. On each guest’s chair was a silk scarf by the designer, which was something of a clue for the collection: Park, who began as a pattern cutter, said this was a collection about the possibilities of a single square of cloth (it also felt like a nod to a Japanese philosophy of clothing construction from designers like Issey Miyake and Yohji Yamamoto, with Park having worked for the latter from 2009-2011). There were some beautiful garments here – trousers that erupted into peplums; slanting handkerchief dresses and tops; a great funnel-neck windbreaker in white and black – enlivened by Park’s clear eye for colour. This is the type of clothing one more typically sees during Paris Fashion Week, and there is a quiet power to Park’s decision to present her collections in New York – she doesn’t feel like anyone else showing in the city right now. Jack Moss

Khaite

Catherine Holstein’s latest Khaite show was a bold statement of intent. Taking place in a vast warehouse in Brooklyn’s Navy Yards (something of an odyssey from Manhattan, where most of the shows were held this season), the show featured a lengthy runway, dramatic lighting and a high-wattage cast that included Kaia Gerber in a rare runway showing (it was by far the most major casting of the week). The collection, which was one of Holstein’s best in some seasons, provided a juxtaposition of sorts to the monolithic set: here was her take on romance, albeit in her tough, twisted style. So there were billowing ruffles and pointed bra tops; corseted dresses and skirts which appeared ripped open along their backs; while other dresses were Victoriana-meets-Little House on the Prairie, cut from sheer fabric and adorned with lace and bows. Backstage, Holstein said that this season she was thinking about craft: ‘I wanted all these special moments that you didn’t even see, but once you open up the clothing, everything is finished by hand, everything,‘ she said. ‘This is a real labour of love’. Jack Moss

Ulla Johnson

Ulla Johnson chose New York’s Gotham Park to present her latest collection, a space in New York currently undergoing an act of transformation: formerly known as the Brooklyn Banks skate park, it was closed off to the public and left to disrepair in 2010, with a grassroots movement reclaiming it in 2023. Sitting in the shadow of Brooklyn Bridge on the Manhattan side, Johnson has pledged to donate 750 plants and 12 trees as part of a collaboration with Field Operations (which was responsible for landscaping the High Line), in a planting process that will begin after the show.

The collection itself looked to the ‘self-expression and self-invention’ of the New York woman, and the places like Gotham Park where they might pass one another and compliment each other’s outfits. ‘It’s this lived experience that we create every day: the act, the performance of dress, and the act of coming together with loved ones, but also with passersby,’ she said. ‘That impromptu joy that only New Yorkers understand, when somebody compliments their outfit or when there’s that unstudied interaction between strangers.’ The clothing itself was an amalgam of the ‘urban’ and ‘pastoral’ (a reflection of the show’s location), mixing up the working uniform – tailoring, trenches, mackintosh jackets, umbrellas and the like – with whimsical ruffles, floral prints and homespun accessories, like a series of shows adorned with raffia pom poms. Jack Moss

LII

Zane Li is by far one of New York’s most promising talents, a status bolstered by his win at the LVMH Prize earlier this month (he won the Karl Lagerfeld Award, which comes with a €200,000 endowment and a one-year mentorship programme from LVMH experts). Cleverly, Li’s S/S 2027 collection felt like a steady evolution of his previous collections, refining his signature look, which is defined by architectural construction (garments are cleverly folded and contorted), a vivid use of colour, and a largely minimal sensibility, which harkens back to the likes of Helmut Lang. These were all in evidence here: twisted T-shirts were worn with jutting, folded skirts; crisp nylon jackets and windbreakers came in bright orange; while clean-lined, spaghetti-strapped mini dresses hung on the body as one might dress a paper doll. Li said that one inspiration was the clothing revolution of the 1960s, viewed through his own contemporary lens. ‘We become nostalgic for periods we never experienced and recognise ourselves in people whose lives are far removed from our own,’ he said. ‘At some point, memory and imagination are blurred.’ Jack Moss

Diotima

Rachel Scott continues to show her 2020-founded label Diotima despite the weight of having had to show as creative director of Proenza Schouler earlier in the week. Although Scott, who remains one of New York’s most intriguing talents, says she is becoming more adept at separating the two labels – backstage at Proenza, she said the lines between the two are becoming more and more evident. The divide this season felt more personal: while at Proenza, she looked to the New York woman for inspiration, at Diotima she imagined a figure moving from ‘island to island’ across the Caribbean archipelago (Scott, who lives and works in New York, was born in Jamaica, with this latest collection inspired by a recent trip to Grenada).

‘This collection began with the sea. I found myself returning to it, in awe of its overwhelming beauty and power, but also thinking about all that it holds – histories of passage, displacement and unimaginable loss – and all that it connects,’ she wrote in a letter to guests. As such, garments – which hung on the body asymmetrically – appeared as if caught in waves of tightly pleated organza, while other pieces had a spectral quality, with Scott imagining a woman ‘inside the colonial plantation house’ through nods to the contours of historical silhouettes. ‘The sea just holds so much, and so I kept thinking about all these women from these different times.’ Jack Moss

Luar

When Dominican-American designer Raul Lopez relaunched his brand, Luar, in 2022, he made a commitment to provide luxury products for ‘real’ New Yorkers. Appropriately, his S/S 2027 collection was staged at a venue that’s about as New York as it gets – the Unisphere, a 140ft-tall stainless-steel globe in Queens. Lopez dubbed the collection ‘Christopher Street Columbus’ as an homage to his youth in the early-2000s, hanging out in Manhattan, and as a subversion of the legacy of Christopher Columbus, who laid claim to the Dominican Republic in 1492. For the Luar show, Lopez sought to explore the intersection of ‘the street and the empire’, as he wrote in the show notes.

The nearly 50 Luar ensembles presented, therefore, balanced both streetwear vernacular with references to historical garments from the 15th and 16th centuries, creating a collection where ‘the architecture of empire meets the architecture of the block’, the designer added. The strongest looks were where those linkages were cleverly blurred: moiré jackets cut like doublets; voluminous breeches that ballooned above thigh-high python-print boots; puffs of lace emerging from collars and cuffs; hair styled in glossy ringlets. One luxurious dark silk was printed with images of cacao pods, a colonial commodity, and appeared on scarves, a two-piece suit, and a striking halterneck gown trimmed with ostrich feathers.

The ensembles all served to reclaim the legacy of conquest and extraction, a point made especially poignant as the diverse cohort of models literally circumnavigated the globe of the Unisphere. It’s Lopez’s world, the collection seemed to say, and we’re just living in it. Anna Fixsen

Thom Browne

‘Sometimes we don't realise how transformative the suit is until the person is wearing it,’ Thom Browne recently told Wallpaper*. It follows, then, that transformation – more specifically, metamorphosis – was the subject of the American designer’s S/S 2027 womenswear presentation, a theme that was explored through butterflies, insects and other garden creatures. Followers of the brand already got a taste at Browne’s S/S 2027 menswear show in Milan, which featured the designer’s signature suiting reimagined with whimsical depictions of dragonflies, frogs, bees and ants. But in New York – where Browne first launched his eponymous label 25 years ago – the designer let the garden fantasy reach full bloom.

Set at the Shed in Manhattan’s Hudson Yards district, Browne dreamed up a gigantic garden tableau, defined by towering blades of grass; a twig sprouting with ten-foot-long leaves; and a human-size chrysalis. Like the men’s collection, the show was rife with Browne hallmarks, including grey suiting, Swiss dot, seersucker, madras and the ever-present tri-colour trim. Gradually, as the models wove their way around the colossal plants, the looks became more akin to their insect inspiration. Dragonflies flitted across lustrous jacquard; bees buzzed on the shoulders of a bomber jacket; and ants marched across a checked blazer. Some insect references were literal, such as a series of cloche-shaped gowns that resemble ladybugs and beetles, or delightful pumps whose toecaps were emblazoned with cheerful bug faces and antennae. (No surprise, the soundtrack featured selections from Pixar’s 1998 animated feature A Bug’s Life). Others were more abstract, like wasp-waisted padded corsets whose intricate seams evoked an insect thorax.

The show ended as it began: with a dance performance where ballerinas fluttered across the set in sheer monarch-inspired skirts. A dancer emerged from the chrysalis, timed to the show’s final look, a punk-rock bridal ensemble comprising a velvet corset, a pleated skirt and a cropped butterfly wing jacket cut from duchess satin. Late blooming, in Thom Browne’s universe at least, is clearly something to aspire to. Anna Fixsen

Acts of reinvention were on the mind of American designer Ulla Johnson this season, choosing New York’s Gotham Park to show her latest collection on Monday morning. The park, which sits under the Brooklyn Bridge on its Manhattan side, has over the past century, been a shopping parade, a skate park (Brooklyn Banks, as it was previously known, was the cradle of street skating in the 1980s), before falling into disrepair and eventually locked away to passers-by.

In 2020, a grassroots movement to save the skatepark and reclaim Brooklyn Banks began. The newly named Gotham Park opened in 2023 and will eventually stretch nine acres and include a detailed planting project to make the park into a green space. ‘We all know the importance of green space within the urban landscape, especially as the world changes,’ said Johnson, who, after the show, donated 750 native plants and 12 trees in a collaboration with Field Operations, the agency responsible for landscaping the High Line. ‘Creating these spaces of oasis is, I think, critical to the future of our urban life together.’

The project is a response, says Johnson, to the ephemeral nature of a runway show. ‘There's so much impermanence to what happens in these 15 minutes,’ she said. ‘As we grow and develop, we have to think about what we stand for: having a lasting mark, bringing beauty to where we are [and making things] that live past the moment are all incredibly important to us.’

Gotham Park also provided an apt stage for a collection which Johnson said was an ode to the ‘self-expression’ and ‘self-invention’ of New York women (‘all New York’s runway,’ began the collection notes). ‘It’s this lived experience that we create every day: the act, the performance of dress, and the act of coming together with loved ones, but also with passersby,’ she said. ‘That impromptu joy that only New Yorkers understand, when somebody compliments their outfit or when there’s that unstudied interaction between strangers.’

It lent the collection an eclectic mood, which Johnson described as ‘urban pastoral’, juxtaposing the elements of a city uniform (tailored jackets and shorts; trench coats; macintosh jackets), with moments of whimsy – gowns came ruffled or adorned with flowers, while shoes featured raffia pom-poms. Which in turn brought it back to Gotham Park.

‘Showing in this space, we were thinking about the idea of appreciating a moment of beauty or a flower against something that feels quite industrial, gritty, you know, true to itself,’ she said. ‘It’s the tension between something very lyrical and something very urban.’

Stay tuned to wallpaper.com for more coverage from New York Fashion Week S/S 2026.

On December 20, 1964, Ralph Lauren married his wife, Ricky Lauren, after just six months, having met in the eye doctor’s office where she worked as a receptionist. Over 61 years of loving matrimony, she remains by the designer’s side for his finale bow each season – as she did yesterday afternoon at Lauren’s S/S 2027 womenswear show, which was held at the Clock Tower Building in Tribeca and marked the opening act of this season’s New York Fashion Week (albeit unofficially: Ralph Lauren and Coach both chose to show the day before the schedule’s official start on Thursday).

Which means it’s safe to say that Lauren – a stalwart of American style who is currently enjoying a renaissance as the fashion world embraces the preppy aesthetic for which he is best known – knows plenty about romance. Prior to the show, guests received a bouquet of white tulips, delphinium and hydrangeas, as one might woo a potential love interest (or indeed for acts of diplomacy with a longtime partner), setting the tone for a show which the designer described as ‘an irreverent take on romance’.

Soundtracked by the swooning ‘I Found My Love in Portofino’ and The Police’s ‘Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic’, the collection itself saw Lauren riff on hallmarks of romantic dress – among them ruffles, corsages, lace and feather – in the designer’s easy, insouciant style. Much of the ‘irreverence’ lay in the often eclectic mix-up of garments, which swayed between masculine tailoring (a tailored pinstripe waistcoat, dress shirt and wide tie referenced early designs for his Polo line, launched in 1967) and diaphanous, body-skimming dresses in plissé organza, lace and silk. Such juxtapositions ran throughout: shredded denim jeans, a nod towards Lauren’s longtime fascination with the workwear fabric, were worn with ladylike brocade jackets or shirts trimmed with colourful slices of shearling and feathers.

Other garments seemed to move between decades, often in a single look: waistcoats evoked at once the 1920s and the 2000s, the latter also referenced in the low-slung cut of trousers or in parka-style jackets adorned with boa-like feather trims. Elsewhere, a touch of Louis XIV grandeur was found in the corseted line of ceremonial jackets and billowing ruffled collars – albeit in Lauren’s contemporary, undone style. Undone too were a series of ‘spritz and tumble’ pieces, a technique which left garments purposefully rumpled and creased.

In a letter distributed to guests – which included his usual coterie of celebrity well-wishers, among them Cynthia Erivo, Viola Davis and Elizabeth Debicki – Lauren called it a proposition for ‘a new elegance’. ‘It’s about ways of dressing that celebrate ingenuity, originality and character,’ he continued. ‘The freedom and fun of creating a style which is truly personal.’

Stay tuned to wallpaper.com for more from New York Fashion Week.

And so it begins: with runway shows from Ralph Lauren and Coach, today marks the opening day of New York Fashion Week (albeit unofficially, with the two American powerhouses choosing to show off-schedule), and with it, the start of fashion month. With further stops taking place in London, Milan and Paris, the industry is preparing for four weeks of runway shows, presentations and happenings, as designers set forth their vision for the S/S 2027 season ahead.

There is a buoyant mood to New York this season, which against the odds is enjoying a luxury retail renaissance (read more below) and has a solid fashion-week schedule to match. This is bolstered by the presence of its big-name designers, which are largely in the midst of a renaissance of their own: among them Ralph Lauren, Coach and Tory Burch, which have each enjoyed social-media virality in recent seasons, particularly among younger consumers, as well as Calvin Klein Collection, Michael Kors, Thom Browne and Proenza Schouler. Each will show across the week.

Elsewhere, injections of newness come via Henry Zankov’s debut at Diane von Furstenberg (the New York-based designer has garnered an enormous amount of goodwill through his award-winning eponymous label Zankov, which will continue to show alongside), as well as the young labels Diotima, Ashlyn and LII, the latter of which saw designer Zane Li pick up the Karl Lagerfeld Award at the LVMH Prize 2026 earlier this month.

Here, Wallpaper* breaks down all the moments to look out for at New York Fashion Week S/S 2027 (9–15 September 2026).

Ralph Lauren and Coach will open the week – off-schedule

The week will begin with two American mega-brands – both currently in the midst of a renaissance – showing off-schedule on Wednesday. Up first, Ralph Lauren, whose signature preppy aesthetic, particularly the colourful Polo Ralph Lauren offshoot, is currently in the midst of a revival (collections from Celine, Dior and Miu Miu have all riffed on similar collegiate and varsity styles). The designer, who turns 87 next month, will host the show in a venue in New York’s Tribeca neighbourhood – expect famous faces on the front row and a coterie of major models on the runway, as well as a collection which riffs on the tenets of American style.

Later that evening, at an as-yet-undisclosed location, Stuart Vevers will show his latest collection for Coach (an afterparty will immediately follow). Vevers has hit his stride in recent seasons, combining his eye for accessories (styles like the Brooklyn or Tabby have gone viral) with collections which capture a New York insouciance increasingly geared for young consumers. ‘We embrace the continuous reinvention of what it means to be young and forward-looking, resourceful and creative,’ he told Wallpaper* last season.

Henry Zankov will make his Diane von Furstenberg debut

New York-based designer Henry Zankov has steadily built a reputation as one of the city’s most intriguing talents; his colourful, inventive knitwear under his eponymous label Zankov cleverly toes the line between the grown-up and the playful. After being initially embraced by fashion insiders (we called him the designer ‘making fashion’s favourite sweaters’ in 2024), he has gone on to find international stockists and won a CFDA Award for American Emerging Designer of the Year. ‘It’s just about letting the audience take it however they want to take it,’ he told Wallpaper* of his eclectic aesthetic. ‘There's a playful aspect to [my work], but it never feels matchy.’

This season, alongside the latest show for his eponymous label on Monday 14 September, he will show his debut collection for Diane von Furstenberg on the morning of Thursday 10 September. Taking over all creative for the brand, which was founded by its namesake in 1972, Zankov said he hopes to continue Von Furstenberg’s liberated approach to fashion (she is known for the advent of the jersey wrap dress, and always put women at the centre of her designs). ‘I have always been surrounded and inspired by strong women, and Diane is the ultimate embodiment of that,’ he recently said. ‘The DVF woman is a rebel – confident, curious and independent. It is an honour and privilege for me to build on Diane’s legacy and to carry the brand into the future.’ The woman herself added: ‘I am excited to watch Henry’s designs, sense of colour, and effortless sensibility seduce a new generation.’

New York’s blockbuster brands aren’t going anywhere

Joining Ralph Lauren, Coach and Diane Von Furstenberg will be a number of other names that have long been synonymous with the city. Proenza Schouler, now under the creative leadership of Diotima’s Rachel Scott, will show on Thursday 10 September, followed later that evening by Tory Burch, who will present her latest collection at the Isamu Noguchi Sunken Garden on New York’s Pine Street. Michael Kors and Calvin Klein Collection will both show the following day on Friday 11 September, while Khaite – one of New York’s more successful exports of recent years – will host its latest show at the Brooklyn Storehouse on Saturday 12 September. The vast warehouse space will no doubt be occupied by a typically cinematic show set by designer Catherine Holstein’s husband Griffin Frazen, an architectural designer who helped conceive the sets for The Brutalist.

There will be a New York retail renaissance

In April, property company Savills placed New York as the top city for luxury retail openings for the first time since 2019, cementing the renaissance of bricks-and-mortar retail happening across the city (notably, on Fifth and Madison Avenues, though there has also been luxury retail growth Downtown). Joining a slew of new Uptown mega-flagships – including the four-floor Peter Marino-designed House of Dior New York on Madison Avenue – will be a vast new Moncler store, Moncler Fifth Avenue, marking the largest-ever global flagship for the Italian outerwear brand. It will celebrate the opening with an event on Thursday 10 September.

Elsewhere, Acne Studios will open a new store in New York’s West Village on Greene Street with a party later that evening, while a new Victoria Beckham store created by the British designer alongside artist Alexander May and designer Ole Lund of LNP in SoHo will no doubt attract those visiting the city. Speaking to Wallpaper*, she called it her ‘home away from home’.

Zane Li headlines the rising design stars to watch

LII, the eponymous label of Zane Li, has been a Wallpaper* favourite for some time: in our January issue, we rated him as one of our names to watch in 2026. ‘Zane Li’s clothes are endlessly intriguing,’ wrote Orla Brennan at the time of the young Parsons School of Design graduate. ‘Starting from a flat shape, the Chongqing-born FIT graduate constructs garments the way an architect might a blueprint, leading to silhouettes that sit on the body in curiously sculptural ways.’

These intriguing silhouettes and a bold use of colour won Li The Karl Lagerfeld Prize at the LVMH Prize 2026 earlier this month, with chairman and chief executive officer of Christian Dior Couture Delphine Arnault praising him for designs that ‘seamlessly blend sportswear with couture influences’. Buoyant on this success, he will show his third runway show this season on Monday 14 September. Elsewhere, there are several other brilliant young labels in New York: Rachel Scott’s Diotima will host its third runway show on Monday 14 September; Henry Zankov will hold his latest Zankov show, also on Monday 14, and Ashlyn Park’s Ashlyn will show at the Cristina Grajales Gallery on Saturday 12 September.

Conner Ives will head stateside for a homecoming show

In something of a homecoming, Conner Ives will bring his irreverent London-based label back to the United States, where he was born and grew up. Previously showing at London Fashion Week, the buzzy label – which gained international prominence with his ‘Protect the Dolls’ T-shirts, which advocated for Trans rights and were worn by numerous high-profile figures – will hold its first New York show on Saturday 12 September. Expect the usual liberated blend of pop cultural references, insouciant glamour and upcycled garments, and a no-doubt memorable cast (his previous shows have drawn from London’s queer and creative communities, as opposed to typical runway models). Titled ‘Across the Pond’, the show will take place at The Grill, a chophouse located in the former Grill Room of the Four Seasons restaurant in New York’s Seagram Building.

Thom Browne will return to New York for the week’s finale

The closing act of New York Fashion Week belongs to Thom Browne, who, after runway shows in New York and San Francisco, returns to his home city (as chairman of the CFDA, the organisers of New York Fashion Week, it is also a show of support for the event). Details for the show, which will take place at 5pm on Tuesday 15 September, are so far under wraps, though expect theatrical spectacle and plays on his signature garment, the grey suit. ‘Sometimes we don't realise how transformative the suit is until the person is wearing it,’ Browne told us in the August Creative American issue of Wallpaper*. ‘You do feel the shift when you put it on. It’s powerful’

Each season, designers must grapple with fashion’s unique balance of pragmatism and fantasy – clothes you can wear, yes, but also those that can thrill, transport, excite. It is why, when it comes down to defining the trends and takeaways of a given season, juxtapositions can be found here, too.

Take, for example, this A/W 2026 season, which culminated this past week in Paris after stops in Milan, London and New York. On the one hand, there was a prevalence of black – a colour that suggests a certain seriousness, or sobriety – on the other, Muppets-bright faux fur and shearling dominated the runway, suggesting an altogether more liberated mood. The same could be said for what seemed to be the season’s defining garments, the slip dress and the tailored suit – both loaded with connotations – or the lived-in layers of Prada’s A/W 2026 collection versus the levity and romance of Jonathan Anderson’s sophomore ready-to-wear collection for Dior.

Here, Wallpaper* unpacks six of A/W 2026’s defining trends and takeaways – ones that begin to set a blueprint of how we might dress for the season ahead.

Layering ultra

Prada’s A/W 2026 show had a novel conceit: instead of the usual 40-or-so models, there were just 15, each wearing four looks in an impressive act of quick changing (such was the power of the illusion, when Bella Hadid appeared just a minute or so after she'd left the runway, I wondered if perhaps she had a secret twin). Largely, this was achieved by clever layering, with models stripping away garments to reveal what lay beneath – a metaphor, said co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, for the changing demands of a woman’s life. ‘As a woman, your life is layered – each day demands not only a shifting of clothes, but a richness of identities within yourself,’ said Mrs Prada of the collection, where an anorak might have been layered over a cocktail dress; an organza skirt removed to expose a pair of bloomers. ‘You make choices, you decide who you want to be.’

Indeed, it is a way of dressing that feels particularly attuned to the demands of contemporary life – not least the changing weather, which was in full display over fashion month (the early days of Paris Fashion Week were so warm for early March that the discarding of items of clothing was necessary). Aside from Prada, collections this season felt particularly richly layered: at Celine, polo-neck sweaters were worn beneath a silk shirt, which was in turn worn beneath an overcoat (Michael Rider added plenty of accessories to the collage, too, from belts and enormous scarves to blankets grasped in the hand) while at Acne Studios, blazers were insouciantly hung over the shoulder via the use of clever in-built straps (the idea of layering was enhanced by a pile-up of clashing checks). At Loewe, parkas were constructed with extra collars, hoods and shaggy shearling trims (some layers could even be inflated like beach lilos), while Rabanne, Chanel and Valentino favoured vivid amalgams of colour, embellishment and texture, often achieved through placing one garment over another. In the respective shows, it made for some bold looks, but one could imagine teasing these pieces apart and wearing them – or indeed layering them – with your own wardrobe.

