New York fashion week gained traction in popular culture in the 2000s, with shows like Sex and the City and Gossip Girl dedicating whole episodes to fashion events. Its cult following was further solidified by influencers who flocked to the event to snap photos for their followers.
Key trends this year included lingerie elements, body-revealing dresses and sensuous softer constructions. We also saw a lot of color and bold shapes (see Philip Lim, Khaite and Altuzarra).
The Week in Review
New York Fashion Week is here with a whirlwind schedule of runway shows and parties for editors, models and influencers. But it also brings the city abuzz with designer pop-ups, store events and plenty of style inspiration on the streets.
The week’s first major event was Peter Do’s debut as Helmut Lang’s new creative director, where the ascendant Vietnamese-American designer reinterpreted the minimalist ’90s brand for a new generation. The night’s front row, which included Lil Nas X and actresses Laverne Cox and Kesha, was decked out in Do’s sexy oversized knits and leather moto jackets.
Afterward, Hermes staged a rare NYFW show in the old Domino Sugar factory in Williamsburg, bringing out a star-studded crowd led by Matt Damon, Natasha Lyonne and Kim Gordon. The eponymous house usually showcases its men’s collections during Paris Fashion Week, but this year, it decamped to New York.
In other fashion week highlights, Ralph Lauren staged its first NYFW show since 2019, with a roster of A-listers like Diane Keaton and Julianne Moore. Meanwhile, Christian Siriano’s 15th anniversary show drew an eclectic front row with Janet Jackson, Laura Linney and Kesha. And the 2024 CFDA Fashion Innovation Awards honored designers including Alexandre Birman and Kenneth Cole.
Gabriela Hearst
Gabriela Hearst makes clothing that feels like a natural extension of its wearer. This season, her designs referenced the art of Eileen Gray with symmetrical and overlapping square screens woven into cloudlike cashmere knit dresses and lacquered totes. Hearst’s focus on the utilitarian and the artisanal is evident in her work, which she sources and manufactures with a sensitivity to environmental and social issues. She’s created suits and coats lined in silver that prevents cell phone radiation from reaching women’s reproductive organs and crafted macrame dresses in Bolivian aloe-treated linen, which is more sustainable than cotton because it absorbs less water and requires fewer resources to grow.
A member by marriage of one of America’s most prominent publishing dynasties, Hearst is self-taught in fashion design and eschews the idea that fashion must follow trends to be novel. She references broader concepts such as female empowerment, fusion power and re-wilding to inform her collections. This season, she looked at the Druids, the high priestly class among prehistoric Celts, whose culture had women in a “prime spot.”
Philanthropy is also a major priority for Hearst. In 2017, she designed a sweater to support Planned Parenthood, and she partnered with Tod’s to update their slip-on sneaker with men’s brogue details in Morse code for “love” to benefit the organization. Hearst has also worked with Save the Children to distribute her handbag collection in rural Turkana County, Kenya, which aims to raise funds for families facing extreme climate change (water scarcity and complete loss of animal stock that provides both currency and food). Her pieces are sold online and at Bergdorf Goodman and Net-A-Porter.
Proenza Schouler
Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez are still a force to be reckoned with in fashion—so much so that they’ve started a separate line of casual apparel called Proenza Schouler White Label that borrows elements from their mainline. But the thread that ties their collections together is a fascination with art and creating innovative, luxury, game-changing clothes (which are why you’ll find Chloe Sevigny and Alicia Vikander wearing them).
For their Spring 2023 show, McCollough and Hernandez opted to skip a theme altogether and focus on their signature haptic aesthetic—think lace dresses with touch-the-floor bell sleeves, ruffled mini skirts, and twirling, flowy silhouettes. The duo also showcased their mastery of craft, from the delicate ribbon crochet of tube dresses to the transparent sea green plastic shard embroideries on leather blazers and skirts.
