.jpg?ssl=1 "New York Fashion Wrestles With Reality, Plus 4 More Takeaways from NYFW")
New York Fashion Wrestles With Reality, Plus 4 More Takeaways from NYFW
Many designers, from Proenza Schouler to Carolina Herrera, made reference to the “New York woman”, the elusive, on-the-go customer. “The undeniable New York-ness of the collections allow them to be easily imagined on real women living their lives — on the street, at gallery openings, and at galas,” Rofsky says. Brigitte Chartrand, chief buying and merchandising officer for Net-a-Porter, also emphasized this season’s wearability. “There is great energy in New York, particularly around emerging talent and contemporary collections,” she says. But this can result in collections that feel slightly one-note — a continuation of the “New York uniform” of tasteful, but safe, clothes.
Others presented collections grounded in memory and, crucially, lived experience. Ashlyn’s Ashlynn Park designed her collection as a study in the ways in which memories are transmitted in the clothes that we wear. Daniella Kallmeyer focused Kallmeyer’s show on notions of permanence, and the ways in which memories both last and transform. Like Allen and Li, both designers were applauded for the wearability and desirability of their Fall/Winter 2026 offerings. Cult Gaia’s Jasmin Larian Hekmat, who held her first NYFW runway this season, opened her show with a track of her mother singing. “Her voice is the first material of the collection,” read the show notes. “It carries memory, displacement, celebration, and endurance.”
While the clothes on the runways may have been made for — and rooted in — real life, rarely did the messaging this season reflect the reality in which the clothes are being presented. In the weeks leading up to NYFW, celebrities and brands called for an end to violence at the hands of ICE, speaking out at events and participating in the National Strike. It looked as though fashion might be on the verge of getting political again, with independent designers leading the charge, as they have historically done.