Black out

It might seem trite to call black a trend: after all, this is a colour that never goes out of style (so much so, it is the colour all others are compared to – such and such is the new black). However, the prevalence of the hue on this season’s runway was noticeable – not least at Fendi, where Maria Grazia Chiuri embraced the colour for her first Fendi collection, presented in Milan. By our count, around three-quarters of the 81 looks were majority black, a stark departure from Silvia Venturini Fendi’s primary-hued S/S 2026 collection last season. Though it didn’t feel dour: instead, it allowed the collection to straddle both a uniform sleekness – lean tailoring, flight jackets, and the like – and something more sensual in textures of lace, silk and crepe. Part of the choice, she said, was a riposte to the kind of attention-grabbing collections she sees as becoming the norm. ‘I think we must be pragmatic,’ she said. ‘Fashion is not entertainment. Fashion is a job. I am that kind of designer.’

A similar mood was struck by Peter Copping at Lanvin, where the languid glamour of the 1920s and 1930s inspired sculpted tailoring and sinuous gowns, many in textures of black, from lustrous vinyl and silk to dramatic faux fur, while at Saint Laurent, a stream of black Le Smoking-inspired tailoring introduced Anthony Vaccarello’s femme fatale for the season. Balenciaga, Issey Miyake and Gucci also had large sections of black in their respective collections, though it was Rei Kawakubo at Comme des Garçons who was most adamant about the colour’s creative – and indeed revolutionary – potential. This season, save for a short interlude in saccharine pink, the rest of the Japanese brand’s A/W 2026 collection was all-black. ‘I have come to realise that, after all, black is the colour for me,’ said the Japanese designer. ‘It’s just the strongest, the best for creation, and the colour that embodies the rebellious spirit. And has the biggest meaning: the universe and the black hole.’

Fun ‘fur’

Fashion has long revelled in its contradictions and, if black dominated several of the runways, a more colourful countercurrent ran alongside. There was the bold yellow floor at Loewe (and equally pop-hued collection); Matthieu Blazy’s lustrous metallic palette at a triumphant Chanel; or the bold flashes of electric blue hosiery at Jil Sander, where Simone Bellotti, in his sophomore collection, sought creative liberation and ‘abandon’. Bolder still, though, were the flashes of brightly hued faux fur and shearling – or indeed fabrics which mimicked their shaggy textures – which appeared throughout the season, lending a sense of play that my colleague Jason Hughes, Wallpaper* fashion & creative director, affectionately described as a ‘Muppets mood’.

So there were Louise Trotter’s bold, shaggy silhouettes at Bottega Veneta, constructed from various fabric innovations from pulled threads of silk (they evoked fur, or shearling), or high-pile velvet manipulated to look like astrakhan; Junya Watanabe’s collaged silhouettes, where alongside crunched-up Mylar blankets, curtains and licence plates were bold panels of soft toy-like faux fur; or Loewe, where degradé shearling was trimmed ‘in the same manner as poodle grooming’. These ‘fun furs’ made a case for dressing outside of your comfort zone, or simply giving your outfit – even if it is all-black – a single colourful (and fluffy) flourish.

Slip on

In our March 2026 Style Issue, we identified the slip dress as one of the S/S 2026 season’s defining garments, particularly those that recall 1990s minimalism. For A/W 2026, the garment returned to the fore, albeit reimagined in an unconventional manner. Take Loewe, for example, where nighties – like those you might find in a Marks & Spencer four-pack, complete with the tiny bow on the chest – were recreated in rubber, cleverly 3D-printed in various primary hues (for men, a version came as a top with long sleeves). The result was something playful and a little surreal – a reflection of the collection itself, which was defined by a feeling of experimentation. ‘For us, the act of making is, at its core, an expression of joy – an intellectual, process-driven pursuit charged with playfulness,’ said Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, the American designers behind the collection.

A similar, if more overtly sensual, approach came at Saint Laurent, where Anthony Vaccarello constructed a series of garments from sheer lace coated in silicone (he talked about the technique giving ‘structure’ to the traditionally delicate material, with ‘fragility becoming force’). Meanwhile, at Miu Miu, Miuccia Prada also explored the juxtaposition of delicacy and toughness, something the deep-thinking designer said was inspired by the contrast between the ‘smallness of the body... and the vastness of the [world] which surrounds us’. The latter came in trapper hats, shearling-lined parkas and hefty, bubble-soled shoes; the former in a series of sheer organza slip dresses adorned with sequins, crystal embroidery and scalloped trimmings.

New romantic

Jonathan Anderson’s sophomore ready-to-wear collection took place in Paris’ Jardin des Tuileries, where a runway had been constructed around one of the circular fountains, its surface dotted with Monet-esque water lilies (or, at least, very real-looking reproductions). In the bright spring sunshine, it made for an idyllic scene, one backdropping a collection of romance and lightness, from Belle Époque ruffles and feather-trimmed outerwear to floral appliqué and bow adornment (completing the look were polka-dot pumps or shoes decorated with lily pads). ‘Dior has this giant past, and I had to start there,’ he said of the free-spirited mood. ’Now I feel free to release it from that.’

Throughout the season, designers mined this feeling of contemporary romance, defined by levity and play. At Matthieu Blazy’s own sophomore ready-to-wear collection for Chanel, looks were richly textured and adorned – from crystal flowers to golden butterflies, or the multitude of illusory tweeds and trompe l’oeil fabrics – though never felt heavy. Meanwhile, ruffles and lace became defining motifs, appearing everywhere from Alaïa (dropped-waist peplum dresses with layers of raw-edge ruffles) and Bottega Veneta (fronds of ruched fabric reminiscent of shearling that emerged from beneath tailored fabrics) to Simone Rocha, where sheer lace and organza were delicately embellished with crystals. One inspiration for her A/W 2026 collection was a fairytale from her native Ireland – Oisín and Niamh's journey to Tír na nÓg, the Celtic land of eternal youth and beauty.

Power move

The Saint Laurent show began with eight dark-coloured suits in a row: some double-breasted, others single, each with a sloped shoulder and narrowed – though not constricted – waistline. Anthony Vaccarello said it was about proposing a new power suit, one influenced by ‘severity of the 1970s and 1980s’ but with new fluidity and ease. ‘[They are not about] a clichéd projection of power,’ he said via the collection notes. ‘[But] a quiet and fluid conversation between the parameters of femininity and masculinity.’ Indeed, the show ended with his riff on Le Smoking, Yves Saint Laurent’s tuxedo cut for a woman’s body and one of his defining creations (it celebrates its 60th anniversary this year). Worn by model Loli Bahia, it was cut with the same fluid line as the opening looks – ‘the attitude more insouciant shrug than swagger’.

It was a season of great tailoring across the board, particularly in Paris. At Givenchy, Sarah Burton said reuniting with her tailoring team from Alexander McQueen had brought new sharpness to her suiting this season – there were some great blazers with cut-in lapels and gently sculpted waistlines – while the highlights of Copping’s Lanvin came in jackets with plisséd panels on the back, which gave a dramatic (though not restrictive) hourglass silhouette. If largely tailoring this season followed these contours (wide-shouldered; narrow-waist; fluid in construction), an opposition came in a more streamlined proposition from the likes of Fendi, where narrow suiting had a uniform feel, or Hermès, where contouring equstrian-inspired blazers recalled those worn for dressage competitions.

Diotima founder and designer Rachel Scott first discovered the paintings of Afro-Chinese Cuban painter Wifredo Lam about 15 years ago. She was reading a lot of work by the Afro-Martiniquan French Surrealist poet Aimé Césaire. Lam met Césaire while imprisoned by the Vichy authorities in Martinique. The two would eventually collaborate, most notably on Césaire’s 1941 poem Annonciation, for which Lam drew an illustration. ‘It always had an impact on me,’ said Scott. ‘I felt very closely tied to it.” Then, in the first year of founding her New York-based fashion label Diotima, Scott saw his 1944 painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla) La Présence éternelle at the Surrealism Beyond Borders exhibition at The Met. ‘It really spoke to me.’

When we spoke, Scott had just met the family of the late Cuban painter, who flew in from Paris to see three paintings by Lam imbued within Diotima’s A/W 2026 collection, shown on Sunday as part of New York Fashion Week. Coincidentally, the artist, who passed away in 1982, also has a current exhibition in New York at MoMA until April 11. Scott, who just showed her debut collection as creative director of Proenza Schouler on February 11, went straight to work on Diotima. Luckily, her Diotima studio and the Proenza Schouler office are within three blocks of each other. ‘I am very determined,’ she mused.

At Diotima, Rachel Scott collaborates with the Wifredo Lam estate

There are several parallels between Scott and Lam. Both were born and raised in the Caribbean, Lam in Cuba and Scott in Jamaica. ‘Obviously, there's a shared cultural and ancestral connection, but also, the work is incredible. It's anti-imperialist. It exists as something Caribbean, but then as something global,’ she said. They also both decamped to Europe to expand their creative practices. Lam studied painting in Madrid before going to Paris, eventually returning to the Caribbean in 1941 as World War II ravaged Europe. Scott left for Milan to study fashion design at Istituto Marangoni Milano, followed by stints at Costume National, J. Mendel, and Elizabeth and James. ‘He went back to Europe, and spent his time between Paris and Albissola [Marina], which is in the north of Italy, on the coast, and I lived in Milan, which is in the north. He spent a lot of time in Milan,’ recalls Scott. ‘So yeah, there is that connection.’

Just as Lam likened his paintings to ‘a Trojan horse that would spew forth hallucinating figures with the power to surprise, to disturb the dreams of the exploiter,’ in a 1976 interview with Max-Pol Fouchet, Scott sees this collection as her own Trojan horse. Embedded within the Diotima A/W 2026 collection is an anti-authoritarian political statement veiled by the beauty of the garments. ‘It felt like this moment of urgency, because we are in an incredibly terrifying moment politically in America with the ICE raids, but also in the Caribbean, with what's happening in Venezuela, and again, renewed pressure on Cuba,‘ said Scott. ‘Absolutely, this is a political collection.’ The woman she imagines wearing it? ‘Powerful women. We need to feel the power, and luckily, we have some very powerful women who have been coming into the studio,’ said the designer. The show was indeed political and filled with powerful women; New York’s first lady Rama Dwaji sat front row next to her stylist, Gabriella Karefa-Johnson.

Scott selected four paintings from Lam’s oeuvre, three of which are on view in the MoMA exhibition. There’s the 1943 Omi Obini a colourful, transcendent painting representing his personal, political, and spiritual homecoming through a figure believed to be Oshún, the Yoruba goddess of love, beauty, fertility, and fresh water. The other two are from Lam’s Femme-Cheval (Horse-Woman) series, depicting an Afro-Cuban spiritual image of an orisha (female deity) riding a devotee embodied by a horse, symbolising feminine power. ‘She’s super, super powerful. It's also erotic. It’s this very strong feminine power. She's also anti-imperialist. She's anti-colonialist,’ said Scott, before going into the symbolism Lam inserted into his paintings. ‘There is the sugar cane, and the Heliconia, but it's also a knife. She's very severe, very strong. It's the woman that we're always thinking about with the brand.’ There’s also Lam’s 1942-1943 masterpiece, La Jungla, an anti-colonial manifesto against the exploitation of the Cuban landscape, from which she pulled its rich colour palette.

Scott translated the paintings into her own vision for eight looks in the collection, elegantly zooming in on the details for an abstract effect. A 1948 Femme-Cheval painting was intricately replicated by hand through organza intarsia on a skirt and halter dress that opened the show, while also digitally printed on a silk-wool trumpet skirt (‘the model who's wearing it is this incredible trans model. Their name is Lou. They came and saw the tag on there, and Lou is Wifredo’s last wife’s name,’ said Scott). Then there’s a 1950 Femme-Cheval painting, transformed into a clingy wool knit intarsia woven in a gauge so fine that it’s almost transparent. ‘It's like this transposing of the art of the body on the body,’ explained Scott. Meanwhile the designer turned Omi Obini into a gobelin jacquard, used in a cape-collared jacket for the finale.

‘It's a jacquard that uses a very traditional heritage type of tapestry technique,’ said Scott. ‘You can see the artwork on the face is like this grayscale, then on the inside you see all of the layers of the colours; there are multiple threads in there.’ Several of the women showed they were ready for battle with equestrian-inspired whips in hand. In addition to the women in Jamaica who regularly contribute their crochet skills to Diotima, Scott also hired women from Refugee Atelier. ‘It's an organisation here in New York that works with women refugees who are trying to get their footing here in New York,’ she said.

This collaboration with the Wifredo Lam Estate marks the third time Scott, who studied fine art and art history and French literature at Colgate University, has incorporated artwork into a Diotima collection. For Diotima’s A/W 2024 collection, which also marked its first presentation, Scott collaborated with the Jamaican artist Laura Facey. A few seasons before that, Pre-Fall 2022, Scott worked with Nadia Huggins, a photographer from St. Vincent who specialises in underwater photography.

Scott has learned some things about working on two collections for two distinctly different brands this season. ‘I've figured out where these things come from,’ she revealed. ‘With Diotima, it's very visceral and emotional and political and poetic, but there's so much more. I love film and I love philosophy, and with Proenza Schouler, it's more cerebral.’ Her plans after New York Fashion Week? ‘I'm not leaving my bed,’ she teased.

Catch up with our best shows of New York Fashion Week here.

diotima.world

It has been one year since Veronica Leoni presented her debut collection for Calvin Klein, which marked the first runway show from the American powerhouse since the departure of Raf Simons in 2018. Her task was not an easy one: Calvin Klein, which was founded in 1968 but would come to reshape fashion in the 1980s and 1990s, was always about a mood and a moment. Where the storied European houses have history – bulging archives, defining silhouettes, a runway show seared in the memory – Calvin Klein is a slip dress, a pair of jeans, a white T-shirt, underwear. And all those advertisements: CK One, with its slouching gang of Steven Meisel-shot models, Kate Moss and Marky Mark embracing in white Y fronts and low-slung jeans, and that Brooke Shields ad (‘nothing gets between me and my Calvins’ – she was just 15 years old).

Calvin Klein Collection A/W 2026: a ‘hedonistic elegance’

It is impossible to replicate the cultural heft of these moments. A lesser designer might attempt to capture a similar shock factor; Leoni, who comes from roles at The Row and Moncler, began in the archives. Her astute, if restrained, opening collection channelled a more tempered sensuality – flushes of hot pink, overcoats grasped closed in the hand, sweetheart necklines – which she saw as echoing the namesake designer’s runway collections, memorable for their purity of design rather than overt sexuality. ‘When it comes to sexiness, it’s more like an attitude,’ she said at the time. ’You own it in the way you wear the clothes. I think it’s really intimate being sexy – regardless of the silhouette, the amount of skin, it’s about the confidence.’

This afternoon (13 February), Leoni presented her third collection for the house at The Shed, erecting a circular runway in the centre of the vast Diller Scofidio + Renfro-designed arts centre on New York’s west side. The Italian designer began the collection by looking back to the late 1970s, a time just before Calvin Klein had exploded into the public consciousness (the Brooke Shields ad aired in 1980). There was a 1976 pair of jeans, the first to appear on the Calvin Klein runway, which Leoni replicated, while the collection itself channelled what she described as a ‘hedonistic elegance’. ‘There was a rigour, a sophistication that seems to come from another time, but there was also this cult of the body [starting to emerge] that is extremely Calvin – we wanted to push that almost narcissistic kind of kink,’ she told reporters backstage.

So there was power-shouldered tailoring cut away at the back; cleverly manipulated vest tops that appeared as though the sleeves had been pulled up to expose the bicep; slices of ‘fur’ (it was actually trimmed and dyed shearling) and leather (some with the illusion of rubber); and dresses that twisted around the body, as if pulled on in haste. There was also a greater sense of dressing up than in her previous collections (blown-up corporate tailoring and trench coats felt almost fetishistic); backstage, Leoni said she wanted to show that Calvin Klein was not only about the casualwear with which it is synonymous. ‘The mainstream perception is all about the underwear, that casual lifestyle,’ she said. ‘But we explored the advertising he was doing at the beginning, and there were these beautiful, sophisticated women; there was this couture drape happening, and extremely chic suiting.’

Leoni described the outing as a little more ‘provocative’, and it certainly benefited from this bolder approach – this was by far her strongest collection for the brand yet. ‘We really wanted to celebrate the body; the cult of the body. And we are still so obsessed with the body,’ she said, noting that the bicep-bearing tailoring at the end of the show was a wink to the rippled bodybuilders of 1980s Venice Beach (now, the reference might be TikTok fitfluencers). ‘I think Calvin Klein was about this obsessive, almost thrilling and dangerous quest for beauty. This is about studying the Calvin Klein DNA and making it heroic – for now, for 2026.’

Follow our New York Fashion Week A/W 2026 coverage.

When Rachel Scott was appointed creative director of Proenza Schouler last year, taking the reins from founders Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, she decided that her first task was to get to know who the New York brand’s ‘woman’ was.

So she sat down with them. ‘I spent a lot of time meeting with our customers, actually meeting with the Proenza Schouler woman, and trying to understand who she was,’ the Jamaica-born designer said after her debut runway show for the brand, which doubled as the opening act of New York Fashion Week yesterday afternoon (11 February 2026). ‘I wanted to know how I could bring her something new for her life.’

Rachel Scott makes her runway debut at Proenza Schouler

An amalgam of McCollough and Hernandez’s mothers’ maiden names, the label was founded after the partners in life and work graduated from Manhattan’s Parsons School of Design in 2002 (read our 2023 interview for more). Since, it has become a byword for contemporary New York style, encapsulating a ‘downtown cool’ and favoured by intellectual urbanites (Proenza Schouler has long been a favourite in art world circles). Notable fans include Dree Hemingway, Chloë Sevigny, Pamela Anderson and Arca.

Scott, who is the founder of Brooklyn-based label Diotima and a former CFDA Award winner, was appointed after McCollough and Hernandez made their move to Loewe, taking over from Jonathan Anderson. A soft-launch Proenza Schouler presentation last September saw Scott interpret already-existing pieces created by the in-house design team; yesterday’s show marked her first full collection. 'Codes remain, but the perspective shifts, and we get closer to a new Proenza Schouler woman,’ read the collection notes.

‘It was really important for me to respect the legacy of Proenza Schouler, and that’s this really strong love of the New York woman,’ Scott elaborated backstage. ‘But I wanted to find a way to get closer to her, to have more complexity and texture – she can be erotic, she can be angry. Sometimes she’s not quite so perfect.’

It led to a collection of purposeful contradictions: Scott said that the idea of ‘self-authorship’ was important to her vision, the idea that a woman can choose what version of herself she wants to be on a given day. ‘She can be as perfect or as imperfect as she wants to be. I was thinking about this woman who is definitely punctual, but you know, maybe today she's a little late.’

In the collection, this was envisioned in pieces that suggested dressing in haste. A silk shift dress was purposely rumpled, its creases in-built by clever construction; skirts appeared twisted around the body, as if in the process of being pulled on, while button plackets were skewed at an angle or placed haphazardly. ‘There are things where they shouldn't be, collars, like lapels that are just not right, something's a little bit off,’ said Scott. ‘And she actually embraces that’

Strongest, though, were the moments when Scott evoked the expressive colour and texture she has honed at Diotima, which she founded in 2021 after a career in the design teams for Costume National, Elizabeth and James and Rachel Comey. Her debut runway show for Diotima last season (previously she had presented her collections via lookbook or presentation), channelled the subversive and liberatory spirit of carnival, from Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro and London’s Notting Hill to her native Caribbean (Scott will show her next collection for Diotima, which she continues to design and run alongside her role at Proenza Schouler, on Sunday 15 February).

At yesterday’s show, these vivid flourishes included dresses printed with orchids, which were taken from photographs before being hand-painted and printed (Scott liked the imperfections this process left), while other garments were studded with enormous metal eyelets or edged with twisted tassels (these also sprouted from clever footwear). Greens, blues and vibrant reds, meanwhile, played off the bright blue carpet which had been laid through the Lower East Side show space.

‘I really thought about the colour language that Jack and Lazaro had, what it did. And it was, you know, these colours that reverberate,’ she said. ‘They were very energetic. And so I took that and put my language into it.’

It was in these bolder moments that you got a glimpse of how Scott might evolve Proenza Schouler in the coming seasons. Because now that she seems to have figured out what the existing Proenza Schouler woman wants, Scott's next task is to bring a new group of women into the fold. One senses she’ll do that by embracing the intuitive, uninhibited design language she has developed over the past five years at Diotima – an instinctual approach which has seen her long touted as America’s next big thing.

proenzaschouler.com

Marking the opening act of fashion month, which will make subsequent layovers in London, Milan and Paris over the coming days – we broke down all the standout moments to look out for here – New York Fashion Week took place in the American city this week. Editors braced the winter chill for a reshuffled schedule, which saw a handful of the city’s defining names – including Coach, Michael Kors, Tory Burch and Proenza Schouler – showing across the first two days.

The latter, which opened proceedings on Thursday, marked perhaps the week’s most anticipated moment: the debut of Diotima designer Rachel Scott as creative director of the New York-based label. She showed an astute collection which played off founders Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez’s signature style – an intellectual, art-inflected wardrobe for the polished urbanite – while embracing imperfection. ‘It was really important for me to respect the legacy of Proenza Schouler, and that’s this really strong love of the New York woman,’ she said. ‘But I wanted to find a way to get closer to her, to have more complexity and texture – she can be erotic, she can be angry. Sometimes she’s not quite so perfect.’

This front-loaded approach did not mean that there was not plenty elsewhere to draw attention: buzzy young labels LII and Ashyln both impressed, Nicholas Aburn presented his sophomore collection for Area, and shows from Calvin Klein, Eckhaus Latta and Khaite brought big-name buzz. Here, Wallpaper* picks the best shows and collections of the week, reported from New York by Wallpaper’s US Editor Anna Fixsen. Jack Moss

Diotima

New York Fashion week began with a Rachel Scott collection, and, fittingly, it ended with one too. Rather than work within the confines of existing signatures, as Scott did with her inaugural collection as creative director of Proenza Schouler, she was able to give way to something innate, or as she described it, ‘an ancestral pull,’ with her own label, Diotima on Sunday.

Scott, who was born in Jamaica, found a creative counterpart in the work of Cuban painter Wifredo Lam (1902-1982), whose surrealist work (now on view at MoMA) was inspired by Afro-Caribbean culture and mythology. Specifically, the designer looked to Lam’s depictions of the Femme Cheval, a formidable horse-woman central to Afro-Cuban spirituality. ‘A counter-image to colonial fantasy, she transforms the object of desire into a figure of spiritual and cultural power,’ Scott explained in her A/W 2026 show notes.

Scott worked directly with Lam’s estate to translate the artist’s motifs and visual language to garments. A painterly, A-line gown, for instance, was covered in delicate organza appliqué, colour-blocked in shades of brown, ochre and black to evoke Lam’s abstract shapes. Other looks took on a more equestrian theme, a nod to the Femme Cheval, as with riding-inspired jackets and dresses, and accessories that evoked whips. Shaggy coats with looped yarn fringe reminded of tousled manes.