It’s a new way of conceiving clothes that speaks to the designers’ belief in “intellect, strength and soul” as their brand mantra—a philosophy that was evident in the clothes they sent down the runway. It was less Proenza Schouler’s bubbly little sister dreaming of nights out on the town and more its chill, erudite cousin grabbing a snack while studying at Columbia.
When the designer duo met at Parsons to design their senior thesis, they didn’t have a name for their label yet—so they merged their mother’s maiden names (Proenza is Hernandez’s middle name and Schouler is McCollough’s). Their first collection was a hit, and since then, the brand has become one of the most sought-after in contemporary womenswear.
Altuzarra
Joseph Altuzarra, the CFDA award-winning designer who is synonymous with exceptionally crafted feminine tailoring, has dressed the likes of Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Lana Del Rey and Meghan Markle (before her royal title change). His draped dresses and tailored pants flatter women’s natural curves and capture the sexy sophistication of their namesake.
After four seasons of showing in Paris, Altuzarra moved his show to New York this season. He opened the show with a sweeping satin coat that brought a foreboding twist to quotidian garb, referencing a pair of Japanese Boro textiles — everyday garments patched and pieced together to prolong their usefulness — whose hues and patinas, along with a palette of earthy jewel tones and woven accoutrements evoked an untamed landscape.
For the rest of the show, a sense of adventure filtered through. There were smocked slip dresses that seemed to come out of a ’60s wedding and tulle veils that added an element of soft Gothic bridal to babydoll dresses. Crushed textures and she’s-come-undone details, from gauzy organza slips peeking out of A-line coats to DIY-ish embroideries on other skirts and dresses, further added to the expedition theme.
After the show, Altuzarra sat down for The Talks, a series of discussions throughout the week presented by BMW. He discussed his inspirations, focusing on the duality of his work and his multicultural heritage that is rooted in his Chinese-American mother and French father.
Area
The semi-annual series of events — usually lasting 7-9 days — held in February and September each year, during which international fashion collections are shown to buyers and the press. It is one of the world’s four major fashion weeks, along with Paris, London and Milan.
Fashion Week brings in the industry’s insiders, including editors and writers, store buyers, stylists, influencers and celebrities. It also draws in the general public, with designers often streaming their runway shows online for a global audience. In addition, there are designer pop-up shops and events, as well as tons of photographers snapping street style photos.
New York Fashion Week 2023 will take place from Sept. 8-13, with Spring Studios at 50 Varick Street functioning as the main hub for IMG’s NYFW: The Shows. Other venues include Skylight Clarkson Square, the Brooklyn Navy Yard and Chelsea Piers.
Returning brands include Alice + Olivia, Altuzarra, Anna Sui and Brandon Maxwell. Other first-timers include Advisry, Chan Chit Lo, FFORME and Grace Ling. Tory Burch kicked off the season by exploring the female form on a cement runway, while LaQuan Smith celebrated femininity with voluminous puffer coats and a collection influenced by ballet. And on a docked USS Intrepid aircraft carrier, Carolina Herrera breathed romance into a spring/summer collection that highlighted the beauty of nature and women.
Khaite
During New York Fashion Week, designers pushed boundaries with their collections. There were long jackets and oversized suiting alongside fluid slip dresses. There was ruffled lace and floral appliques, tulle and twee ribbon details. And there were countless iterations of classics, from a cashmere bra that went viral to a dress made of tweed-like taffeta that was “curated to redefine elegance and individuality.”
One of the week’s standouts came from New York–based Khaite, founded in 2016 by designer Catherine Holstein. The buzzy label has seen rapid growth since launching, recently reaching the $100 million revenue mark. WWD reported that the brand recently received a fresh infusion of capital from New York–based growth equity firm Stripes to help chart its next course, which will include an expansion into brick-and-mortar retail.
The designer told Vogue Business that her goal is to establish a one-stop shop for foundational wardrobe pieces, similar to the way Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen built The Row. She also talked design inspiration, style icons and more in an exclusive interview with WWD.