For Scott, history and cultural memory are acts of resistance in and of themselves. But she used the collection as a platform in more ways than one: she worked with local organization Refugee Atelier, an organisation that empowers refugee women by teaching them artisanal textile skills. Also present in the front row was the First Lady of New York, Rama Duwaji, who made a rare Fashion Week appearance. ‘This collection takes shape in a political and cultural moment marked by exhaustion and division, where resilience, identity and memory become acts of resistance,’ Scott acknowledged. ‘It is about a woman who moves through it with radiance, force, and radical self- definition.’ Anna Fixsen

Khaite

Of all the US fashion brands that have sprung to life in the last decade, few have had allure, or commercial success, quite like Khaite. The venue for Khaite’s A/W 2026 collection seemed to mirror the label’s ambitions: the 55,000 sq ft drill hall inside the Park Avenue Armory. The audience, sitting in three rows on polished-brass benches, faced a towering LED screen that displayed a subliminal message: Why are you here? No matter how you interpreted these enigmatic words, creative director Catherine Holstein gave a show that proved why everyone dropped their Valentine’s Day plans to attend.

Silhouettes started severe, all broad-shouldered jackets and suiting paired with leather cigarette pants and high heels. That edge continued, via military-style frogging down the fronts of leather jackets, gowns and blouses. Softness was introduced as the show progressed – as with a series of luxurious wool draped dresses, luxe shearling coats and gossamer blouses, some embroidered with whimsical monkeys – and reached its apex at the show’s finale via a collection of lace-appliqué slip dresses, some of which featured delicate draped panniers at the hips.

Accessories, a category that’s helped propel Khaite to success, were another highlight. Gold brooches in the shape of monkeys – just like the embroidered blouses that appeared earlier – fastened blouses and clung to lapels, while delicate gold chains with crosses dangled like rosaries off of leather blazers and velvet jackets. There were quirkier accessories too, like surreal papillon-shaped bowties (one of several design moves that felt like a strong reference to Yves Saint Laurent), pink, flower-shaped boutonnieres; and high, detachable lace collars that tied in the back and trailed like a scarf. Anna Fixsen

LII

Zane Li, whose New York-based label LII is marrying minimalism with architectural construction and a vivid use of colour, proved today why he is one of the most exciting names to know in American fashion.

The designer’s A/W 2026 collection, presented in a classic cast-iron building Soho, ‘reveals as much as it conceals,’ according to show notes. The looks presented played with varying degrees of display and discretion via sportswear-inspired garments that hung just-so off the body. Brightly-hued funnelneck track jackets were paired with bubble hem skirts; elegant fur-trimmed shrugs revealed just a hint of skin; and a duo of swingy dresses featured v-neck backs in elegant origami-like folds.

Playful accessories brought everything together, as with primary-coloured ski gloves and custom Nike Air Force 1 sneakers, which had neoprene flaps attached to the back, creating a sense of dynamism as the models walked. ‘This year is about working into our identity and making the brand efficient,’ he told us in December. ‘Everything feels new.’ Anna Fixsen

Eckhaus Latta

Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta have been designing together for 15 years now, and – despite their veteran status – their clothing remains some of the coolest and most authentic around. In the days leading up to their Eckhaus Latta show, the duo teased a series of food images on Instagram – a citrus fruit being peeled, an egg about to be cracked, and, finally, a torch browning a baked Alaska, as if preparing for a grand dinner party. As such, the presentation, held within a series of rooms in a Tribeca loft Saturday afternoon, felt more like a gathering for friends, rather than your average fashion show.

The clothing on display embodied that familiar ease. Model Paloma Elsesser opened the show, donning a sleeveless striped turtleneck with a zip-up lambskin skirt. What followed were riffs on basics – oversize polo shirts, slip dresses and bomber jackets – with kinky twists. Unisex denim trousers featured chaps-style detailing, grommeted onto micro shorts beneath; menswear featured leather ‘cruising’ aprons; and gauzy dresses featured peekaboo slits at hip creases. Rather than citing specific inspirations in their show notes, Eckhaus Latta included Dada-esque snippets of phrases overheard throughout the week, proof that their continued success hinges on a simple exercise: tuning into what surrounds them. Anna Fixsen

Area

‘I long to be seen!’ an imagined woman exclaims in the show notes for Area’s A/W 2026 show. Indeed, the collection that creative director Nicholas Aburn presented Friday isn’t one for shrinking violets.

The presentation, held at a performance space just north of Hudson Yards, felt like an homage to the label’s namesake, the legendary 1980s nightclub, Area. Highlights included denim looks that featured sashes reminiscent of Japanese obi, exhibited on micro-minis and trousers; sequined skirt sets, featuring a Marilyn Minter-esque lip print; and slouchy-yet-chic interpretations of hoodies and rugby-striped shirts.

Glitz was another undercurrent, in keeping with Aburn’s past collections. Fringes of diamantés cascaded off of drop-waist dresses and skirts, and ruffles festooned ‘80s-inspired flounces, blouses and collars. While some of the looks felt unresolved, most will achieve what Aburn set out to do: to make you look. Anna Fixsen

Fforme

Like Veronica Leoni at Calvin Klein Collection, Frances Howie is rounding out just one year since debuting as the creative director of the New York-based luxury womenswear brand Fforme. Her predecessor, Paul Helbers, told Wallpaper* that the double f’s in Fforme could be understood as two adjectives: foundational and fundamental. In Howie’s hands, though, you could swap those terms in for two new ones: functional and feminine.

Her A/W 2026 collection was, above all, a celebration of feminine power. Confident tailoring, like oversized coats paired with fur trapper hats, was juxtaposed with cinched waists and figure-accentuating panniers, as seen on one crushed-velvet hourglass-shaped gown. Meanwhile, heavy natural materials like shearling (shown in blonde and black) and leather were contrasted with gauzy knits and heavy satin. Most captivating was Howie’s use of jewellery. Sculptural bronze botanical motifs appeared everywhere, from a low-hanging necklace that resembled dried flowers to a delicate palm frond, fastened at the hip. Fforme, it seems, is in very fine shape. Anna Fixsen

Calvin Klein Collection

It’s been exactly a year since Veronica Leoni took the helm of Calvin Klein Collection. Back then, the designer promised to bring a bit of ‘sexitude’ back to the label, which sat dormant for six years after Raf Simons’ tenure abruptly ended in 2018. Leoni’s first two collections brought back Calvin Klein Collection’s signature minimalism, with a rigour and ease honed while at The Row, Jil Sander and Phoebe Philo-era Céline. Thursday, however, some that sexitude began to come through via an exploration of what the designer termed in the show notes, ‘hedonistic elegance’.

Like the show’s setting, The Shed, whose skin is made up of pillowy ethylene tetrafluoroethylene cushions, Leoni played with varying degrees of coverage and exposure, opacity and translucency, heft and lightness. The backs of a few women’s suit jackets and dresses were left almost entirely bare, save for a microscopic strap and ties that came together at the lumbar. A pair of leather trenchcoats were so thin that they resembled coloured parchment, while huge triangle-shaped shearling collars lay heavily across swinging coats.

Some of the sexiness was more overt, as with one model who donned a set of cream-coloured Calvin Klein longjohns, over which was tossed a matching double-layered trenchcoat. Arms and legs were wrapped in thin leather via knee-high sock boots and matching opera gloves, while sleeveless men’s and women’s suiting exposed bulging biceps.

The collection also aimed to hark back to Calvin Klein’s roots in the 1970s and early 1980s. This was seen in looks ranging from a balloon-sleeve merlot-coloured jacket, paired with matching slim-fit trousers; a denim-on-denim ensemble, draped in a long wool coat; and hair swooped back from the forehead. The biggest ‘80s reference of all? Brooke Shields, Calvin Klein’s most infamous model, was seated in the front row. Anna Fixsen

READ: Veronica Leoni channels ‘hedonistic elegance’ at Calvin Klein – with a touch of kink

Michael Kors

For his 45th anniversary collection, Michael Kors threw quite possibly the most glamorous party of them all: a night at the Metropolitan Opera. The audience sat on the periphery of the grand, modernist lobby, completed by Wallace K Harrison in 1966, and watched as models drifted down the opera house’s sweeping cantilevered stairway.

The A/W 2026 Michael Kors collection, according to the designer, was a celebration of New York and all of its glamour and resilience. Here, he focused on different interpretations of eveningwear. ‘Everyone in New York has their own way of looking at how they dress at night. For some people, it's a gown. For some people, it's a suit, and for other people, it's a man's shirt and grey trousers,’ Kors explained at a pre-show press conference.

That range was very present on the runway and embodied by a rock opera soundtrack that blended strains of Puccini, Tchaikovsky and Rihanna. Highlights included relaxed trousers that featured dramatic overskirts that trailed on the red-carpeted stairs; puff-ball shearling jackets in white and crimson; and tailored gowns, worn with opera-length leather gloves. Ostrich feathers were ever-present, bobbing on skirts, sleeves, hats, bags and shoes. Notable was Kors’s moratorium on spiked heels: ‘There's not a stiletto in sight,’ he said. ‘I can't stand going to parties and seeing women have to take their shoes off. It's awful.’ Indeed, over the course of the show, heels started as chunky blocks and got progressively lower until models walked in minimalist square-toed flats.

Kors saved the biggest birthday surprise for last: closing out the show was model Christy Turlington, dressed in a glittering gown overlaid with a sweeping, floor-length cape. Anna Fixsen

Ashlyn

Though Seoul-born designer Ashlynn Park is a veteran of the fashion industry (her impressive resume includes stints with Yohji Yamamoto, Alexander Wang and Raf Simons), she’s become one of the buzziest ‘emerging’ names in the business since launching her eponymous womenswear label in 2020. But Park’s still open to evolution, as she’s told Wallpaper*, ‘every season I’m building another chapter’. This latest chapter began Thursday with a poem that the designer distributed at her A/W 2026 presentation, a meditation on the craft and collaboration that underpin Ashlyn’s unique ‘sartorial vernacular.’

Part and parcel to Ashlyn’s visual language is structure, a skill honed during her years spent under Yamamoto as a pattern maker and manifested in her architectural blouses, coats, knits and gowns (not to mention the rough-hewn benches that the audience perched on). The show’s first look was a layered ensemble, featuring a lime green peplum turtleneck layered with a cashmere jacket and loose black trousers that also featured a flowing peplum waist. From there, the looks continued to play with volume and scale, as with a loose lambskin jacket paired with oversized trousers, elegant, figure-hugging gowns made from ruched jersey or a breezy poplin blouse defined by meticulous pleated seams. Even the fabrics felt architectural, as with nubby white boucles and handsome tweeds featuring hits of bright yellow.

The collection was proof that Park is a master at striking that rare balance between rigour and ease, attributes that made each look feel like an instant and utterly wearable wardrobe staple. Anna Fixsen

Zankov

After a weeks-long cold snap, New York’s streetscape has been transformed into a landscape of icy snowbanks. Which is why, amid all frozen grey lumps, Zankov’s colourful A/W 2026 collection was a welcome dose of Vitamin D.

Designer Henry Zankov, the recipient of the 2024 CFDA Emerging Designer of the Year award, has told Wallpaper* he’s a knitwear geek, and plenty of free-spirited stretchy looks demonstrated his expertise with the fabric. There were fuzzy mohair skirts and tops, and modern takes on argyle, presented in unexpected hues like chartreuse and merlot. Some knit skirts and dresses were slashed into broad ribbons, revealing legs beneath. Shine was another through-line, and a concept Zankov has been playing with for a while, notably with glittering pailettes. A long asymmetrical tunic was covered in round, Paco Rabanne-esque silver sequins, while many models were accessorised with glittering scarves. If you looked closely, you would have also spotted jet-black beaded fringe dangling from the wrists of a diaphanous plum-hued dress.

It may come as a surprise that the presentation marked designer Zankov’s sophomore runway show after founding the label in the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic, but it had all the confidence of a creative who has been doing this for a much longer time. Anna Fixsen

Tory Burch

‘I don't want to live in a house which was in vogue 20 years ago,’ modernist architect Marcel Breuer once said. He would have found a kindred spirit in Tory Burch, who not only staged her A/W 2026 collection in Breuer’s famed Madison Avenue building (recently transformed into Sotheby’s global headquarters) but also returned to evergreen silhouettes for inspiration. ‘Classics shaped by history and utility, made personal through our own stories and experiences – [that’s] where true style originates,’ the designer said in her show notes.

Throughout, Burch investigated what makes classic garments stand the test of time – corduroy trousers, trench coats, sweaters – while giving them a fresh twist. Ensembles that would otherwise be relegated to prep, like a pencil skirt topped with a crewneck knit, got smart upgrades with materials like patent leather and a vibrant colour palette, which included tomato, chartreuse and saffron. Cardigans received a Midas touch with metallic embroidery, stitched by Indian artisans. A handful of easy yet elegant silk dresses had dropped waists and were apparently tossed in the wash for a perfectly worn-in finish.

Burch also proved that classics could be fun: as a set of models clad in breezy ‘80s-inflected dresses glided past, the driving rhythm of Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5 filled the room, causing A-List guests (including Pamela Anderson, Amanda Seyfried and Tessa Thompson) to bop along in their seats. Anna Fixsen

Coach

Attendees of Coach’s A/W 2026 show found a hint of what was to come in the setting: the Cunard Building in lower Manhattan, once the headquarters of the luxury British steamship company. Indeed, guests, clustered beneath the 65-foot frescoed ceiling, were in for something of a voyage – a journey through youth fashion history.

Set to LCD Soundsystem’s starry American Dream, models showcased looks that spanned decades and, in some cases, centuries. Some ensembles drew from vintage sportswear, as with unisex long-sleeve shirts inspired by 70s-era football jerseys. Womenswear reached further back, to the Victorian era, with flowy shift dresses and blouses with high pie-crust collars and pussy bows. And viewers of a certain age certainly took note of the voluminous denim shorts, skinny ties, messenger bags and low-slung belts – combinations that felt plucked from the crowd of Warped Tour circa 2002. Of course, Coach especially excelled in the accessories department, which included silver pins in the shape of moons and stars, as well as distressed suede sneakers that featured the brand’s signature brass clasps in lieu of laces.

In the show notes, creative director Stuart Vevers said he wanted to appeal to Coach’s next generation of customers. ‘We embrace the continuous reinvention of what it means to be young and forward-looking, resourceful and creative,’ said the British designer. Anna Fixsen

Proenza Schouler

The official start of New York Fashion Week kicked off Wednesday with, appropriately, a highly anticipated debut: Rachel Scott’s inaugural collection for Proenza Schouler. Scott took the helm last fall after the brand’s founders, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, decamped for Loewe, one of many switch-ups amid fashion’s great reset. While McCollough and Hernandez grew the brand from a humble Parsons thesis project into one of the most reliable names in American womenswear, Scott promised to introduce audiences to a ‘new Proenza Schouler woman.’ Her A/W 2026 show certainly provided a warm introduction.

From the upper floor of an office building at the base of the Williamsburg Bridge, models strode across a tonal blue carpet to a percussive soundtrack. Proenza Schouler signatures were close at hand – grommets, clever button closures, a certain uptown polish – but those hallmarks became looser, a bit more undone, in Scott’s handling. There were demure suit jackets with wide lapels and cropped, trumpet-shaped hems; fluid, legs-for-days trousers; and dark, drapey gowns covered in an abstract orchid pattern. There were also craft-centric details that will feel familiar to fans of Scott’s own award-winning line, Diotima, notably the fringe that sprouted from the edges of sleeves, hems, and heels.

It’s all, according to the designer, in service to a woman with people to meet and places to be (a feeling heightened by makeup that included an asymmetric red lip conceived by Thomas De Kluyver). ‘It was really important for me to respect the legacy of Proenza Schouler, and that’s this really strong love of the New York woman,’ Scott said. ‘But I wanted to find a way to get closer to her, to have more complexity and texture – she can be erotic, she can be angry. Sometimes she’s not quite so perfect.’ Anna Fixsen

Tomorrow marks the beginning of New York Fashion Week, which, in turn, heralds the start of a month-long A/W 2026 season of shows, with subsequent stops in London, Milan and Paris. It looks to be a season of (relative) calm: after 15 creative directors made their debut for S/S 2026, the coming weeks look set to see designers hone their visions as they settle into their roles (as such, A/W 2026 looks to be defined not by the ‘debut’, but the ‘sophomore’ show).

That said, the debuts continue, most notably in Milan, where Gucci will hold its first runway show under new creative director Demna (last season, as an introduction, he presented a short film starring Demi Moore and Edward Norton), Maria Grazia Chiuri will show her first collection for Fendi, and Meryll Rogge will debut at Marni. And those shows aside, the schedule across the month remains busy – not least in Paris, where an eight-day schedule cements the city’s status as the world’s style capital.

Here, on the eve of a new season in style, everything you need to know about Women’s Fashion Week A/W 2026.

New York Fashion Week (11–16 February)

A slight reshuffle of the New York Fashion Week schedule means that this season is front-loaded: on the opening day, three of the city’s biggest names – Proenza Schouler, Coach and Tory Burch – will all present their A/W 2026 collections, moving forward from their usual slots later in the week. Proenza Schouler will likely command the most attention: this season marks the runway debut of Jamaica-born, New York-based designer Rachel Scott as creative director, following a soft-launch presentation last season. She comes with plenty of experience: after roles at Costume National, Elizabeth and James and Rachel Comey, she founded her own label, Diotima, in 2020. She has since won the CFDA American Womenswear Designer of the Year in 2024 for her work at the brand, which held its first runway show last season to wide acclaim (it was one of Wallpaper’s highlights of the season). Alongside her new role at Proenza Schouler – where she takes over from founders Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez – she will continue to work on Diotima, showing her latest collection on Sunday.

Elsewhere, New York’s usual banner names return: Michael Kors will show on February 12, Calvin Klein on February 13, and Eckhaus Latta on February 14. Surrounding them are some brilliant rising names: we are big fans Zane Li’s fledgling label LII, which marries 1990s minimalism with architectural construction and a bold colour palette, while Ashlyn, led by Yohji Yamamoto alumnus Ashlynn Park, is evolving into one of New York’s most intriguing young labels with its reimagining of historical silhouettes and straddling of Japanese and Parisian codes (she recently won the 2025 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund). Other moments to watch out for are Nicholas Aburn’s sophomore show as creative director of Area, and the latest runway show from Khaite, which – if previous runway shows are anything to go by – will come with cinematic scenography conceived by founder Catherine Holstein and her architect husband Griffin Frazen.

London Fashion Week (19–23 February)

London Fashion Week seeks to continue the momentum built last season under new British Fashion Council CEO Laura Weir. Proceedings begin on Thursday evening with the graduating class of Central Saint Martin MA program – long an incubator for fashion’s rising stars – while on a similar track, Fashion East will continue a two-decade-long tradition of showcasing a trio of on-the-rise designers (this season, Jacek Gleba and Louis Mayhew will return after their debuts for S/S 2026, joined by Traiceline Pratt’s GOYAGOMA). Other rising names on the schedule to look out for include Lucila Safdie, Selasi (the Ronan McKenzie-run label will hold its first on-schedule runway show) and Oscar Ouyang, while the more established Chopova Lowena and Talia Byre will both show their latest collection in a presentation format. Conner Ives, whose ode to the women of pop was one of last season’s highlights, will also show on the closing on Monday.

Elsewhere, expect shows from longtime London Fashion Week stalwarts: these include Simone Rocha and Erdem, while Roksanda is taking the season off to instead hold an intimate dinner with the BFC. There are some returning names, too: Julien Macdonald will bring his brand of typically outré glamour with a runway show on Saturday afternoon, while Joseph will host its first runway show under Mario Arena, who came to the British label in 2024 after stints at Nanushka and JW Anderson. Last but not least, Burberry will close out the week on Monday evening – expect the usual high-wattage happening with an eclectic star-packed front row.

Milan Fashion Week (24 February–1 March)

A new energy permeates Milan Fashion Week as Gucci makes a welcome return to the runway in its first show under new creative director Demna (if his Balenciaga shows were anything to go by, expect spectacle), while Fendi shakes off a period of flux as Maria Grazia Chiuri takes the helm of the Roman powerhouse (they will show on Friday and Wednesday respectively). Meanwhile, Belgian designer Meryll Rogge – who worked at Marc Jacobs and Dries Van Noten before starting her own eponymous label – will also make her debut as creative director of Marni, showing on Thursday evening.

Elsewhere, Milan continues to be dominated by its legacy names (the schedule is light on rising talent), which will host their usual blockbuster runway shows across the week. These include Giorgio Armani and Emporio Armani (the latter will be co-ed, having skipped Men’s Fashion Week), Max Mara, Tod’s, Ferragamo, Dolce & Gabbana and Prada – the latter long a barometer for the season’s trends – while at Jil Sander and Bottega Veneta, Simone Bellotti and Louise Trotter will show their sophomore collections after acclaimed debuts last season. We look forward to seeing their visions evolve.

Paris Fashion Week (2–10 March 2026)

As ever, Paris Fashion Week continues to dominate: a packed eight-day schedule cements its status as the world’s style capital. Though perhaps this season can be seen as one of relative calm – after the frenzy of big-name debuts last season, including Matthieu Blazy at Chanel and Jonathan Anderson at Dior, A/W 2026 will see this new class of designers settle into their roles and hone their visions. Other designers hosting their sophomore ready-to-wear shows this season include Duran Lantink at Jean Paul Gaultier, Miguel Castro at Mugler, and Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez at Loewe.

Elsewhere, expect the usual line-up of the Paris’ storied houses – among them Louis Vuitton, Givenchy and Celine – alongside those who travel to the city each season, including the Japanese avant-garde (among them Comme des Garçons, Junya Watanabe, Issey Miyake and Noir Kei Ninomiya) and a slew of international labels, from Miu Miu and Stella McCartney to McQueen. Meanwhile, an energetic and eclectic line-up of younger designers completes the schedule, including Julie Kegels, Hodakova, Vaquera, Matières Fécale and Niccolò Pasqualetti.

While New York Fashion Week usually heralds the start of a consecutive month-long stint of ready-to-wear shows, this season the city stood alone. As the other three fashion capitals shift back a week to reflect the later menswear and haute couture shows, New York was steadfast in its early February dates, meaning London will take place over a week after New York Fashion Week concludes (usually, it is just a couple of days later), with Milan and Paris following without a break between.

It led, perhaps, to a more reduced schedule, with plenty of notable absences, including CFDA Award-winning American designer Willy Chavarria, who chose instead to show during Paris Fashion Week Men’s A/W 2025, as well as Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren, who are both taking a season away from the runway. With that said, Veronica Leoni’s debut at Calvin Klein – marking the American powerhouse’s return to the runway after nearly seven years – made for a buzzy opening act on Friday afternoon (8 February 2025), with the Italian designer expressing a desire to bring back the ‘monumental minimalism’ of the brand’s defining 1990s oeuvre (indeed, Calvin Klein himself gave his approval from the front row). Tory Burch, Michael Kors, Eckhaus Latta, Khaite and Coach rounded out the schedule, with Thom Browne and Christopher John Rogers both making their returns to the New York runway after a break.

Here, in our New York Fashion Week A/W 2025 round-up, Wallpaper* fashion features editor Jack Moss selects the best shows of the week.

New York Fashion Week A/W 2025: the highlights

Thom Browne

After a season’s break, Thom Browne returned to his position as New York Fashion Week’s closing act with a typically theatrical outing which took place amid a spiral of 2000 paper origami birds. As the show began, two ‘ornithologists’ – clad in the American designer’s signature grey suit – took their places at a desk in the centre of the space, observing a pair of ‘love birds’ trapped in a single white cage. ‘Two caged love birds long to be free,’ he explained in a letter to guests . ‘As they peer through the enclosure, a fantastical flock flies past. “How marvellous would it be,” they wondered, “to be exactly who we wish to be?”.’ It set the stage for a collection of fantasy and wonder, beginning with tailoring – here in newly oversized proportions, a shift for the label – which was then abstracted into plays on varsity and collegiate wear, reimagined in tweeds and herringbones (the tailoring fabrics were also used to create dramatic flared-waist gowns, some overlaid with trompe l’oeil opera coats). The loosening up of the silhouette was echoed in a more eclectic mood which ran throughout: a bolder use of colour, clashing assemblages of print, and patchworked fabrics lent a new energy to the Thom Browne look. As such, it made a satisfying closing act to New York Fashion Week, delivered with a theatrical flourish which stood as a riposte to the mood of ease and reduction which has largely defined the week.

Michael Kors

‘Dégagé chic’ described Michael Kors of his A/W 2025 outing at New York Fashion Week yesterday (11 February 2025), using the French term – which translates as a feeling of nonchalance, a freedom from constraint – to describe the mood of easy, undone glamour which has long been a hallmark of the American label. What followed was a collection with a thrown-on feel – Kors talked about the idea of a woman grabbing a coat and wearing it with her hands stuffed in the pockets – with just-oversized tailoring, sweater dresses, and fuzzy faux fur jackets capturing a mood of both comfort and elegance he said was inspired by the women he encounters on the New York street. Even when Kors upped the glamour ante towards the end of the show, this sense of ‘dégagé chic’ held: a series of full-length sequinned gowns were cut with the easy, unrestricted proportions of a tunic. ‘This show was inspired by the laid-back elegance that imbues the spirit of our homes and our new Madison Avenue store,’ the designer described. ‘Timeless, warm, modern, architectural yet sensual, [it] exemplifies [a sense of] cosy modernism and hands-in-the-pockets chic.’

Tory Burch

Tory Burch has long drawn inspiration from the traditions of American sportswear, particularly the work of Claire McCardell, who pioneered the genre in the 1950s (rather than referring to sportswear in its literal sense, American sportswear instead refers to ease of silhouette and simplicity of fabric, which was a riposte to the formality of European couture). For her A/W 2025 collection, Burch – who in recent seasons has championed a more experimental approach when it comes to material and shape – said she wanted to offer a ‘twisted’ take on American sportswear. ‘A second glance at classics: prim cardigans are slashed through the sleeves; sweatpants are in Japanese brushed jersey; sweaters are embroidered to look like tweed,’ she elaborated. ‘A wardrobe collected over time, where each piece becomes irreplaceable: the perfect blazer, a favourite dress, a worn-in sweatshirt.’ It made for a collection with plenty to covet: sinuous dresses and knit sweaters twisted around the body to suggest a mood of elegance but were cut with a signature ease, while suggestions of preppiness – once a hallmark of Burch’s label – were subverted, like in a crisp, striped shirt blown up in size with enormous flared sleeves. It is exciting to see where this newly liberated designer moves next.

Coach

Last season at Coach, British designer Stuart Vevers said he wanted to mine the ‘optimism of youth’, capturing a spirit of teenage experimentation and rebellion which has been a throughline of his recent collections for the American brand. The loosened-up approach seems to be resonating with younger consumers, with Coach rising ten places to number five on consumer tracker Lyst at the end of last year (buoyed, in part, by the success of the brand’s ‘Brooklyn’ bag). For his latest outing, held at the Park Avenue Amory, Vevers continued his astute pitch to Gen-Z shoppers by melding symbols of Coach’s heritage – namely a use of leather and a palette of brown and beige – with baggy, low-slung jeans, luminous sunglasses, shaggy animal prints and moments of play, like a pair of bunny-shaped slippers that were soon ubiquitous on social media. Largely the garments had a lived-in feel (jeans were torn or patchworked, while handbags were scrawled with doodles), with a series of bags from the brand’s Re(Loved) upcycling project also appearing on the runway.

‘My vision for fall was to ground the collection in all the things that make Coach so distinct as a fashion house: our heritage materials and palette, our commitment to repurposing and “re-loving” secondhand garments through craft, and our belief in the power of community and self-expression,’ Vevers said of the collection. ‘There’s a clear, cohesive idea here in terms of materials, silhouette and styling, and that comes from knowing who we are and what we stand for.’

Eckhaus Latta

This season, designers Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta talked about an attempt to capture reality. ‘It’s anti-snobbishness, it’s fact-based, it’s sanity first,’ read the collection notes by New York it-girl publicist-slash-writer Kaitlin Phillips, who talked about a return to sincerity, of clothes rooted not in fantasy but real-life. ‘There is something to saying what you mean at a time when things are dire, as they always are in America.’ So followed a cast of characters who appeared to have wandered straight in from the sidewalk and onto the runway, some grasping mobile phones or bongs in hand, others with hair scraped back with makeshift scarf headbands or their faces shielded in sunglasses (in the baltic conditions, the double-sweater and gloves of the opening look seemed particularly apt for the day). It made for some great clothes that twisted the quotidian wardrobe in typical Eckhaus Latta style, from fluffy-collar bomber jackets and cleverly layered jersey basics to a continuation of the great knitwear of recent seasons (particularly charming were fuzzy cardigans and sweaters naively topstitched along their edges, as if fixed by hand). Another highlight was the spoils of a collaboration with Ecco.Kollektive (an ongoing collaborative project from Danish tannery Ecco), seeing the addition of some seriously desirable pieces in leather – from slouchy hobo totes and patchwork pants to a perfectly formed leather hoodie. The last’s already on our wish list.

Khaite

‘What if David Lynch remade a Merchant Ivory movie?’ asked Cate Holstein with her latest Khaite collection, which paid ode to the seminal American filmmaker who passed away last month. Taking place at the Park Avenue Armory, the blockbuster show unfolded on a vast circular runway by architect Griffin Frazen inspired by the yellow-brick road of The Wizard of Oz, Lynch’s favourite movie (Holstein’s runway presentations increasingly have the big-league feel of her European counterparts). The clothes themselves captured the kind of ominous sensuality that runs throughout Lynch’s oeuvre – Holstein said she is a particular fan of the 1990 movie Wild at Heart – melded with the period flourishes of Merchant Ivory Productions. This included plays on the corset (raw-edge panels of fabric wrapped around the body and nipped the waist), mutton sleeves (here appearing on deconstructed panelled dresses), bustles, faux-fur stoles and opera gloves, though the strongest pieces captured Holstein’s powerful brand of glamour, like majestic wide-shouldered leather jackets, 1980s-inflected faux-furs, and sinuous tailoring-wool dresses.

Calvin Klein Collection

It was New York Fashion Week’s most anticipated moment: Calvin Klein’s first runway show since the departure of Raf Simons in 2018, now under the helm of Veronica Leoni (the Italian designer worked at The Row, Celine and Moncler before launching her own label Quira in 2020). For her debut, Leoni talked about stripping it back, returning to the codes of ‘monumental’ minimalism and pulsing sensuality which saw the American powerhouse rise to fame – and infamy – in the 1990s. ‘Sexiness has very much been on my mind,’ Leoni said, noting a want to shift the Calvin Klein wearer from an object of desire to the one doing the desiring. ‘I wanted to redefine femininity and masculinity in the landscape of today. So I kept in my mind this idea of American beauty; beauty in the most fresh and pure way.’

As such, there was an interplay between a feeling of 1990s reduction – rigorous tailoring, generous overcoats, baggy blue denim jeans, shrunken wool sweaters – and something more tender (jackets grasped closed in the hand, draped silk and jersey dresses, romantic flushes of red and pink). Meanwhile nods to the brand’s American roots came in cowboy boot-inspired footwear, checkered shirts, and plays on the perennial white T-shirt (Leoni said she was thinking about creating a cast of all-American ‘characters’). It made for a confident opening gambit, with plenty that felt desirable – indeed Calvin Klein himself, who watched on from the front row, said ‘he was happy he had found a new coat to buy,’ according to Leoni. ‘I am really proud for him to feel at home again’.

READ: For her Calvin Klein debut, Veronica Leoni stripped it all back

Christopher John Rogers

For the past two years, American designer Christopher John Rogers – who had a rapid ascent to prominence after his debut in 2018 – has chosen to show during the Resort schedule, meaning a notable absence at New York Fashion Week. Keen to get back in step with his contemporaries, on Thursday evening (6 February 2025) he made a welcome fashion week return with a high-profile show at New York’s Brooklyn Navy Yard. It served as a satisfying reminder of Rogers’ talent, particularly his astute use of colour, which remains a bedrock of the label.

Titled ‘Exhale’, there was a mood of liberation to the collection, which featured his signature contemporary ballgowns and evening dresses – here descending into layers of ruffles, or jutting peplum-like flares – imagined in brightly hued stripes and vivid blocks of colour (he was particularly fond of the colour green this season, he said after the show, naming one shade ‘slime’). What is clever about these pieces is that, despite an innate grandeur, they never feel overwrought or overtly dressed up. This spirit of ease extended into a wider everyday offering this season, from rainbow-hued knitwear to slouchy suiting, some adorned with streamer-like plumes of fabric – a design flourish befitting the evening’s celebratory air.

Stay tuned for more from New York Fashion Week A/W 2025.

The arrival of New York Fashion Week S/S 2025 heralds the beginning of a month-long stint of runway shows, which will continue through September with stops in London and Milan, before culminating in Paris with a nine-day schedule ending on 1 October 2024. By then, designers will have offered a vision for the season ahead, including a roster of creative directors making their anticipated debuts – most notably ex-Gucci designer Alessandro Michele, who will make his mark on Roman house Valentino with a show in Paris at the end of September.

Before all that, though, New York Fashion Week – which concluded yesterday (10 September 2024) – made for a buzzy opening act. Beginning proceedings was Pieter Mulier’s Alaïa, transplanting from Paris to New York for a show on the evening of 6 September at New York’s Guggenheim Museum, seeing the designer play ode to the ease and fluidity of American sportswear, referencing figures like Claire McCardell, Halston and Charles James. Also shifting cities was COS – the London-based label returned to New York after a show last season at Rome’s Corsie Sistine – and Off-White, which showed at Brooklyn Bridge Park, moving from its usual slot on the Paris schedule.

Elsewhere, Tory Burch continued her Torynaissance – we explored Burch’s creative renaissance and reach for a younger wave of consumers in the August 2024 ‘Creative America’ issue of Wallpaper* – and Willy Chavarria presented a collection titled ‘América’ which celebrated immigrant workers against the backdrop of the upcoming presidential election. Rounding out the schedule were shows from Coach, Michael Kors and Tommy Hilfiger, alongside rising names Zankov and Diotima.

Here, reporting from New York, Wallpaper* fashion features editor Jack Moss picks the best of New York Fashion Week S/S 2025.

The best of New York Fashion Week S/S 2025

COS

Last season, London-based label COS selected Rome’s Corsie Sistine, part of the 15th-century Santo Spirito, Europe’s oldest hospital, for its summer show. For A/W 2024, it was a return to New York and an altogether less ornate – though no less dramatic – industrial warehouse at Brooklyn’s Navy Yard, accessed by guests via a specially chartered ferry from Manhattan’s Southport Pier. The cavernous space had been transformed for the occasion by Bureau Betak with a series of monolithic black blocks, around which models wove in front of guests including Chloë Sevigny, Emily Ratajkowski and Colman Domingo (a show of strength from the brand, which VIP wise more than competed with the city’s big-name designers). Comprising 43 looks – including the latest COS Atelier collection, inspired by contemporary dance and ballet – this was a sleek and desirable outing from the label, honing time-honoured COS staples (enveloping wool overcoats, voluminous trousers, sinuous ribbed knits) alongside more unexpected design flourishes. These included a chunky shearling parka with brown-cow print, a tabard-style top with richly beaded collar, and the trio of draped eveningwear looks which closed the show. They felt like fresh territory for the label, which as it approaches nearly two decades in business feels like it is having something of a renaissance.

Michael Kors

At the beginning of New York Fashion Week, Pieter Mulier said that for his latest Alaïa collection – presented at the city’s Guggenheim Museum – he had drawn influence from the tenets of American fashion: ‘a dynamic simplicity… an American ideology of dress of the body in motion, liberated’. It set the stage for a season of collections which saw the city’s big-name designers like Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger and Coach, as well as rising star Willy Chavarria, each riff on American archetypes in their own distinct styles. Though on Tuesday afternoon at The Shed at Hudson Yards on New York’s west side, Michael Kors – a longtime stalwart of the American fashion scene – seemed to divert from the prevailing mood, choosing instead to look towards the distant shores of Europe. In particular, Italy and its artisans, which Kors said he has now been working with on the production of his collections for close to four decades.

‘For a designer, the greatest thing is to find partners who can bring your ideas to life, which is what Italy’s artisans have done for us for 35 years,’ Kors explained. ‘This collection really highlights that workmanship, tailoring and handwork, the qualities that make a piece special and unique, and turn it into something you want to wear every day and own forever.’ Translated to clothing, this was a Korsian take on La Dolce Vita: sweetheart 1950s silhouettes, nipped waist skirts worn with matching bra tops, and breezy open shirting all featured, while moments of Italian craft came in fronds of raffia fringing, flourishes of lace and floral appliqué. ‘The dichotomies in the collection feel very Mediterranean to me, laid-back but luxurious, rustic but opulent, the sophistication of the city with the mood and attitude of a resort,’ said Kors, who amid a frantic run up to the US election (the first presidential debate would take place later that evening), seemed to be dreaming of escape.

Coach

After a brief jaunt uptown last season, Coach’s Stuart Vevers returned to The High Line on New York’s west side, chosen by the British designer for its position in the heart of the city’s noise and bustle. ‘I wanted that urgency,’ Vevers said post-show of an energetic collection which centred on the ‘optimism of youth’, introducing a cast of rebellious young characters he imagined let loose in the city. ‘They are these characters who are taking American classics and reinventing them for today, and making them their own,’ he said, buoyed by a feeling he has gleaned from observing young people on the city’s streets. So there were graphic ‘I Heart NY’ T-shirts and sweaters daubed with drawings and doodles, crumpled satin debutante dresses and slouchy collegiate varsity jackets, alongside the requisite American denim and leather. ‘I’m really fascinated by how a new generation are discovering American classics for the first time,’ said Vevers. For handbags – still Coach’s best-known and high-selling category – Vevers here riffed on vintage clasp-closure handbags, some dainty and held with a small top handle, others blown-up in size and adorned with colourful stickers.

Tory Burch

Growing up with three competitive brothers instilled within Tory Burch a lifelong love of sport, a fixation that the American designer brought to her S/S 2025 collection, staged at Brooklyn’s Skylight at The Refinery yesterday evening (the penthouse spot afforded expansive views of Manhattan at sunset through its curving greenhouse-like windows). ‘I’ve been obsessed with sport my whole life,’ said Burch after the show. ‘It’s the precision, the power, the solace. That was where the collection started. Then it was: how do you take that and not be literal?’ She did so with a razor-sharp focus on fabric and form: sharply cut swimsuits were adorned with sequins, tailoring and outwear came with knotted fastenings in a reference to martial arts uniforms, while skirts hovered away from the waist for an unexpected silhouette. With buzzy casting – including an appearance on the runway from Alexa Chung – and a packed front row, it more than continued the so-called Torynaissance which has seen the designer adopt a freewheeling approach to creation and attract a new generation of trend-hungry consumers. They will no doubt be delighted by the sculptural split-toe pumps and the multitude of riffs on the classic Tory Burch ‘Reva’ ballet pump, including a new mule style the designer picked out as her favourite of the season.

Tommy Hilfiger

Tommy Hilfiger commandeered the John F. Kennedy, a former Staten Island ferry now owned by the comedians Pete Davidson and Colin Jost, for a good-mood S/S 2025 collection which continued his takeover of New York landmarks (last season, it was Grand Central’s Oyster Bar). Taking place as the sun set over the East River – and with views of the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges beyond – guests were greeted with boxes of popcorn and champagne, before settling on the decommissioned ship’s original seating for the show itself. Here, the designer said he was looking to ‘remix’ nautical and maritime codes, melding them with the all-American collegiate uniform for which he is perhaps best known. Like last season, there was a continuing shift towards timelessness – gone were the overt Tommy Hilfiger graphics of previous iterations of the brand, in were louche, elongated knits, breezy shirt dresses and polo shirts, and elegant, just-oversized tailoring, windbreakers and trench coats. A collegiate ‘TH’ motif, meanwhile, nodded towards the brand’s roots. Befitting the setting, it closed with a performance from native Staten Islanders Wu-Tang Clan seeing runway etiquette go out the window as guests ran from their seats to catch a glimpse of the group, who have been wearing Tommy Hilfiger since their founding in the 1980s.

Off-White

This season saw Off-White creative director Ib Kamara – who also works as editor-in-chief of Britain’s Dazed magazine – shift the Virgil Abloh-founded brand from Paris to New York. It speaks to the borderless approach Kamara, who was born in Sierra Leone and grew up in London, brings to the label, titling this collection ‘Duty Free’. ‘This collection was triggered by a trip to Ghana, the place where Virgil came from and the roots he cherished and constantly referred to in his work,’ Kamara explained. ‘ I was born in Sierra Leone, but our experiences were similar. I have vivid memories of what America, and New York in particular, represented in the collective imagination of Africans: a dreamland of utopias made real, a place of opportunities.’ Taking place at the community basketball courts of Brooklyn Bridge Park, it made the gleaming New York skyline beyond a potent backdrop for a collection which melded sleek American sportswear with what Kamara called ‘African futurism’. The latter came largely through flourishes of traditional embellishment and craft, including a collaboration with Nana Danso, a Ghanaian artist who here reimagined the brand’s signature arrows motif. ‘It is grounded in reality, with a dash of magic,’ said Kamara, noting the cultural juxtapositions made it his most autobiographical collection yet. ‘Bringing traces of my life journey within the creative process charges my work with the energy I want the Off-White community to perceive – pieces of clothing are way more than just objects.’

Khaite

American label Khaite is largely known for its sleek, polished separates, which tend towards the dark and the moody (last season, the showspace at Pier 61 was pitch black, the colour of most of her bestselling pieces). This season, though, designer Cate Holstein noted a desire for lightness and softness, a move she credited in part to the recent birth of her son. As large metal panels rotated along the runway – the effect was something like the opening of an enormous Venetian blind – Holstein proposed a collection of enveloping but lightweight forms, from twisting knots of organza to wrapped shapes which recalled duvets or blankets, while a naive, almost childlike glamour was conjured in doily-like crochet, unravelling woven leather sets, or colourful patchwork handbags. Each was an exercise in experimentation from Holstein, who despite the wide appeal of her collections – and growing number of international devotees – is refusing to rest on her laurels.

Alaïa

Pieter Mulier chose the atrium of New York’s Guggenheim Museum to stage his Winter-Spring 2025 show, shifting from its usual position during Paris’ haute couture week. In a personal letter distributed by the designer, Mulier explained that the transatlantic move was driven by ‘opportunity and obsession… the opportunity to stage a show in the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and an obsession with the idea of American beauty’. Here too was a link between Mulier and house founder Azzedine Alaïa, who also travelled from Paris to New York in 1982, showing amid works at the Guggenheim Museum's then-temporary space in SoHo – ‘an exchange of art and fashion that was unprecedented,’ the designer explained. ‘For both for Alaïa and myself, America is a home away from home.’

And so followed a collection which saw Mulier muse on the idea of American beauty in his sleek, contemporary manner. References to American couturier Charles James emerged in the curved line of a padded jacket – a nod to James’ white satin eiderdown evening jacket of 1937 – while other pieces recalled the easy, flared line of Claire McCardell, a pioneer of American sportswear (Mulier also mentioned Adrian and Halston as touch points). Meanwhile, sinuous dresses which coiled around models’ bodies – seeming to defy gravity in their construction – were an evolution of those shown as part of the designer's Summer-Fall 2024 collection presented earlier this year in Paris. ‘Stripping away to a dynamic simplicity… some pieces are suspended, held in position by imperceptible internal structures, like magic tricks,’ said Mulier.

As models wove their way around the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed spiralling ramps, it made for Mulier’s most cinematic runway show yet, and a dynamic move onwards from the intimacy of his presentations at the house so far. ‘It is a celebration of an American ideology of dress, and through that of a spirit that can unite New York and Paris – of the body in motion, liberated,’ he said. ‘As Alaïa always has been.’

Willy Chavarria

Willy Chavarria chose a disused bank on New York’s Wall Street, a potent symbol of American power and wealth, to present his latest collection, titled ‘América’. Under an enormous American flag and with a copy of the American Constitution on each sea, distributed by the ACLU, Chavarria said the collection was an attempt to celebrate the country’s immigrant communities, like those he grew up around as a child in Fresno, California with an Irish-American mother and Mexican-American father. ‘The community that I grew up in as a kid had a tremendous influence on not only my aesthetic and my work ethic, but also my view of what the country is that we live in, what it means to be American,’ Chavarria told Wallpaper’s Ann Binlot, noting that with this collection he wanted to instil their working uniforms – from hotel managers and farmer labourers to employees of electronics chain Circuit City – with a sense of ‘dignity’. As such, workwear was prescient, as was the idea of uniform, here riffed on in Chavarria’s distinct style – where silhouettes are often blown up in size – while a puffed Victorian sleeve was added to his play on the Carhartt jacket.

‘Given the time that we're in – around the corner from a major election – I wanted to shine light on the people who make this country work, and also celebrate immigration and those people who have built the country and are still the backbone of the country,’ he said, drafting Yahritza y Su Esencia, a sierreño trio, to open the liberatory show. It ended, though, with perhaps Chavarria’s most high-profile collaboration to date: an expansive Adidas Originals collection which closed with Olympics 100m gold medalist Noah Lyles walking the runway. It is the starting point of a democratisation of his label, which he hopes can span both $20-dollar vest tops and the pieces shown on the runway. ‘It's a different way of working and a different way of selling clothes that no one has ever really done under one label,’ he said. ‘But I absolutely believe that this is the time for it.’

Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren travelled to The Hamptons in Long Island to eke out the last of the dwindling summer season at the beachside locale long synonymous with Lauren’s all-American sense of style (it is also a beloved escape for the designer, who calls it his ‘home away from home’). Transporting attendees out of the city on the eve of fashion week proper (the week starts today, 6 September 2024) to an equestrian complex in the hamlet of Bridgehampton, the collection – presented in a specially erected tent open at the end to show the white picket fences beyond – was a strong argument by Lauren for honing in on what you do best. So there were gleaming tennis whites, colourful Polo rugby shirts, preppy blazers and caps, alongside a slew of breezy, bohemian-tinged eveningwear, worn by a cast which included Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell and Liya Kebede (alongside some bouncing Ralph Lauren-clad kids). ‘The Hamptons is more than a place... it has been my home, my refuge and always an inspiration,’ said Lauren, who, after the show, opened up a recreation of New York’s Polo Bar for the starry guest list, which included Dr Jill Biden, Jude Law and Kacey Musgraves. It made for a joyful fashion week opener, and, with a busy week ahead, it was difficult to coax guests away and back to the city.

Proenza Schouler

There was a shift at Proenza Schouler this season, and not simply because designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez had chosen to move the show from its usual weekend slot to earlier in the week (as such it fell before New York Fashion Week officially began). After a mood of reduction in recent seasons – where streamlined silhouettes and pared-back design sought to strip garments back to their essence – the New York-based duo wanted to set a more radical course, quoting Pablo Picasso’s maxim that ‘every act of creation is first an act of destruction’. Here, as models stepped into the sunlit Tribeca loft, McCollough and Hernandez added layers of surface interest and play, using diaphanous, handkerchief cuts as canvases for patchworks of fabric, some printed, some striped. Other knit pieces fell away into disintegrating tassels, while bouncing fronds emerged from skirts and dresses. Despite this, there remained a seductive clarity to the pair’s vision, with a section of draped, gently plissé evening gowns – recalling the work of French couturier Madame Grès – providing a through line to the cool minimalism of their recent seasons.

Stay tuned for more from New York Fashion Week S/S 2025, on wallpaper.com and our Instagram, @wallpapermag.

cfda.com

The last few seasons have seen what some might call New York Fashion Week’s ‘glow up’. After a few slow, post-pandemic outings that left seasoned editors grumbling at the sparse line-up and lack of well-known designers, there have been more new names on the schedule than ever before, as well as a steady stream of international guest appearances and the blockbuster parties that come with them. This season is no different, with Off-White shifting from Paris to New York, an off-schedule Alaïa special, a visit from Stockholm’s Toteme, and the first-ever runway show from Mexican designer Patricio Campillo’s namesake label all filling up the week. By all intents and purposes, New York Fashion Week is really, truly back.

But beneath the glamorous surface, a new generation of independent designers have been increasingly vocal about how difficult it is to not only launch, but maintain, a successful brand in New York City. Elena Velez broke the silence, speaking candidly (and controversially) about the amount of funds she’s poured into her young label to The New York Times, this time last year. There has been increased transparency around the cost of putting on a runway show: ‘$300,000,’ Willy Chavarria recently estimated; ‘$400,000, easily,’ said Collina Strada. And, ahead of her A/W 2024 show in February, Carly Marks announced that she would be relocating her label Puppets and Puppets to London, in a newspaper article with a headline that said it all: ‘A Rising Star in Fashion Who Sees No Future in New York’. And, just last week, cult favourite Interior decided to shut its doors, citing financial difficulties and the ‘volatility of the industry’. The story goes that if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere – but can you still ‘make it’ as a fashion designer in New York City?

As New York Fashion Week begins, we asked some of the city’s independent designers, from Willy Chavarria to Diotima: what is the future of NYFW? Here, they weigh in.

‘Change is happening’: designers on the future of New York Fashion Week

Rachel Scott of Diotima

‘I am feeling oddly refreshed and energised, despite not having had a summer break. I think that’s the beauty of the spring fashion week is that it comes at the end of summer. I’m such an island gyal that I really respond to the warmth and the sun. I also feel excited about the collection, new techniques and new categories. The days leading up to the show are the best as everything takes form and comes to life.

‘I am always trying to build a sensorial experience with the show, and this season is no different. In some ways the presentation and the collection will be more steeped in Jamaica and all my experiences of it than ever before, and in some ways it will be the most abstracted and removed from Jamaica.

‘The biggest challenge with showing has always been space, and especially this season. We don’t have much support with this as independent brands. This season and over the past few seasons, we have done a lot of work to build partnerships to help put on the show, without which it wouldn’t happen. I think is absolutely still possible to start a brand and exist as an independent designer in New York, but you either have to be extremely scrappy or have a lot of money!

‘New York and New Yorkers are still endlessly inspiring. There is a really great energy in New York at the moment and it’s because of the incredible people here building a more interesting New York every day.’

diotima.world

Willy Chavarria

‘I feel energised to be working on my collection and finalising the vision for our runway show. This is the time of year that my team and I come together to see the fruits of our labour and put it all together. It’s a huge amount of work but it is very rewarding. This season, I hope to build raw realness into the daily wardrobe. Some of the most iconic fashion I see is in the people who inspire me. Not the fashion people, but rather the real people who work and think about other things far from fashion. Time is something that transforms into a puzzle during this time. Sleep is something that doesn’t exist during this time. The way to cope is water, healthy food and vitamins.

‘It’s absolutely possible [to start a brand in New York City]. It just requires more work than ever before. I’m inspired by people. I always have been. I rarely look to fashion for inspiration – I look to history and I look to the present ordinary person on the street who has a great sense of personal style.’

willychavarria.com

Hillary Taymour of Collina Strada

‘I love showing in New York; it’s my home. I feel like it gets a bad rep, but it is such a huge hub for a huge percentage of the fashion community. New York Fashion Week keeps getting more and more interesting in my opinion with so much new talent. Nothing is impossible. New York, like any metropolitan city, is expensive today, however if you put in your 10,000 hours you can do anything.

‘Collina always plays on past seasons and offers a new twist every time. Expect to be outside, see familiar faces and an epic soundtrack. Casting has always been a huge challenge for me. We are not supported by most of the agents in New York. I am so thankful for my community of people we cast that always make the shows feel true. I try to stay in my lane and continue my own journey, while boosting up creatives I love to continue to be the face of the brand.

‘I am inspired by maintaining healthy small businesses and continuous support of employees in the industry. The future of fashion in New York has huge potential with so much new talent. I'm excited to see how it evolves. Right now, and always, I’m inspired by nature. I just want to find peace in my surroundings and make clothes that can live and play anywhere.’

collinastrada.com

Meruert Tolegen

‘I’m excited to show my collections here in New York and to be a part of this community of designers and creatives. I think it’s such a great space to showcase, to have this platform and build onto the roster of American designers, hopefully bringing something new and interesting as an art form.

‘I think the biggest challenge is finding the right people to work and collaborate with, to help take care of and grow the brand. I still struggle with this to a degree, but I am in so much of a better place and I am so thankful for my teams and the people I work with! The only way I believe to cope is really with time, experience, and confidence. To understand what I want, where I am comfortable saying yes, and when I have to say no. It’s all a challenge of growth, and I gather this is something I will still be dealing with overtime as the brand hopefully expands.

‘The pressure to create something new and different is definitely at the top of my mind. People will always equate you to others or put you in an aesthetic box and it’s only natural. As time goes on there is only so much out there that is truly new and revolutionary. The pressure to please everyone is another challenge that I have to always remind myself that I cannot please everyone and not everyone will love it or understand it, and that’s ok.

‘I believe it’s possible to start a brand in the city, but it’s very challenging. New York is an expensive city, and that in itself is a challenge in terms of designing and producing alone. As a brand that’s very young and is quite new to the market with small distribution, it’s hard to justify the spend and to remain confident that the brand will survive. It’s definitely not easy and it is a challenge to keep it going. I’m hopeful and I create because I truly love it.’

meruert-tolegen.com

Edvin Thompson of Theophilio

‘I’m excited to be back at New York Fashion Week. We took a break to refocus, and now it feels like the right time to return. There’s a lot of energy in the city, and we’re ready to bring something fresh.

‘This season is all about “Shaunie”, which is my childhood nickname. It’s a personal collection that mixes my roots with the vibe of New York City. It’s more introspective than past seasons, with a focus on my journey and the city’s eclectic styles.

‘The biggest challenge has been the cost and logistics of runway shows. We took a break to reassess and make sure we’re investing our resources wisely. Staying true to the brand and finding new ways to connect with our audience helped us navigate that. There’s always pressure to stand out and stay relevant, especially as a young brand. Balancing creative vision with financial realities is tough, but it also pushes us to be more innovative and resourceful.

‘It’s definitely still possible to start a brand in New York City, but you have to be resilient and adaptable. The industry is tough, but the digital age has opened up new opportunities. It’s all about having a clear vision and being ready for the challenges. I’m optimistic. New York is full of creativity and diversity, and that’s what keeps me inspired. Right now, I’m really drawn to the intersections of culture, fashion, and personal history. The city’s energy is what drives me.’

theophilio.com

Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen

‘In general, I echo the vast majority of my peers in feeling disappointed by the lack of support for young designers in this city. It’s extremely difficult to find financial support for new creative endeavours, but with that truth, also comes an awesome grassroots comradery and sense of community uplifting for those who are able to persevere.

‘I am trying something new this season, in an effort to remain true to the emotional reality of my wellbeing while working under tight deadlines and to combat the stress that can accompany such a busy week. My hope is to create a space of radical tranquility, for myself and visitors, and reframe a focus on the craft of the garments I make.

‘The last runway show I did in February of this year was a massive undertaking, which ultimately burned me out. I wanted to play with the fire of a more traditional format in order to subvert it, but within that fell prey to the pressures and stresses that come with a 30-look show.

‘I have received a massive amount of support for only having had my label operating for a couple of years, which I am so incredibly grateful for. I think sometimes the optics of that support can make my studio and team feel larger than they are. I think it becomes easy for people to forget that there is often just a singular human behind the scenes. It also is incredibly surreal for my name and clothing to suddenly have so many eyes watching, and evolve into something that is actually larger than myself, when I so often feel just like a girl making clothing in her bedroom.

‘I believe that when we find we are on the right path, there is a sense of ease in the flow of life, even when we are trying to create impossible things under impossible deadlines. If this is your calling it will happen, and when we try to force something that is not for us, it won’t.

‘We are so lucky to be in New York. I feel deeply inspired by my community here, and all the love that is being channelled through earth angels. We are here now, and change is happening.’

zoegustaviaannawhalen.com

New York Fashion Week S/S 2024 took over the Big Apple in the sweltering late-summer heat with a broad array of intriguing collections from the city’s finest. Some of this season’s most-watched presentations included Peter Do’s vision for Helmut Lang, the runway debut of minimalist master Fforme, a robust showing from rising star Diotima, and returns to the runway from Phillip Lim and Ralph Lauren. Anchored by recognisable hometown favourites like Proenza Schouler, Khaite, Willy Chavarria and Gabriela Hearst, the week proved the continued prowess of American fashion, with plenty of surprises – and new discoveries – in the mix.

Here, everything that went down at New York Fashion Week S/S 2024, reported by Wallpaper* US editor Pei-Ru Keh and contributing editor Tilly Macalister-Smith.

The best of New York Fashion Week S/S 2024

Willy Chavarria

Willy Chavarria’s shows are a narrative gift: sitting at one of his presentations feels like you just opened your eyes in the middle of a scene in a feature film, or perhaps another world. Cinematic, poetic, theatrical; a bristling tension and anticipation underpins the unwavering focus of his models, their steady metronymic gait, their cool dismissive stare. 

The Woolworth Building, an impressive Gothic revival skyscraper that was once, for a time, the tallest building in the world, stupendous in decoration and scale, provided the stage. It’s a New York landmark, and Chavarria wanted to give his audience a New York experience. He applied his own lens to tropes of American life, recasting familiar garments into symbols: Stetson hats, varsity T-shirts, sporty windcheaters, preppy monogrammed brass buttons. A red T-shirt with puffed-up shoulders was as big as an American football jersey; a T-shirt emblazoned with ‘USA’ subversively printed upside down. Similarly, his reach is grasping characters that prop up American contemporary culture – namely musicians and athletes (Venus Williams arrived at the US Open, racquet bag in hand, wearing a Chavarria blazer and enormous corsage just a week earlier). Eveningwear and tailoring took precedence over streetwear. A white dinner jacket with a dramatically oversized corsage was worn with a pointed lapel and black shirt. White tights and patent shoes were teamed with basketball shorts. Suits so structured they could have had broom handles threaded across the shoulders gave gravitas to youthful, slender models. The sensational casting reflected the diverse and extraordinary multicultural beauty of the city. Afro hair was coiffed and twisted into elegant rolls, straight hair was pulled into teddy quiffs, scalp tattoos were visible under buzz cuts.  

The show, titled ‘New Life’, offered a glance at times past – a couple of looks comprised moth-eaten vests and underpants only, while a ruby red double-breasted blazer with brass buttons had been cleverly aged to implied years of sun bleaching on the hanger, collecting dust. Chavarria is doing anything but. TMS

Luar

Raul Lopez lives for duality. And it’s a point of view that clearly resonates – his namesake label, Luar, has been on an ascendent trajectory, not only for its covetable (and affordable handbags) but for its ability to speak to different communities as well. This was especially apparent in his latest collection, ‘Socorro’, which drew from a specific experience Lopez had in the El Hoyo region of the Dominican Republic, as he sought creative inspiration. Driving through traffic, he was confronted by a woman preaching at a makeshift podium on one side and people drinking, doing drugs, hips swaying in revealing outfits on the other. ‘It was all walks of life at one time and it made me think, at the end, I feel like everyone is looking for some kind of saviour. These girls, these guys and kids on that side are waiting for somebody to save them. Some daddy or something that’s going to pay their rent. I was just sitting there and getting goosebumps,’ says Lopez.

Sartorially, this experience was expressed through deconstructed tailoring, exaggerated collars as if the wearer was being pulled back, sweeping skirts with a winding line of buttons that could be undone to reveal more leg and power-shouldered jackets, shirts and T-shirt dresses suitable for all genders. Lopez also presented his version of the polo-shirt, ‘my interpretation of the Latter Day Saint boy, with the cargos,’ he says, in shapes of taupe and buttercream. ‘It’s very specific, like “I look rich”. It’s crazy what a colour can do.’ Patented pleated mini skirts, crackled leather pants and slashed open jersey dresses that clung to the body created a feeling of subversion, especially when paired with Luar monogrammed white stockings and the new array of eyewear - a perennial Luar strong suit. 

This season, sunglasses and frames were fashioned in dramatic visor shapes, one pair was even attached into a cowl neck top for extra drama. ‘People are always trying to mask themselves. It’s a way of shielding themselves and going ‘oh you didn’t see me last night’. Lopez’s unique sensibility of luxury, grit, flash and legacy, and his ability to mix them together with a sense of humour, is exactly what makes his brand so special. Fearless and unapologetic, it continues to be the mic drop of New York Fashion Week. PRK

Puppets & Puppets

Part of the conundrum of a Puppets & Puppets show is working out where the collection lands on the sliding scale between surrealist absurdity and actually wearable clothes. Carly Mark believes a ‘never the twain shall meet’ approach is missing the point. More readily weighted in eveningwear than past collections – although who’s to say sequins are not for noon – a new sense of grandeur also arrived: great swathes of taffeta were lifted over shoulders like regal sashes, swags of sequins draped goddess style and black floral brocade was cut into a generous cocoon dress. And the more useful bits felt, well, all the more useful: a white cotton blouson sleeve summer dress; a grass green cropped polo shirt. Curiously, a mythical wolf-inspired beast with a unicorn’s horn fronted a white T-shirt. Answers on a postcard. TMS

Head of State

Head of State’s multi-disciplinary founder Taofeek Abijako sought to create a more reflective moment this season by exhibiting a capsule of new pieces, alongside an exhibition of artworks curated by Diallo Simon-Ponte. ‘It's actually a perfect rhythm because while a runway show represents the final world, this exhibition is a slowed-down moment where the audience can see the thoughts that go on behind putting together the collection,’ Abijako said at the opening. ‘Every artist here is someone I look up to and would like to collaborate with, so in a way, the exhibition gives the audience a chance to slow down and fully experience the narrative.’

Collectively titled ‘Home As Corpus’, the presentation explores the body as a location of home ‘by excavating how we as people carry our origins through the corporeal. Featuring works by Cameron Granger, Nola Ayoola, Oluwatobiloba Ajayi, Isabel Okoro, and Lewinale Havette, which actively contemplate generations of diasporic movement in painting, photography, film, sculptures and textiles, ‘Home As Corpus’ expands on Abijako’s experience of being new to this land. Not only does the passage of time engrave and sculpt our lineage into material existence, he also recognises that each step towards a new future carries the dreams and wisdom of the past.

Stemming from his last collection ‘Memories of Home’, Abijako unveiled three new gowns, each inspired by iconic architecture of Nigeria. ‘The new looks are a teaser for what we have in mind for next season,’ he continues. ‘It’s definitely way more sculptural than any of our previous work and that’s due to the fact that we are referencing a lot of architecture back home. We chose three iconic architectural references and we came up with this.’ In both the capsule and the works on display, the emergence of the colour red as a connective thread was clear to see. ‘Given the idea that home is a corporeal thing that exists within you, the colour red is literally within us, our blood. It was an easy reference to make.’

Curator Diallo Simon-Ponte adds, ‘We never had a conversation about red. We just had been aligning on so many other things that red just materialised. We were just vibrating at the same frequency. All of these works and pieces ask one to walk into the space and explore. It doesn’t have to be about memories of home or where we have come from. It's like you are physically carrying that presence on through the corporeality of your body when you enter a space.’ PRK

Kallmeyer

After being a stealth staple in the wardrobes of many a New York woman, Daniella Kallmeyer’s eponymous brand is garnering a spotlight of its own. Following on from an evocative resort collection, which saw Kallmeyer draw inspiration from the American southwest, the designer sought to capture what was missing from her customer’s wardrobe. The result is a seasonless, yet still impactful, collection of versatile garments that will leave others wanting for more.

‘Resort was so much about filling in your wardrobe with all of the things that we were missing after over a decade of being a suiting brand,’ says Kallmeyer. ‘After doing all that filling in, I wanted to strip that all down for spring, so that your first collection in the new year was about a blank slate, a clean palette, giving you pieces that you could layer and change as you wear them.'

Staged salon-style in the Corner Bar’s dining room – a sumptuous amalgam of faded periwinkle walls, boisterous blue carpet and mirrors all around, where illustrators sketched models wearing the new collection live – Kallmeyer's sense of tailoring and silhouette rang clear as a bell. Collarless jackets with slim trousers felt both modern and classic, and could easily fit multiple occasions. Full-length white shirt dresses and tunics, delicately held together by ribbons tied on the side, brought a new sophistication to wearable classics, while chore coats, lightweight trenches and relaxed drawstring trousers balanced comfort and elegance.

‘There’s so much like glamour right now and fashion turns people into something else, right?’ she says. ‘I wanted to make it about the person wearing it and that's really what Kallmeyer is about.’ PRK

COS

COS marked its return to New York Fashion Week with an epic runway show staged against the city sunset as viewed along Manhattan’s river. Presented in the Classic Car Club of Manhattan, the show saw models weave around sculptural, galvanised steel structures that reflected the setting sunlight as it pooled through oversized garage doors.

This appreciation of the essential carried through COS’ A/W 2023 collection, where functional tailoring merged with innovative methods of deconstruction. Classic cuts demonstrated subtle tweaks to feel refreshed; trouser suits with an elongated silhouette were infused with a sense of ease. Jackets with strong, structured shoulders were worn with slinky, silk skirts and head-to-toe knitwear looks were matched with hoods and oversized fringe scarves, neatly pinned together. Quiet details abounded, such as neck-tie detailing on shirts and fringing on capes and dresses, which added a touch of panache to everyday staples. A wool overcoat adorned with leather tassels made from offcut material, was a highlight.

With quality and longevity at the heart of the collection, several thoughtful touches, like adjustable elements to ensure the right fit and reversible design to provide versatility, have been added to ensure the longevity of the pieces, while 92 per cent of the materials in the collection have also been sourced from sustainable sources. Even the materials and carpeting used in the show's set design, conceived by Bureau Betak, will be donated to the Materials for the Art, a program of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the city's creative reuse centre that provides non-profits, public schools and city agencies with access to free materials. PRK

Carolina Herrera

For S/S 2024, Carolina Herrera creative director Wes Gordon cast his eye towards another perennial New York muse, Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy. Gordon drew from Bessette-Kennedy's casual glamour and effortless elegance, showcasing an array of fine-gauge knits and clean, slender silhouettes in nod to the American icon. Peppered with signature Herrera flourishes, such as the cotton shirt, feminine florals and playful injections of colour and texture, the collection aptly juxtaposed the contemporary drama of the Whitney Museum of Art, designed by Renzo Piano, which set the stage for the show.

Against the museum’s polished concrete floor, Gordon's feminine collection ranged from sheer lace separates and clean, column-like dresses, mixed with more voluminous shapes in pastel-coloured tulle. A long-sleeved v-neck column gown in lilac jersey cut a strong (and body-skimming) figure, while a silk bias-cut worn with a black wrap-dron jacket evoked the spirit of the label’s founder, an enduring muse in her own right. In addition to the more showstopping looks, there was a strong focus on daywear, with delicate cardigans, a floral jacquard knit crew neck and pencil skirt combo and a polka dot shirt dress, continuing a different version of the drama. However, for those looking to make a full statement, there were sequinned knits, gowns fully covered in pailettes and embellished lace aplenty. PRK

Diotima

Rachel Scott started her brand with an urgency to nurture fading Jamaican craft into a thriving business. To that end, she has engaged and is growing a network of craftswomen to make, in particular, her crochet designs which are fast becoming her handwriting. This time, the crochet felt even more delicate, almost spiderwebby, executed with a finer yarn. A deep red and black doily of spun crochet lace was fashioned into a halter dress. The expressive freehand of the craft sits in contrast to the formality of wool suiting, ’harkening back to the informal dialogue that was born out of the Jamaican diaspora during the Windrush era,’ she explains. A standout was the coat in bone linen, shot through with gold. Scott says she is championing a more ‘expansive definition of luxury, one that is not exclusively centered in Europe’. This season she collaborated with artist Laura Facey, whose work she was drawn to after seeing her solo show last year in Kingston, Jamaica, which addressed the haunting history of slavery in the Caribbean. Scott and Lacey connected online, and a creative back and forth ensured, which resulted in the chalk drawings that Scott showed today folded into skirts and dresses, as well as the carved wooden hearts that hung from necklaces and belts. TMS

Gabriela Hearst

The first collection since the designer stepped down from being the creative director of Chloé, Gabriela Hearst’s presentation for her namesake brand proved that her sartorial point of view is alive and well. Holding the core values of sustainability and creative collaboration close, the collection was a lesson in understated luxury that emphasized ease and wearability.

For S/S 2024, Hearst collaborated with the Haitian artist Levoy Exil. Known for his influence in the Saint Soleil art movement, which empowers people to explore creativity and spirituality through art, Exil’s pointillist work explores Haitian heritage by drawing inspiration from voodoo spirits and dreams. His art served as the jumping-off point for the macramé garments in Hearst’s collection – vibrant patchwork compositions hand-crocheted into dresses and ponchos by Bolivian artisans. These were countered but Hearst’s suits, layered dresses in silk organza and sculptural leather dresses that all frame the figure.

Accessories have long been a Hearst strong suit. This season, a platform sandal with biodegradable EVA soles, nappa leather straps and silver or rose gold buckles complemented almost all the looks. Paired with two of the collection's new clutches – the slouchy Taylor, which boasts a jewellery-inspired chain strap, and a metal evening clutch, inspired by 1920s vanity cases, that features a marble push button mechanism – the collection aptly captured the beauty that lies in restraint. PRK

Zankov

‘The collection is called “Lighten Up”, to, you know, lighten up,’ laughed Henry Zankov at his Chelsea gallery presentation. ‘I wanted everything to feel substantial still but I wanted things to have a lightness, whether it was the colour, or the material, the yarn, the stitch.’ New experimental textiles such as transparent recycled cellophane, shredded cotton tapes and fisherman’s ropes were used in complement to his signature yarns of brushed mohair, merino, and alpaca. Vibrant zingy colours took inspiration from nature: azure, hortensia blue, and bergamot yellow. ‘This dress,’ he says, pointing to an open-weave floor length dress, ‘is a hand-knit drop needle in a high twist rope cotton. And because it’s dropped needle, it creates a sheer effect, so you have this openness without it being too revealing.’ That’s part of the brilliance of Zankov – his technical expertise is administered with the same effortlessness as his friendly demeanour, making the whole operation feel natural and easy (despite the very many hours of development in each piece). The designer is nominated for the CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund Award, which will be announced in mid-October. TMS

Fforme

Paul Helbers has been quietly working away in his Paris studio for the past couple of seasons on Fforme. While it has been gaining traction with an audience who prefer their clothes understated and logo-less, today marked a step up for the brand which held its inaugural show – rather than a static presentation format. For such pared-back clothes, where the precision of how they drape, fold and move on the body is precisely the point, seeing them in action brought them to life. Colour, albeit tonal neutrals such as spicy chocolate, dusty pink plum, and putty, was also introduced more readily and added depth. The overall effect was equal parts pulled together and relaxed. Fine-gauge knitwear achieved a slouchy relaxed look thanks to a dropped yoke at the back. Featherweight cardigans layered over asymmetric knit T-shirts and pencil skirts felt effortless and free of bulk. It was perfect for a day like the confused weather of today – humid, drizzly, truly between seasons, ducking between steamy streets and frigid over-air-conditioned buildings. PRK

Tory Burch

Nearly a decade since its announcement, the recently completed Gilder Centre for Science, Education and Innovation at the American Museum of Natural History hosted its first fashion show. Tory Burch was a fitting partner to fill the ground floor of the staggering 230,000 sq ft space. Its ergonomic, futuristic design – the work of Studio Gang and its founder Jeanne Gang – was the perfect backdrop to the designer’s S/S 2024 collection, whereby the Sixties and all its space-age optimism rang loud and clear, albeit delivered with a contemporary hand. Bulbous sunglasses, mini tunics with deeply scooped necklines and silver bauble jewellery may have begun with retro references but landed feeling entirely of the moment. A car coat with stand collar felt undeniably Jackie O, but on Adwoa Aboah became instantly feasible for a whole younger, edgier audience. The ‘TB’ logo was subtly yet psychedelically overprinted onto polo shirts and handbags. Notably, richly tactile textiles brought depth, such as furry stretchy knits and the dresses constructed of jangling silver chainmail, which were art pieces in themselves.

Michael Kors

If the medium is the message, then vacation is the headline. Guests, editors and celebrities arrived on the waterfront in Brooklyn, where the skyline view stretched from the Williamsburg Bridge to the Empire State Building (the weather gods were being kind). As river boats journeyed past the pink bougainvillea and Dionne Warwick’s ‘Walk On By’ floated on the breeze, Kors presented clothes that pack well, travel easily and are just as relevant at home in the city. There were roomy lace shirt dresses, a linen kaftan strung with gold cord, crisp poplin white shirts. Colourful additions such as bubblegum pink lace flares and a lilac suede trench felt young and fun but were convincingly multi-generational. Mini shifts embellished with Sixties gold hoops – a motif that extended to chain link belts, circular buckles, straps on tops, and large loop bag handles – brought youthful glamour. Prints of hothouse flowers were blown up into exaggerated reliefs, while chiffon was twisted into Grecian-inspired gowns. Menswear included elegant oversized single-breasted coats that hung off shoulders and a black mini-sequin ensemble.

Ulla Johnson

Powerhouse Arts, the non-profit organisation in Brooklyn, provided the canvas for Ulla Johnson’s summer collection. Models walked between strings of beautiful shells which hung in arcs from the tall atrium ceiling. On the concrete floor, giant circular shells had been drawn with sand. Johnson explored the circle, which she described as a ‘divine form of nature’ in her show notes, directly in her clothes, from rustling paillettes to pinwheels of chiffon that adorned generous circle skirts.

Indeed, generosity and abundance seemed to be the gist here. Dresses flowed generously; tight knife pleats disguised yards and yards of fabric; crochet dresses with hours of work hung effortlessly from the shoulder; a perfect shell had been placed on every guest’s seat as a keepsake. Highlights included a beaded top worn with zebra-print kick-flare pants, a sheared artful jacquard that had a furry effect, a vibrant cobalt broderie anglaise shirt dress, and wisps of silk satin trimmed with lace in lemon and apple. A collaboration with Brooklyn-based artist Shara Hughes saw dresses and separates printed with hand-painted scenes of sunsets and oceans from the artist’s landscape series. TMS

Dion Lee

Dion Lee has long captured the tension between opposing forces in his collections. By pitting masculine against feminine, glamour versus the industrial, or the toughness of stiff leather and the softness of chiffon, the designer has built his brand’s philosophy around wedding the seemingly incompatible. This season was no different, with tailoring and suiting opposed with baggy denim, clingy jersey and exaggerated leather shapes, including thigh-high leather boots embellished with pockets and pouches, part of an ongoing collaboration with Parisian label Both.

Instead of the overt, club-kid sexuality that Lee presented last season, this collection felt pared back in comparison. The opening looks, which comprised sharp-shouldered suit jackets with oversized leather cuffs, worn over crisp white shirts, were finished with steel metalware. A collared, high-cut white bodysuit that followed showcased a nipped-in, corseted waist, embellished with custom-made spanner wrenches and completed with the Dion Lee logo. This utilitarian, industrial arc continued into the oversized buckles, parachute straps and metal chain details adorning handbags, asymmetric ruched tops and jewellery – always a brand strong suit. A master of manipulating proportions, Lee paired baggy overall shapes with cut-out bodysuits, figure-hugging hoodies with slinky jersey skirts and cropped leather jackets with floaty bubble skirts that all manage to highlight and subvert the figure at the same time.

Eveningwear was probably the most refreshing of all. Crescent-shaped cut-outs on full-length ribbed knit dresses accentuate without giving away too much, while fluid, cut-out draped dresses, held together with metal hardware, fuse a conventional glamour with Lee’s tongue-in-cheek aesthetic. PRK

Eckhaus Latta

One of the staggering triple-height marble lobbies of the Rockefeller Centre was filled with jostling youthful energy transported from downtown for Eckhaus Latta’s latest outing. It’s always heartening to witness the devoted fans from all over the city who arrive wearing their favourite Eckhaus Latta pieces from seasons past; it’s a galvanising display of friendship and camaraderie. This season, models walked with urgency and attitude, in lockstep with the bass of New York DJ and songwriter DOSS’s dance soundtrack. The clothes had an air of provocative insouciance: zips ran up-to-there on the back of pencil skirts and jeans; lace came in all colours and cuts for men and women; sheer cardigans were for boys and girls alike. There were some impressive feats of engineering disguised within the cool: a pair of boxy, springy jeans were crafted using a new proprietary 3D weaving technology in collaboration with San Francisco-based fashion tech company Unspun. The shredded denim and midnight blue shimmering trousers were also thanks to the same partnership. Sometimes such sustainably packaged collaborations feel like shoe-horned tokenism, but Eckhaus already has upcycling and dead stock processes woven into its ethos, and what’s more, these were some of the most beautiful pieces in the collection. A collection that felt like it offered progress for us all.

Area

Drama was served this season as Area’s Piotrek Panszczyk explored the idea of primal instinct through various periods of fashion history. Presented under the opulent, painted dome of the former Williamsburg Savings Bank, which was built between 1870 and 1875, Panszczyk reinterpreted time-honoured symbols of aristocracy and wealth through alternative material explorations. What appeared to be heavy full-length fur coats were instead realised in hand-painted cotton, panelled and padded to resemble the real thing. Fox fur stoles of the Gilded Age were reimagined as a glittering bikini-style top, complete with a coordinating mini-skirt, with multiple sequinned ‘foxes’ trailing behind like tails.

Conscious that these materials, which are typically considered luxurious, were originally used as a means for survival, Panszczyk also picked up on bones as a recurring motif. The brand’s signature crystal-encrusted dresses featured such motifs tied into cut-out panels and halter necklines, bringing a carnal aura to already provocative silhouettes. On its equally recognisable denim pieces and a series of white suiting, claw-shaped cut-outs and skeletal hands, rendered in crystals, emitted a surrealistic appeal that the label’s ardent fans would undoubtedly fall over. Capped off with goth-like catsuits and bustier pieces encrusted with rhinestones, Area’s show-stopping ethos easily warrants its position between ready-to-wear and couture. PRK

3.1 Phillip Lim

Phillip Lim made his return to the runway after a four-year hiatus. In the collection’s show notes, the New York designer shared that he ‘took the time off to reflect on why we kept showing without truly showing up. How we continue to aimlessly feed fleeting desire at an increasingly impossible pace; ambiguous demand amidst the horizon’s sea change that we continued to ignore as if it would go away.’ In that time, Lim has served as a galvanising force within the Asian American Pacific Islander creative community, speaking out passionately about racism and inequality while using his platform to foster Asian representation and visibility.

He writes, ‘since then, so much has happened to transform us and remind us why we continue to fight for what we love and who we love. Even though it has become continuously more difficult to navigate this changing industry run by titans and fueled by “au courant∏ marketing, the bottom line is the only way for change to happen is to make sure the next generation sees us doing what we love, including them in the narrative and being whomever the FUCK we need to be.’

Both sides of his practice blended poetically together in his S/S 2024 collection, which coincides with the brand’s 10th anniversary. Staged in an empty commercial space at the main crossroads of Chinatown in Manhattan, the collection showcased Kim’s expertise at highlighting beauty in the utilitarian, with quiet tributes to New York and Asian heritage woven throughout. The show opened with a series of delicate chiffon looks, lightly embellished with large crystals and paired with sheer Chinese slippers. These segued into iterations on the brand’s signatures: fluid, asymmetric silk dresses, softly structured tailoring and architectural curve-heel sandals. Lim’s astuteness to silhouette was particularly palpable in a bubble-shaped blouse, held together with thick leather cord, and swingy, deconstructed cotton jackets that exuded ease and drama. There was a similar approach to evening, with sheer chiffon gowns taking wearable shapes while still making a statement through clever draping and ruching. A perfect wardrobe for day and night dressing, this was the return many were hoping for. PRK

Proenza Schouler 

‘We thought it interesting to show at Phillips auction house, because that’s where art comes to be judged,’ joked Jack McCollough backstage after his latest outing at Proenza Schouler alongside Lazaro Hernandez. As well as showing their collection today in the bright white offices of the auction house, the duo have an artwork – a unique drawing on paper, which recalls their initials – on sale in Phillips’ ‘Editions & Works on Paper’ auction (the estimate is $10,000–$15,000) where it sits alongside works by Agnes Martin, Ellsworth Kelly and Willem de Kooning.

‘Some of the dresses just weigh nothing,’ McCollough continued backstage, speaking of the chiffon pleated sun dresses, printed as if with blue sky or grey clouds. ’Lots of transparent, watery layers,’ added Hernandez. As well as the lightness and prettiness, they hit big winners in every category with their trademark tough girl polish – a leather car coat that fastened with a square silver clip; over-bleached denim; stretchy string vests and dresses in the most luxe thick silk satin. Despite the confident usefulness and ease of the clothes, some subtle, witty twists – a halter dress with sweater sleeves that tied in the front – landed convincingly. Similarly, tailored pants slung low on the hips had a double top, with the appearance of jeans peeking out from underneath. Accessories included a chic flat belt bag; little bags of sheer chiffon, grabbed in the hand; an ostrich feather and leather bag; neoprene slippers, and strappy sandals held on by on a single toe thong, worn with ten denier hosiery. Easy and desirable. Not as easy as it seems. TMS

Theory

Theory has long been about providing a uniform for America’s professional set, specifically those with minimal inclination. Today chief creative officer Jeffrey Kalinsky doubled down, announcing to the audience that the clothes we were about to see offered ‘an easy system for getting dressed’. Speaking as the models walked, he continued: ‘It’s always been my mission to create simple, chic, straightforward clothes for this brand. That’s it.’ Kalinsky, a former neighbour of Theory’s current flagship which was the setting of today’s show, can be credited as one of the catalysts of the polish that exists in the Meatpacking District today – he opened his self-named luxury designer boutique Jeffrey’s across the street in 1999 (later becoming EVP at Nordstrom).

Kalinsky credited the fabric development team, the pattern makers, sewers and designers of Theory’s ‘Innovation Centre’ for their input into the clothes. It was sweltering outside, but even the wools felt light enough to be workable in summer months. There was the charcoal melange stretch pencil skirt worn with a boxy cotton button-down, while structured linen had been cut into a shift dress that stood away from the body. Washed cotton – borrowed from the men’s chinos – was cut into a short A-line mini. Silver silk took on the appearance of brushed metal. A fine-gauge knit polo shirt was finished with pearl buttons. A library of pants – wide-leg, cigarette, boy-cut, high-waist, straight, pencil shorts, bermuda shorts – will no doubt be a hit with the customer. TMS

Palomo Spain

Set against the grandeur of the Plaza Hotel’s Terrace Room, Alejandro Gómez Palomo invited showgoers to abandon all notions of conventional desire. The collection embraced the duality of human sexuality, reminding those in attendance that we all have two sides. Named ‘Cruising in the Rose Garden’, the collection felt timely through its presentation of how contradictions can live within oneself, and how the forbidden also incites exploration, rebellion and the experience of freedom against societal norms.

In sartorial form, this meant androgynous, mostly male, models donned floral chiffon slip dresses, romantic lace negligees, and feather-trimmed trousers that evoked romanticism and feminine sensuality. Any sweetness was also undercut by structured corsets, heavy biker leather jackets and flared denim trousers, which often boasted studded back flaps that could be unsnapped in the heat of passion. ‘After presenting a Fall/Winter collection that spoke about the freedom of childhood and a naive approach to gender and clothing, it was the most natural process for me to focus on a more sexualized idea of a character that is now grown and aware of its power of attraction,’ said Palomo. ‘This time, I wanted to reflect on who I am now and allow myself to dive into my most romantic and sexual fantasies while still maintaining my love for storytelling.’

As with Palomo Spain’s ethos, there were healthy nods to the brand’s Andalusian heritage, such as a rose motif which took shape as surrealistic leather handbags, oversized metal earpieces and sculptural metal chokers that adorned models’ necks. These accessories were part of a capsule collection produced in collaboration with fellow Spaniards, Bimba Y Lola. A fresh take on feminine beauty, complete with darker undertones, this dynamic collection went straight to the heart. PRK

Helmut Lang

‘When I got this job, I was thinking back to the first luxurious experience I had,‘ said Peter Do backstage after his debut as creative director of Helmut Lang, amid throngs of fans, family and friends (which included Ocean Vuong – poet, friend and collaborator, who wrote the script that scored the collection). ‘Growing up on a farm in Vietnam and going to Philadelphia with my mom owning a car… the luxury to be able to get in the car and have the freedom to go where you want was something that everyone was taking for granted, something that I felt was truly luxurious. I want Helmut Lang to be that vehicle of freedom for people, in the same way I discovered with cars,’ he says nostalgically of joyful teenage road trips.

Suit jackets were slashed as if driven over, while sourced vintage seat belts were turned into luminous trims. A crisp shirt was worn backwards, as if in reverse, printed with Vuong’s words. Do noted a desire to create a ‘system of dressing’ – ‘every season we evolve it. Not starting from scratch every season but building upon what came before.’ ‘With the new Helmut Lang, I really just want to dress New York,’ he continued. ‘And not just Manhattan – Queens, Brooklyn. I want to showcase the versatile, energetic, chaotic way that people live in New York City. I want to introduce the brand to a new generation of people.’ TMS

Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren transformed a warehouse space in the Brooklyn Navy Yard into an evocative artist’s loft to showcase his S/S 2024 womenswear collection. Complete with wooden floorboards, empty gilded frames draped with canvas drop sheets and oversized chandeliers hanging overhead, the romantic and rustic backdrop set the scene for an equally bohemian collection filled with painterly florals, faded denim and an eclectic mix of bold and shimmering colours and textures.

Inspired by the freedom of personal style and the individuality, timeless elegance and vibrant sophistication of the modern woman, the collection was filled with luxurious flourishes. Daring pairings, such as a classic black double-breasted jacket matched with a gold foil halter-neck and sheer trousers embellished with sequins and feathers, and a hand-painted leather vest worn over wafts of madras-print chiffon crafted into a wrap dress, encapsulated the sophisticated eclecticism of the Ralph Lauren label. To close, a leather macramé gown, detailed with abstract woven patterns and tiers of gold fringe, worn by Natalia Vodianova, featured the handiwork of 15 specialised embroiderers, who spent more than 800 hours cutting, weaving, and knotting the leather fringe.

In the words of the legend himself, ‘My S/S 2024 women’s collection is about a new kind of romance – cool and sophisticated. It’s about the freedom of creating a personal style through the artistry of faded denim and painterly florals, the modern sophistication of iconic shapes in black and gold, or the eclectic mix of bold colours, shine and luxurious handcrafted details. These are the stories of the woman I design for whose individuality and artistic spirit are a canvas for her own self-expression.’ PRK

Collina Strada

Staged amid the lush vegetation on the rooftop of Brooklyn Grange, a rooftop farming and green roofing enterprise dedicated to fostering more liveable and climate-adapted cities, Collina Strada’s Hillary Taymour fully embraced her romantic side this season with a collection filled with diaphanous silhouettes, corsetry and frills galore. This was not delivered without the Collina Strada trademark edge, though. Set to a soundtrack reverberating with the warning call ‘The Earth’s on fire; why are we here?’, models donned wide grins and the label’s signature punky mix of daring, highly detailed layers. Seemingly normal plaid trousers were interspersed with sheer lace inserts, a rose pink silk suit featured a dramatic tulle train and cropped, corseted tie-dye tees almost resembled armour with their structured shoulders and shape.

‘As we grin and bear the excruciating present, in which the world burns and reproductive, trans, and general human rights are under threat, we summon the strength of radical softness to defend ourselves,’ wrote Taymour in the show notes. ‘We delve deep within to reconnect to the universal feminine energy, reminding ourselves that there is daring in delicacy, power in the pretty, and grit in the girly. Femme is fab. We call her Mother Earth for a reason.’

The show also featured an ongoing footwear collaboration with Ugg and teed up the launch of Taymour’s inaugural book, I Care a Lotta, I Wear Collina Strada, which is published by Rizzoli and will be officially released in October. A celebration of the brand’s radically individual and sustainably minded take on style, the tome is filled with brand imagery, runway footage, a closer look at core pieces and collaborations and has been overseen together with the brand’s art director Charlie Engman. PRK

Stay tuned for more from New York Fashion Week S/S 2024.

After several seasons of treading carefully and cautiously, New York Fashion Week S/S 2023 arrived with fresh vigour. An influx of international imports may have helped – Fendi made its way to Manhattan to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its Baguette bag, while Marni staged its first US show in Brooklyn, right in view of the Brooklyn Bridge. But really, it was the hometown pride for New York talent that was palpable across the board, from Collina Strada’s gathering of their close-knit community at an under-the-radar nature reserve to an intoxicating collection from Eckhaus Latta that poignantly featured prints from the late artist Matthew Underwood, who was a friend of the brand.

Here, reported by Wallpaper* US editor Pei-Ru Keh and contributing editor Tilly Macalister-Smith, is the best of New York Fashion Week S/S 2023.

New York Fashion Week S/S 2023

Wednesday 14 September

Michael Kors

Polished concrete, mirrored walls, ferns and fig trees provided the backdrop for Michael Kors ‘Urban Resort’ collection, shown in the Meatpacking District on Wednesday morning. 

Vacation bodies (glistening thighs, polished shoulders) of all proportions were shown off with cut-outs, racer-front vests, one-shoulder tops and plunging halter necklines that reached navels. Linen palazzo pants, jersey bandeaus and crepe de chine sarongs – when styled with barely-there high heels, double gold cuffs and low-slung belts with gold hardware – were transformed into legitimate city options. 

It’s a particularly strong season for tailoring: a cross-front halter waistcoat was immaculately cut, while a buttonless white gilet was belted with a strap of gold. Fine gauzy linen – a notoriously tricky fabric for suiting – was fresh, not a crumple in sight. Shirting and jackets with silk fringing cascading from arm holes in place of sleeves were well executed. As for the palette, a vibrant chilli red added depth, notably in a satin kaftan that will translate easily to eveningwear. TMS

Deveaux

After a three-year hiatus, Deveaux celebrated a refresh this season with a complete relaunch of the brand. For Andrea Tsao, the label's co-founder, ‘Deveaux’s aesthetic and identity really stands for utilitarianism, wardrobing, and the kind of thoughtfully considered, interesting pieces that our customers depend on,’ she says. ‘This season feels like the start of a new chapter – we are refocusing on our original founding principles and paying close attention to things we're passionate about, like menswear details and functionality. But at the same time, injecting a sophisticated and elegant joyousness to the brand.’

For the occasion, Tsao drew from the brand's hometown, New York City, for inspiration. Inspired by the life cycle of New Yorkers through the seasons – dramatic thunderstorms, relentless sun showers and blistering summer heat, all of which showgoers endured within this single week – the collection teamed relaxed silhouettes and classic mainstays with clever, utilitarian details. 

‘To me, American sportswear is about finding beauty in function. What we are creating is a modernised version of that – for instance, some of the more relaxed tailoring pieces that can be styled back to a nylon utility pant,’ she says. ‘Our community and audience are full of people who have such unique and interesting demands, and are looking for creative, one-of-a-kind pieces that aren't trendy but feel emotional in a different way.’ PRK

Tom Ford

Smouldering. Sex. Appeal. Tom Ford’s woman is entirely her own. Stalking the mirrored runway under flashing disco balls, the models exuded prowess and power: the audience was putty in their hands. Sex, of course, is a Ford hallmark, but recast against the backdrop of the overturning of Roe v Wade, the collection felt like an empowered statement. 

As Robert Palmer sang ‘you might as well face it, you’re addicted to love’, models walked in shorts and jackets appliquéd with sequined love hearts and stars. Then came A-ha’s Take On Me, remixed with a throbbing club beat, as Western fringing and intricate cowboy detailing rendered in more sequins took a turn. String vests encrusted with crystal, lamé tailoring and louche satin tuxedo sweatpants embodied the driving new wave synth pop of Dead or Alive’s You Spin Me Round. 

The final passage was slower, more sombre. Freddie Mercury’s distinctly sorrowful voice sang out Time Waits For No One. Ford just gave us a reason to relish every minute. TMS

Willy Chavarria

It’s unlikely that the Marble Collegiate Church, bordering Koreatown and Madison Square Park, has hosted such a crowd in the nearly 400 years it’s been standing. Jostling several rows deep at the front steps and queuing around the block, Chavarria’s community – which reaches all boroughs of New York and beyond – turned out en masse to support the designer. Known for his tendency to treat lowly workwear with reverence, this season he turned his attention to papal matters. Opening the show, a handful of male models wearing oversized while T-shirts down to their knees (as roomy as priests’ robes) carried roses, red and black, to the altar. For Chavarria, bagginess is next to godliness. 

The collection explored the similarities – and juxtapositions – between church and streetwear. A pair of long shorts could have referenced basketball shorts, or ecclesiastical robes. A traditional nun's black habit with white collar was reworked into a bell-sleeve shirt. Black then red silk taffeta gowns, replete with corsages the size of dinner plates, decorated neat tailored jackets. Shiny patent black choir-boy loafers were worn with oversized T-shirts emblazoned with city names in reversed varsity type (Fresco, Sacramento). Many of the models were friends of Chavarria, and brought with them a true representation of New York. The show was a highlight of the week. TMS

Batsheva

As far as local designers go, Batsheva Hay is as New York as they come. Case in point: an invitation to editors, buyers and friends to savour her new collection in a classic Jewish deli, Ben’s Delicatessen, alongside latkes, knishes, orange juice and coffee. Against the deli's retro features, vinyl seating and well-worn carpeting under foot, Batsheva turned out 1980s-era favourites, including a white patent leather skirt suit, acid pink party dresses covered in black polka dots and sparkly tunic dresses. The throwback carried over into the label's use of its trademark florals, this time cut into blazers, pyjama sets, bralette tops and bloomers. Relaxed, even frivolous and open to interpretation, Batsheva’s subversive take on saccharine sweetness is alive and well. PRK

Tuesday 13 September

Gabriela Hearst

There was a distinct, elemental quality to Gabriela Hearst’s new collection. Inspired by a chance introduction to the work of Ancient Greek female poet Sappho, Hearst expressed a more contemplative mood with uncomplicated silhouettes in a neutral, monochromatic palette. Despite its apparent minimalism, Hearst’s flair for creating unexpected beauty with intricate craftsmanship was at full strength. An abstract collage featuring black and gold shapes proved to be the grounding force of the collection, particularly in a series of garments featuring contoured gold leather that was soaked in water and then draped on the body to create each individual piece. Knitted dresses featured intricate pebble stitches and swirling designs knitted into the garment itself. Hearst’s elegant tailoring was adorned with custom-made rose-gold bars, bestowing a hint of shine as models moved. 

As always, Hearst’s passion for sustainability, eco-transparency and ethical production continues to make her an industry leader. In addition to using eco-certified materials and implementing carbon offsetting measures for the production of her show, Hearst published a list of the materials used in the collection, ranging from deadstock linens and silks to upcycled denim. The show itself was set to a rousing live performance by the Resistance Revival Chorus, a collective of women and nonbinary performers, and culminated in Hearst skipping out joyfully to take her bow. The Chorus is actively raising funds for Act Blue, a New York abortion access fund that supports anyone living in or travelling to New York, who may need help paying for an abortion. PRK

Peter Do

Memory. When we close our eyes, what bubbles up? And what causes us to be sucked back to a place we might not have visited for days or years? A scent or a song can trigger instant recall, but do clothes wield that power? Peter Do enlisted Korean American author Mary HK Choi to pen a letter for his show notes; in it, she talks of her father dying, memories, the feeling of time slowing down. 

The last would prove a theme of the collection, which was titled ‘Time’. In his own work, Do manages to embody this feeling of time slowing, while always looking towards the future. Blush, chocolate, sand and mushroom-coloured tailoring in patent leather, satin, and dry tropical wool had a feeling of sensuality and softness. Open-backed leather jackets and shirting appeared as powerful silhouettes from the front, before revealing an unexpected vulnerability as the models walked past. Cityscape prints were blurred like a flashback, appearing on silk scarves fashioned into capes, and then blown up on black and white degradé prints (Do revealed they were images he took himsef of moments that he ‘wanted to memorialise’). 

Despite the label still being relatively young, Do’s hallmarks are becoming easily recognisable: tailor’s white top-stitching left in place on the exterior of garments (also this season, black tape used to the same effect); billowing white shirting in various fabrics; double-breasted suiting, left open or pulled taught across the waist; steel toe-capped, chunky-soled footwear and intimidatingly high spiked heels; razor-sharp pleating, this season in sheer chiffon. It lends the feeling that Do is not just creating clothes but also a world; as such, he asked K-pop star and NCT band member Jeno to open the show wearing one of his inaugural menswear looks. Male and female models both walked, but one gets the feeling that the girls and boys will be borrowing from each other. TMS

Tory Burch

For her latest collection, Burch looked back to a moment of personal transition, the 1990s, when she first moved to New York. By association, the silhouette became longer, leaner and cleaner – in her words, experimenting freely while paring everything back. Fabrics had a sporty stretch, aiding a feeling of movement in shin-skimming pencil skirts and cropped stretchy leggings (the latter worn with flat slingbacks and slippery satin maxi skirts). Richness, and a feeling of travel, came in a lustrous gold leather coat and woven fabrics with historical patterns. Unexpected moments appeared throughout – an apple green satin mac, a sheer turquoise turtleneck, giant shimmering paillettes – while sporty open-collared tops, nylon macs, and sleeveless gilets grounded the collection in the everyday. TMS

Jonathan Simkhai

Amber was the starting point for Jonathan Simkhai’s S/S 2023 collection. Re-examining the fossilised resin, he emphasised that the material is not a semi-precious gemstone, as is often believed, but something more humble (albeit beautiful). He was particularly drawn to its healing qualities, and thus looked to fabrics that would soothe the wearer.

Simkhai was also taken with amber’s inherent ability to capture and preserve moments in time. The designer was feeling nostalgic for the minimalism of the 1990s, as well as much older craft techniques used over generations. Tightly knotted crochet was treated with precision, with panels inserted into silk dresses (it felt less bohemian and more cocktail party appropriate). Waists were cinched with folded buttery leather belts. Shoulders were subtly built up on suiting to emphasise form. Sporty mesh pencil skirts and dresses, reimagined from white cotton shirting, will feel as at home in the city as packed for vacation. TMS

Monday 12 September

Carolina Herrera

For S/S 2023, designer Wes Gordon conjured up the magic of storybook romance for a feminine, flower-laden collection that threw back to American glamour from another time. Inspired by Frances Hodgson Burnett's novel, The Secret Garden, one of Gordon's childhood favourites, the silhouettes on offer ranged from strapless bustiers teamed with oversized balloon sleeves, and figure-hugging mini dresses with whimsical taffeta ball skirts, to floaty chiffon dresses covered in handpainted tea roses and peony blossoms. Set under the chandeliers and opulent interiors of The Plaza hotel ballroom, the maximalist collection was offset by a dash of precise tailoring, such as a double-breasted suit, a black wool jacket and, of course, crisp white shirting, in a nod to the label's namesake, who sat approvingly in the front row. PRK

Coach

It's unlikely many mornings after the night before roll in as buoyantly optimistic as Coach’s show today. The dreamy tableau that opened proceedings was titled ‘The Morning After’, showcasing a street scene bathed in tangerine-pink dawn light – a young couple in love strolling hand-in-hand; party-goers (with ballet moves) still revelling; a pedigree dog; and a spherical red balloon, bobbing along and passed between characters. 

Coach is certainly steering headfirst into a new dawn for the brand. Looking to overhaul its ‘accessible luxury’ positioning and transform into a true luxury player, it's been quietly tightening distribution and upping its prices, reintroducing updated versions of bags rather than phasing styles out after a couple of seasons. All of this dovetails with a creative shifting of gears. Stuart Vevers played subversively with American codes: baby-doll prairie dresses with white socks and patent Mary Janes, varsity sweaters styled with buckled leather shorts, Fair Isle sweaters naively over-knitted with colourful yarns. Outerwear was also given serious attention – oversized leather coats had a pre-loved softness – while jelly sandals and rubber pouches in boiled-sweet tones will likely be social media catnip. 

The show was closed by Lil Nas X, who was revealed as Coach’s new global ambassador, while the brand also noted its support for the youth education programme at Park Avenue Armory (where the show took place) with a donation from the Coach Foundation, made to empower a new generation in the New York and beyond. TMS

Area

Area’s move towards a more couture-based approach appeared fully realised in its newest collection, ‘Tetrahedron’, which saw designers Piotrek Panszczyk and Beckett Fogg dissect ancient architectural tropes to explore ideas around fetish and worship. Opening with a cage-like bondage dress, covered in jumbo, jewel-encrusted spikes, the collection exuded an otherworldly spirit that straddled both punk and primitive. The spikes – actually 3D-printed cones handset with Swarovski jewels – also appeared on dramatic evening coats, belts and stilettos, giving garments a powerful, otherworldly aura. 

Panszczyk and Fogg have experimented with provocation ever since founding Area in 2014. This season, that came in the form of bondage motifs that oscillated between the classic feminity of ribbons and bows, and the bold strength of BDSM wraps and corsetry. One dress, crafted entirely out of metal ribbons adorned in rhinestones, appeared to swirl around the body as if caught by an invisible breeze.

Construction and shape were key elements in this collection. Distortion of form appeared everywhere from couture pannier jeans to shrugged bodysuits developed around folded pyramids in vibrant silk duchesse. The same motif also took shape in spherical column gowns and skirts. As fantastical as these pieces were, the offering was rounded out with comparably more wearable items, such as a jewel-encrusted tunic tee and ribbon-shaped bustiers and cocktail dresses. PRK

Sunday 11 September

Sandy Liang

Sandy Liang took showgoers back to simpler times with an ultra-feminine collection evoking the unbridled romance and naivety of youth. Filled with bralette tops, gauzy slip dresses, low-slung trousers that sat way below the navel, ruffled nightgowns and a bounty of silk hair ties and ballet bows for the finish, Liang’s S/S 2023 collection tapped into girlhood at its truest. The teenage fantasy hit its high points in the creations Liang unveiled earlier in the week – a silk Mary Jane pointe shoe, complete with a blocky square toe, which has been in development for over two years, and a bridal capsule collection, featuring four dresses and three veils. Playful, unexpected and just the right amount of off-kilter, Liang’s version of femininity exudes an effortless energy. PRK

Khaite

When you take a show apart – strip away the venue, the music, clever styling, models – what are you left with? Clothes, pure and simple, seen in just the same light as a customer will find them on the hanger. How clothes hold up once the support acts are eliminated can say a lot about the calibre and health of a business – ultimately, how clothes feel, and how they are cut to hang on the body, is what will keep shoppers coming back. 

Cate Holstein has perfected the recipe of making really great clothes that women want to wear now. Without oversimplifying: clothes that make you feel relevant, seductive, and strong. Clothes that are uncomplicated to wear but cut so precisely as to deliver maximum effect. Today, Holstein deftly cherry-picked the sexiest elements of the 1980s (an oyster satin trench coat; ten-denier black tights worn with satin heels; pussy-bow blouses; python prints), spinning them together with 1990s David Lynch references and entirely of the moment silhouettes that she is making her own. 

Often, clothes seen in a runway show are made for effect and later ‘cancelled’ from the production run, deemed too expensive or complex to make on a larger scale. Not for Khaite: what you see in the show is what you can buy, and creating a collection with a compelling spirit that still passes muster once it's dismantled to its individual items deserves acknowledgement. TMS

Puppets and Puppets

Carly Mark has a way of bringing together incongruous references to deliver something cohesive yet out of the ordinary. For her S/S 2023 collection, Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut, the dramatic illustrations of Danté’s Inferno by Gustave Doré, and parties in New York City provided the inspiration. ‘By weaving together these three themes, I’m able to tell a story about New York that is universal and also uniquely my own.’

Known and loved for her amusingly kitsch accessories (handbags featuring cookies, a wedge of swiss cheese as a hat), new, simpler pieces this season gave breathing room to the more expressive ideas: a burnt red wrap skirt that revealed a flash of thigh; a suit jacket with pencil-narrow lapels; conservative court shoes, worn subversively. Butterflies hovered on areas that don’t usually see the light of day: across a model’s exposed chest, and on another model’s coccyx, revealed by a dress with a particularly low back. There were perhaps fleeting whispers of the late, great Alexander McQueen, who similarly sought inspiration from Dante (his A/W 1996 collection was named ‘Inferno’) and of course gave the world his famously low-slung ‘bumster’ silhouette. Although here, Mark’s off-kilter treatment of an intarsia varsity jacket and silver cocktail dress crafted from a series of bows felt, as the designer said, distinctly her own, and a love letter to her home city of New York. TMS

Zankov

Henry Zankov is fast becoming known for his specialism in knitwear, drawing admirers with his bold, optimistic designs – or ‘taking up space with colour’, as the designer puts it. Zankov has been thinking about his Jewish-Ukrainian roots and artists that share this heritage, including Louise Nevelson and Kazimir Malevich. Fascinated by the idea of collecting – another reference point was the art collectors Aimé and Marguerite Maeght, founders of La Fondation Maeght – he also looked towards the works of contemporary French painter Philippine de Richemont, whom he met just prior to the pandemic. Through lockdown, they messaged constantly, sharing references and interests (‘We naturally found we wanted to collaborate together,’ he says); in the collection, de Richemont’s figurative, gestural motifs run throughout on oversized sweaters, floor-length maxi-dresses and culotte shorts. Exploring the idea of knitwear for all seasons, other standout pieces included lightweight crepe intarsias and sheer ‘tissue-weight’ ribbed tanks – easily packed for summer – and a sporty, perforated boucle terry knit in vivid raspberry pink. TMS

Tommy Hilfiger ‘Tommy Factory’

The rain may have gotten the better of Tommy Hilfiger’s recreation of Andy Warhol's Factory, but the New York veteran nonetheless staged a larger-than-life, mega-wattage return to the runway. Held just beside the Brooklyn waterfront, Hilfiger presented what he does best – heritage Americana and preppy sportswear, with a renewed, inclusive message. Worn by an exceptionally diverse cast of models, the collection ranged from rugby-striped tunics and nautical knits to logoed denim bodysuits and plaid tailoring. Most notable was the unveiling of a special capsule designed by the British designer Richard Quinn. Featuring a rework of Quinn’s signature daisy emblem in a palette of bold colours, the collection sees the vibrant motif emblazoned on oversized puffers, peacoats, backpacks and holdalls. ‘I've always been inspired by working with creatives who push boundaries and Richard is no exception,’ said Hilfiger. ‘We've brought together our two distinct aesthetics to create a rebellious take on prep. It’s unexpected and optimistic and reflects the playful spirit at the heart of both our brands.’ PRK

Luar

As a prelude to his S/S 2023 runway show, Luar’s Raul Lopez shared a childhood memory in the show notes: him sitting at a reunion in his family’s Brooklyn living room, waiting for other family members to arrive. As each relative unzips their practical outerwear to reveal their glamorous and romantic finery for the special occasion, ‘you can’t help but gasp and sit up a little higher’, writes Lopez. ‘They float towards you with stars in their eyes, planting a kiss on your cheek as you think to yourself, oh we eatin’ good tonight, devouring legacy in the form of looks.’ 

Such was the mood for Luar’s latest collection, a supercharged tribute to the 1980s, informed by the immigrant experience, stemming from Lopez’s family roots in the Dominican Republic. Titled ‘La Alta Gama’ (‘The High End’ in Spanish), the collection reflects Lopez’s portrayal of the high and low, elegance and utility, tailoring and leisure, which have all come to define the Luar brand. ‘The women in Lopez’s family protected at all costs the American luxuries they worked hard to acquire. The jackets were their armour but the minute that these layers were shed signalled not just arrival but an inherent transformation,’ the notes continue. 

Exaggerated shoulders, textured leather blazers, pinstripe tailoring, nylon parkas and patchwork motifs were some of the references that mixed together. Paired with silk skirts, billowing trousers and jewel-encrusted gowns, the dynamic mash-up is reflective of Luar’s exciting appeal. Completed by its inclusive spirit and a cult handbag to boot – S/S 2023 sees a new briefcase shape join the ranks – Luar’s star continues to rise. PRK

Saturday 10 September

Eckhaus Latta

Beneath a cool canopy of trees at El Jardin Del Paraiso – a community garden in the Lower East Side – Eckhaus Latta paid homage to a friend of designer Zoe Latta who passed away in 2019, Matthew Grinnell Underwood (1983-2019), a multidisciplinary artist from Providence. With the permission of his estate, Latta and co-designer Mike Eckhaus deftly wove his artworks into the collection – notably, printing his images onto silver foiled T-shirts and knotted dresses, as well as slinky knitwear. Harpist Mary Lattimore opened with a delicate melodic riff, before sampling, scratching, and building on her own notes to create a soundtrack of depth and complexity. The press notes included a poem, which described the act of zoning out as inherently romantic. Romantic was the mood; serenely melancholic in the sunshine. 

The overall effect was ethereal and dreamlike (sheer netting ruched into dresses, tops as light as candy floss) punctuated with moments of urgency (a hazard orange workwear jacket). And then came the section of items with giant pieces missing – not suggestive cut-aways, but rather gaping holes revealing a stomach or side, or an absent trouser leg, as though something crucial had been unexpectedly lopped off, gone missing. A commentary on grief and loss, perhaps, so adept is Eckhaus Latta at reflecting back to the world the very spirit of life in a given moment. TMS

Dion Lee

Dion Lee’s selection of a raw, vacant space on the 22nd floor of a midtown Manhattan office block meant his androgynous collection was set against the sun-drenched New York City skyline. With views of the city’s changing architecture and its sea of glass facades just beyond, Lee’s consideration of the silhouette – articulated through body-hugging mesh tanks, cut-out elements, motocross-inspired leather and denim jackets as well as zippered parachute pants – could not feel more of the moment. Known for his gender-fluid approach to dressing, Lee’s ability to blur the boundaries between tailoring and utility, structure and ease was equally apparent. This season, he was drawn to similar crossovers in nature. His transformation of the recognisable Monstera plant motif into leather mini dresses and boots was paralleled by sheer cut-out tops and T-shirts that mimic the rib cage and other aspects of human anatomy. A delicate halterneck top crafted from metal beads and worn with wide-legged tailored pants was a particular highlight, as was a pair of lemon yellow dresses, interspersed with revealing, loosely strung panels, once again accentuating the body. PRK

Private Policy

Feelings of peace and love flowed through Private Policy’s after-dark sidewalk show where fans of the brand queued three deep outside the downtown venue for a chance to glimpse models walking under the floodlights which lined the pavement. The brand has been consistently working to shed light on a political global issue each season; over the years they have addressed topics as diverse as American ‘big pharma’, the potential of fungi, enslaved fishermen and contemporary capitalism. Their S/S 2023 show was titled ‘Noah’s Ark’, and the brand’s creative directors, Haoran Li and Siying Qu, were concerned with animal migration, deforestation and the impact of humans on animal welfare. In places, the translation was literal –heart-shaped peace signs and doves mid-flight adorned T-shirts. Elsewhere, graphic hoodies and board shorts, utility denim and cargo pants, and streetwear-infused tailoring meant plenty of desirable pieces for Private Policy’s many devotees. TMS

Marni

Creative director Francesco Risso’s contract with Marni was extended in 2020, after a four-year winning streak, in part for his ability to attract and convert a younger, more diverse customer. Tonight, in a dramatically lit tunnel in Dumbo (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass), a milieu of curators, artists, fellow fashion designers, musicians, and more hugged hello and jostled for their seats, all pledging allegiance to the house’s vibrant, colourful prints. Risso studied part of his fashion education at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology and appeared as comfortable as ever to be back in the city. The concept of the circle seemed to be circulating in Risso’s mind. The String Orchestra of Brooklyn (along with Dev Hynes), all bedecked in tangerine-red, delivered a driving, pulsating soundtrack that looped and looped; sleeves of dresses flowed into hemlines, creating a hooped silhouette that appeared to conjoin arms and legs. Circular crochet panels appeared on the front of crop tops, while slinky silk jersey separates also showcased a circular motif. The final looks leaned more into handcraft, appearing to have come unravelled on the loom before being top-stitched back together with a knitting needle. Sporty accessories took the form of sunglasses masquerading as slick swimming goggles, boxing boots and knitted sock boots stamped with soccer boot markings, while the finale dress was painted with dish plate-sized dots. A very welcome import. TMS

Friday 9 September

Proenza Schouler

Fashion’s discombobulated scheduling (viewing summer clothes in autumn, winter coats in spring) continues to disorientate, although remarkably everything at Proenza Schouler appeared just right for now. Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez delivered their vision for next summer on a sweltering fall day as people were still mentally and literally unpacking from their own summer escapes. Energy was high among the guests and in the clothes; Hernadez looked to his Cuban roots to inspire expressive flamenco ruffles and polka dots, while McCollough built on their nearly 20-year heritage of American sportswear. It made for a tantalising flirtation between city and vacation states of minds: the new perennial mindset? On the runway, models with slicked wet hair and glistening skin appeared as though they had just stepped out of the ocean, arriving at a glamourous beach bar for sundowners in gold crochet pants and dresses trimmed with kinetic beading. 
 
Everything moved with finesse – scuba circle skirts swished; hemlines of pants swirled about ankles as though models were walking through waves; exaggerated waterfall sleeves draped almost to the floor. By contrast, tailored outerwear and pristinely cut lace shirting in chartreuse and bubblegum pink presented a youthful option for those dusting the sand off their toes. A colossal waterfall, ‘a symbol of life’, was projected onto the interior walls of Hall des Lumières in downtown Manhattan opposite City Hall. Next week the full 28,000 sq ft space will open to the public as an immersive digital exhibition programmed by Culturespaces, the creator of Atelier des Lumières in Paris in partnership with IMG. TMS

Collina Strada

Collina Strada’s provocative, eco-minded ethos found an ideal soulmate in its show setting this season. Staged at the Naval Cemetery Landscape, a former cemetery now transformed into a nature preserve, with local plant species, nectar-rich annuals and milkweed varieties to attract pollinators, like monarch caterpillars and butterflies, back to New York City, the wild and unexpected sanctuary formed an idyllic backdrop for the label’s ethereal new collection. Inspired by the butterfly’s symbolic life cycle, designer Hillary Taymour emulated stages of life, death and rebirth in garment form, while showcasing the advancements in Collina Strada’s regenerative philosophy. Diaphanous orange fibre organza gowns in psychedelic florals and rose-derived ‘sylk’ pieces were teamed with embellished deadstock denim, knitwear made from upcycled cotton-acrylic scraps (a collaboration with the Italian label Vitelli), and handpainted, made-to-order jeans, created together with Unspun, to prove just how responsibly clothes can be made. Finished with cane sugar sandals and boots by Melissa and Viron boots made from apple leather and upcycled leather, the future of sustainable fashion is certainly blooming and bright. PRK 

Fendi

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Fendi’s Baguette bag, it seemed only apt that the brand returned to the Big Apple to fete the sartorial icon, the place where it was canonised in pop cultural history thanks to Sex and the City. Joining forces with other icons such as Marc Jacobs, Tiffany & Co and SATC actress Sarah Jessica Parker, Fendi’s artistic directors Silvia Venturini Fendi and Kim Jones took over Manhattan’s Hammerstein Ballroom to stage a star-studded anniversary collection to be remembered. Inspired by the bag and the era of freedom and excess that it was born in, the collection was an ode to the piece's multiplicity. From its multi-pocketed form, which riddled its way overcoats, skirts and gloves, to reinterpretations of the Fendi logo and the bag’s signature buckle, the collection embodied the bag’s idiosyncratic glamour, with a hefty dose of shiny satin, shimmering sequins and candy-coloured fur all muddling together in triumphant harmony. PRK

There’s a stat in business lore that says only a third of all new businesses make it past their first year, and only a third of all those businesses make it to year three. So given this, New York Fashion Week A/W 2022 felt like a celebration of successes. Not so much for the Madison Avenue establishment, but further downtown, where the beloved Echkaus Latta celebrated its tenth anniversary. Known for its homespun, indie clothes, it was buoying – and eye-opening – that with slow and steady progression, the brand founded by Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta has graduated into real business (it now has two stores, situated bi-coastally like the founders, and recently launched childrenswear). The duo’s friend Maryam Nassir Zadeh, who walked their label's show, is another example of an independent flourishing brand (her diversified business model encompasses a multi-brand store plus her own line). Adeam also celebrated a decade. 

Meanwhile, a slew of new brands founded during the Covid-19 pandemic were getting their second and third seasons and hitting the ground running (see more below on this). Most exciting is the spirit of experimentation that this vanguard is ushering in. Leading the charge on this enterprising, adventurous journey is Carly Mark and her irreverent label, Puppets and Puppets, one of the most anticipated shows of the schedule. 

Fashion week’s game of musical chairs continues. Covid-19’s impact on the global supply chain scuppered Tom Ford’s show, The Row has moved to Paris Fashion Week, there’s no Vaquera, and Christopher John Rogers has shifted to showing on pre-collection timings. Shayne Oliver (known for the label Hood By Air, one of the vanguard of gender-neutral, tonal street-slash-utility brands that came to define an era) returned, with an eponymous label and a creative studio, Anonymous Club. Others (Jonathan Simkhai, Imitation of Christ) stepped into a new dimension – the metaverse. While the blocky beta environment of Second Life feels far from the current IRL experience, it's certainly a territory worth watching. Digital native Maisie Wilen hijacked Yahoo’s tech to create a holographic show. 

What else? Covid-19 cautions saw show seating reduced, with some brands, like Proenza Schouler, showing twice. And Telfar Clemens and Collina Strada both showed films starring their friends on the final day.

New York Fashion Week A/W 2022: the trends and takeaways 

01. Emerging talent

Perhaps most exciting is the crop of new talent emerging from the upset of the past two years. This pioneering energy is rich in breadth and styles, from pop colours to dishabille subversion. Almost all have done away with traditional gender constraints, simply shelving the conversation with little fanfare. Wallpaper’s March Style Issue showcases a portfolio of new talents including Diotima, Connor McKnight, Puppets and Puppets, Social Work, Head of State, and LA-based Kenneth Nicholson.

Elsewhere, Elena Velez explored the modern characteristic of femininity: ‘gritty, fortuitous and industrial’. Zankov comprehensively traversed the possibilities of knit, journeying to the Lot in France to collect wisps of natural yarn from heirloom sheep for his graphic knits. Also creating buzz are Saint Sintra, Theophilus, SC103, Private Policy, Judy Turner, Dauphinette’s Olivia Cheng, and mother-daughter design duo House of Aama. 

02. Sexy Luxy: wardrobing that works 

There’s no denying it, New York has always been the city of clothes that look like, well, clothes. A long-term relationship with American sportswear will do that to a place. And besides, didn’t we all grow up and get busy and want to pull on something easy before or after our meeting/school run/workout? But how to prevent a proliferation of ‘solution-driven’ garments from becoming just more merchandise? Sad apparel? Algorithm-designed fillers? Well: Extremely luxy fabrics. Scrupulously finished. Details well attended to: a cuff width, the narrowness of an armhole, a shoulder proportion. And that’s before you get inside the clothes: a deep silk pocket, French-seamed hems, substantial buttons. And give it a point of view. Add some sex appeal. Make a pleat razor sharp. Thank you, Peter Do. Thank you, Khaite's Cate Holstein. Thank you, Michael Kors.

03. A feast for the senses 

With visuals taken care of, designers tantalised our other senses. Ulla Johnson and Adaem sent incense with their invites (Astier de Villatte and Hako, respectively), Anna Sui shared fragrance to complement her digital show, Maryam Nassir Zadeh slipped Costa Brazil Breu Branco-scented body oil into her goody bags. On the matter of taste, Brandon Maxwell paid homage to his grandmother’s cooking, while Interior's presentation took place at the Waverly Inn, where models snacked on fries, steak and oysters as guests milled about. Puppets and Puppets’ Carly Mark adorned handbags with juicy carrots, and Collina Strada’s Hillary Taymour enlisted her downtown friends to pose with root vegetables in her film showing at Angelika Film Center. As far as sound was concerned, a level of performance and showmanship added welcome drama to a generally measured fashion offering, including tap dancer Cartier Williams at Puppets and Puppets and drummer OmgCornelio at Gabriela Hearst. Eartheater gave a live performance for Oliver Shayne, and created a composition for Proenza Schouler, conducted by Simon Hanes.

04. Good front

Models on almost every catwalk bared considerable skin up top – a notable move in an outerwear-heavy season. Clothes shaped, defined, accentuated, titillated. They were provocative, and sometimes downright revealing. Clavicles framed, shoulders polished. It all speaks to the appetite for peeling off the cosy layers of our recent pasts. Corsets were laced and zipped in all shapes and structures, from Puppets and Puppets’ two-tone, to Proenza Schouler’s stretch-jersey tubes that slipped over suiting, to hand-worked and cropped at Ulla Johnson. Boobs were accentuated with robust boning, conical knits and trompe l’oeil.

05. Time to shine 

Given the recent dearth of festivities, designers indulged in sequins and shimmer, finding ways to make sheen work around the clock. Khaite’s penultimate dress on the catwalk was adorned in minuscule white sequins, the effect being of heaviness rather than showy sparkle, while Proenza Schouler’s sporty stretch tops shone not from lurex but, upon closer inspection, hundreds of microscopic feather-like sequins. Watery tulle with translucent sequins at Eckhaus Latta was cut into dresses, tops and skirts; Peter Do sent out a substantial gown of black sequins; while Altuzarra’s saucer-sized paillettes summoned fantasy mermaid scales. 

06. Very Peri 

Pantone started it. Very Peri – shade 17-3938 – is the colour of 2022. Well, come fall we will be wearing the ‘dynamic periwinkle blue hue with a vivifying violet red undertone’, as Pantone describes it. Sheer lilac tulle was draped in swags at Khaite, while Private Policy co-founders Siying Qu and Haoran Li sent out a lilac silk slip, jersey knits and a denim jacket dress. Proenza Schouler’s shirtdress has wardrobe cornerstone potential and comes in violet and also scarlet. Sintra Martins of Saint Sintra tied yards of lilac shirting into bows and cut a wisp-of-satin off-the-shoulder dress. Maryam Nassir Zadeh even took her bow in a pair of amethyst trousers. 

07. Deluxe denim 

America’s workwear staple was offered as a legitimate option for work, play, night and day. After years of development, Ulla Johnson launched her ‘made in America’ no-stretch denim, debuting a handful of styles with her ready-to-wear. Peter Do provocatively slashed jeans open at the thigh. Brandon Maxwell nonchalantly presented his true blues with marabou-feather wraps and evening satin shirting. Khaite’s were oversized and worn with a sharp-shouldered blazer.

08. Love leather 

Sexy. Structured. Romantic. Pleated. Leather came in all guises, cropping up in new roles while also revisiting classics, such as the trusty biker jacket. Most notable was Gabriela Hearst’s leather trench coats, overlaid with Bolivian crochet (another big trend that isn’t abating) and the punched-out leather lace that traced patterns sketched by the designer. Hearst carbon-offset her show, providing editors with a detailed breakdown of CO2 units in her press notes. Tory Burch brought a harder edge to her American sportswear with a pair of tan leather trousers and pared-back neat little black leather jacket, while Maryam Nassir Zadeh favoured vintage hues of chestnut and moss. 

The ‘will it or won’t it’ of whether New York Fashion Week would happen while emerging from a pandemic was answered on the very first day: street style is back, traffic is back, and venues are back, back, back. So, what has the last year and half taught us? Nine lessons and observations from Fashion Week follow: 

New York Fashion Week S/S 2022: nine lessons and observations

Family first, community is king

Know your audience. Literally. More shows than ever felt like a family gathering, a community bash of sorts. Eckhaus Latta, Maryam Nassir Zadeh and Collina Strada conjured camaraderie in the bleachers. What’s more, many friends of the houses were called on to walk in the shows. Casting at Collina Strada included mother-daughter duos, best friends, lovers (in general, runways were positively populated with intersectionality). The show was a response to being physically distanced from one another: ‘print on print, layers on layers’. 

Maryam Nassir Zadeh’s collection notes read ‘Family / Community / People I love’, and the show took place at her East Village store: a meeting spot for family, friends and the community. For his inaugural show, Peter Do brought his collective of designers out from backstage to take a bow together against the Manhattan skyline, sun glaring low over the glass skyscrapers. 

Dreams of escape, visions of renewal

Wet beachy hair, glossy sunkissed skin, scuba vests, sports sandals, bags big enough to pack for a weekend away. Escape was travelling across many mood boards this season, albeit filtered through the lens of city life: as if we know we can’t quite escape the daily grind just yet. Proenza Schouler delivered a highlight show of the week on Thomas Heatherwick-designed Little Island: ‘A utilitarian wardrobe for the intelligent, adult, urban woman of today is filtered through the romantic lens of expedition and travel, rendered into a collection resolutely made for the city streets,' the designers said. Models wore handmade feather lei garlands (made by a Maui specialist) over their compact viscose-knit sculpted dresses and jacquard suit jackets in hot pink, yellow and sunset orange.

For Peter Do’s debut NYFW show, he treated guests to a skyline view of Manhattan, staging his show across the water in Brooklyn. Further distilling a house signature, long lean ribbed jersey dresses worn over trousers were layered with perfectly cut boxy suit jackets. Pleated shirts billowed generously like sails; Swarovski crystal-covered jackets shimmered like the river behind. 

Comfort the soul and senses

One of the most touching moments was Peter Do’s handwritten press release; a love letter to his childhood spent cooking with his father, an army chef, where he likened making the collection to making a bowl of pho: ‘Every weekend my father would make lots of food and invite the family and friends. On one of our weekends he taught me how to make pho. The process was long... there was beef, pork bones, spices, dry shrimp, rock sugar and other secrets. There was a process of burning onions over fire for the broth. It took lots of patience. A good pho doesn’t need much, it is reduced and edited to an essence. It is comforting and it feels like home. In making this collection, it felt like the time I made pho with my dad. Welcome to our home: let us make you a bowl of pho.' 

Elsewhere, Gabriela Hearst’s best friend Paola Pravato, whose drawings were translated into prints in the collection, recalled the healing power of lavender oil, discovered during a challenging year in lockdown in Argentina, which inspired her to sketch. 

Sensuality, magnetism, attitude

It’s resolutely time to hang up the pandemic athleisure. Molten metal at Tom Ford; Khaite’s crystal and ruffle mesh dishabille finale gown; Rodarte’s racy lacey gowns – sex appeal is back. LaQuan Smith was once dismissed by FIT and Parsons, only to set up his own company making body-sculpting leggings and going on to dress Rihanna. This week he showed his glossy body-confident collection of patent leather, slippery satin, and luminous stretch on top of the Empire State Building. Instantly iconic. 

The maker’s hand

The hand of the craftsperson was felt urgently, irrespective of the breath of outcomes. Gabriela Hearst worked with Navajo communities, and collectives in Uruguay and Bolivia, producing expertly woven and knitted items in limited numbers. In contrast, Cate Holstein’s highly polished modern city pieces at Khaite were realised using couture techniques, including invisible boning, horse hair layers, and intricate hand sewing. Vaquera’s tongue-in-cheek punk-party-DIY equalled taped breasts, spliced neon T-shirts and lacy slips worn with little else (co-founder Bryn Taubensee took her bow wearing a skirt with a pair of knickers stitched on front and back).  

Fashion as social enterprise

Collina Strada’s Hillary Taymour chose the Brooklyn Grange ‘not only to share New York’s largest rooftop farm with our fashion family but also to encourage each of you to pursue a rooftop garden for your own living situation'. The designer included a draft template for attendees to send to landlords with the state protocols. ‘We are in a crucial state of change right now and the more we do the more we can impact others to take action,' says Taymour. 

Meanwhile, Tory Burch launched the Tory Burch Claire McCardell Fashion Fellowship at the Maryland Center for History and Culture. Additionally, earlier in the year, Studio One Eighty Nine designer Abrima Erwiah (who co-founded her brand with Rosario Dawson), who launched @fashionourfuture2020 last year to encourage people to vote, was named a CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund 2021 finalist. 

America’s heavyweights still pack a punch

Just days before The Met inaugurated its American-themed extravaganza, some of the biggest names in American fashion – both establishment and the more recently promoted – were proving their weight as global power players, broadcasting the message of American style far and wide. From the original guard of Michael Kors, Tom Ford and Carolina Herrera – who was celebrating her brand’s 40th anniversary with AR gowns designed in collaboration with Tribute – to Thom Browne’s couture-level creations; Tory Burch’s tribute to Claire McCardell’s free-spirited city clothes; Stuart Vevers’ honouring of Coach designer Bonnie Cashin; and Rodarte’s barefoot models in pastel tunics and slinky monochrome gowns. America’s influence lives on. 

Missing in action 

Some notable names were absent from the Fashion Week calendar for various reasons. Amongst them, sorely missed Christopher John Rogers, who will show later off schedule; The Row already presented its S/S 2022 collection in July; Calvin Klein is taking a hiatus from runway; Tommy Hilfiger launched a buy now wear now collection with Romeo Hunte in late summer; and Ralph Lauren.

On the ascent...

Artist-turned-designer Carly Mark has been making characterful clothes under the name Puppets and Puppets for the past couple of years. This season she produced a collection ‘teetering the line between hauntedness and hopefulness’, exploring the tension of being not quite out of the pandemic, and yet not fully in it. Describing her brand as geared towards ‘future thinking’, it was one of the original, delightfully exploratory and playful shows. (Also worth keeping an eye on – Telfar’s founder Telfar Clemens is launching a TV network, along with a new ‘so hot you can’t even hold it’ handbag; it’s cylindrical, btw). 

Scene setting: Sies Marjan's creative director Sander Lak gave showgoers a peek at a lesser known New York by using the sumptuous lobby of the Surrogate's Courthouse as his venue of choice this season. The Beaux Arts municipal building in lower Manhattan dates to 1907 and boasts elaborate marble interiors, including a statuesque double staircase that models paraded down.

Mood board: S/S 2020 was a bit of a departure for Lak, whose usually buoyant and fantasy-filled creations feel as light as air. Lak opted to experiment with texture this season, particularly the look and feel of a variety of animal skins, leading to crocodile-embossed satin and reptile-embossed silks that were effortlessly draped across the figure. Paired with a punchy, jewel-toned palette inspired by make-up and nail polish colours, the collection marked a new level of sophistication and elegance that was carefully considered.

Sound bite: ‘This collection is a rejection of irony, bad taste, satire, reality TV, and kitsch,' says Lak. ‘It celebrates the beauty of having the time and freedom to create and consider your choices – the antithesis of rushing.' 

Sies Marjan S/S 2020.

Delpozo: Arguably the most beautiful collection of New York Fashion Week, Delpozo’s Josep Font proved that he’s the master of eveningwear. Font was influenced by Spanish light master Joaquín Sorolla and Korean-American artist Soo Sunny Park’s installation art. Sculptural trousers, tops and gowns in soft pastels came out from the runway, along with an assortment of ruffles, stripes and shiny floral embellishments. 

Tomas Maier: Embroidered floral details, hand-painted hems and colour blocking brought a playful element to Tomas Maier understated spring/summer collection that was clearly meant for discrete city dwellers. The German accessories expert’s take on the furry slide trend, in a diverse range of colours, as with the metallic leather bags, showed his firm grasp of what his audience is waiting for

Narciso Rodriguez: The New Yorker put out a number of minimal separates for his S/S 2017 collection. Calf wedges were styled with photogram print silk dresses and loose silk trenches

Rodarte: Alexandre de Betak of Bureau Betak once again juxtaposed technology and nature for the Mulleavy sisters’ S/S 2017 set that saw fluorescent tube lights intermingled with yellow wild flowers

Gabriela Hearst: For her sixth collection, Gabriela Hearst looked at witches as her starting point, churning out oversized silk trenches, guipure lace pencil skirts and chic separates that can be dressed up or down

3.1 Phillip Lim: The floor of the 3.1 Phillip Lim show was dusted with flowers, which alluded to the prints that would soon walk out onto the runway. The varying floral prints ended up being the strongest part of the collection, decorating a white jacket, and showing up on several blouses and dresses that were teamed back with contrasting linear stripes.

DKNY: Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne, the two born-and-bred New Yorkers now behind DKNY, took it upon themselves to redefine New York’s fashion future by creating a collection that inhabits in a place they called ‘Neo Soho’. Here the pair flexed their streetwear expertise, incorporating edgy windbreakers with tailored blazers and oversized knits.

The Row: The American brand may not be releasing its S/S 2017 runway images until January, but the New York show did give us a chance to get better acquainted with its new art-filled Manhattan store.

Zero + Maria Cornejo: Maria Cornejo used one hue for her entire S/S 2017 collection: off-white. The pieces were loose and wearable, yet stylish; clothes that women who care about comfort and the way they’re dressed would covet.

Diane Von Furstenberg: Jonathan Saunders’s debut at DVF was a commanding success, with the designer adding new life to the house’s signature wrap dress, with vibrant, intersecting prints and a looser fit. Touches of bold stripes and laser cutting made it more interesting, while being wearable and accessible to DVF loyalists. 

Sies Marjan: For his second NYFW outing, Sies Marjan’s Sander Lak continued to maintain the buzz around his label with an array of monochromatic looks, featuring a sprinkling of an abstract pastel prints, and looks that proved that he knows how to elegantly drape, wrap, and slouch. A layered, shimmery fiery orange gown fell just so in all the right places, while a subtle navy off-the-shoulder v-neck top revealed an easygoing elegance. 

Hood By Air: Never one to hold on to convention, Hood By Air’s Shayne Oliver tapped Pornhub to sponsor his S/S 2016 show, even using porn as the inspiration for the show’s beauty looks, smearing Vaseline all over the models’ heads. Crisp, deconstructed white shirts rolled out, many covered with the word Wench – the collection’s theme. Models stumbling around while wearing double-sided cowboy boots, showed that they are probably more fashion than function, while HBA’s signature logoed jackets also made an appearance. 

Eckhaus Latta: Despite the sweltering heat, a coterie of artists, musicians and downtown scenesters showed up for Eckhaus Latta’s runway show, which was located in a park on New York’s Lower East Side. There’s a reason why Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta’s label is one of New York’s most buzzed about, especially amongst New York’s creative set; it’s the way they form innovative silhouettes by rejiggering denim, so that it looks new and fresh, just as they retool knits with carefree open backs. In short, they give traditional staples a new perspective

Lacoste: Felipe Oliveira Baptista dreamed up a tennis match on the rooftop of the modernist Villa Malaparte in Capri, where comfort, elegance and sensuality were of prime importance. The designer reinterpreted terrycloth robes into dresses, while turning Lacoste’s crocodile into an edgy, artful print.

Paul Andrew: Fresh on the heels of being named footwear director of Salvatore Ferragamo, Paul Andrew put out a collection of architecturally minded shoes. A rainbow of basic pumps started it all, before branching out into heavy lacings on sandals and heels. Prominent buckles accented a lot of the shoes, and simple mules were made for the more minimal minded

Area: Piotrek Panszczyk and Beckett Fogg combed old issues of iconic American fashion magazines to find inspiration for their S/S 2017 collection. ‘There was a lot of sports involved, so from that we started this intarsia on silk track jackets,’ explained Panszyczyk. ‘It starts as a bow that is appliquéd on the jacket, and it finishes as a bow that’s tied onto the neck’

M. Martin: The team at M. Martin looked to the fashions of Ernest Hemingway and his many women for S/S 2017, showing an easygoing collection dominated by tropical prints, loose-fitting safari jackets and its signature pyajama-cut pieces

Fashion week, these days, is about much more than just the collections. Showmanship is the name of game, and in the meticulously executed sartorial extravaganzas, the soundtrack is an element that no producer can afford to overlook. Music royalty - past and present - is enlisted to ensure a full assault on the senses. Here, we bring you the soundtrack to the shows.

[css code]

SATURDAY 10/9

Altuzarra

Music production: Frédéric Sanchez

Y-3

'Saki Hokuru Hana No Youni Neo Visualizm' by Miyavi; 'Yatoware No Mi No Blues' by Miyavi; 'Fuer Immer Jetzt' by Tokio Hotel; 'Selfish Love - Aishitekure Aishiterukara by Miyavi; 'Sonnensystem' by Tokio Hotel; 'Jiko-ai, Jiga Jisan, Jiishiki Kajo' by Miyavi; 'Ashita, Tenki Ni Nare' by Miyavi; 'Are You Ready To Love' by Miyavi; 'Lass Uns Laufen' by Tokio Hotel.

Music selection by Yohji Yamamoto, mixed by Jiro Amimoto

Thakoon

'Ganges Delta Blues' by Ry Cooder & V.M. Bhatt; 'Cherokee Mist' by Jimmy Hendrix

Music production: Michel Gaubert and Steven Brinke

Tommy Hilfiger

'Crosstown Traffic' by Jimmy Hendrix; 'Somebody Told Me To Feel Good' by Killers vs Gorillaz; 'Ritual Union' by Little Dragon; 'Get It On' by T-Rex; 'Are You Crazy' by The Shoes; 'I Can Get No Satisfaction' by The Rolling Stones; 'You Can't Always Get What You Want (Soulwax Remix)' by The Rolling Stones

Music production: Michel Gaubert

MONDAY 12/9

Donna Karan

'Star Breathe (Remix)' by Yello; 'Azan Nan Kpe' by Angelique Kidjo

Music production: Kevin Edwards

TUESDAY 13/9

Rodarte

'Fade Into You' by Mazzy Star; 'Everyday Is Like Sunday' by Morrissey; 'Awakening' from Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty; 'The Sleeping Beauty' by Tchaikovsky, direction Herbert von Karajan.

Music consultation: Zach Cowie for Biggest Crush

Diesel Black Gold

'Midnight City' by M83; 'Theme De Camille' by Georges Delerue; 'Forever Young' by Joakim; 'Forever Frost' by Aril Brikha; 'Contact' by Wooden Shjips.

WEDNESDAY 14/9

3.1 Phillip Lim

'Time's Up' by Nguzunguzu; 'You Got The Love (The XX Remix)' by Florence & The Machine; 'Order' by James Blake; 'Pan' by James Blake; 'Far Nearer' by Jamie XX; 'Not Fade Away' by Florence & The Machine

Music production: Sebastien Perrin

THURSDAY 15/9

Ralph Lauren

'Born 1921' by Rasmus Faber; 'He's In Love' by St. Lola In The Fields; 'Anywhere Under The Moon' by Dala; 'Moonwalking' by Late Night Alumni; 'Elegy' by Globus

Music production: Andrew Lauren and Kevin Fleming

Calvin Klein Collection

'Made In China' by The Tear Garden; 'Red Rose' by Swans; 'Two To Tango' by Young Gods; 'A Drawning' by How To Destroy Angels; 'A Animated Description of Dr. Maps' by The Books; '999,999' by Nine Inch Nails; 'The Four Of Us Are Dying' by Nine Inch Nails

Music production: Frédéric Sanchez

Marc Jacobs

'Knee 1' by Philip Glass; 'Trial 2: Prison "Prematurely Air-Conditioned Supermarket"' by Philip Glass; 'Trial 2: Prison "Ensemble"' by Philip Glass

Music production: Frédéric Sanchez