New York
by Clara Voss
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Clara Voss reports from New York Fashion Week for Not Nothing.
On-the-Ground Dispatch
The week opened slightly ahead of its own schedule. Ralph Lauren showed on September 9, before the official calendar began, at Jack Shainman Gallery downtown. The setting was marble and spare architecture, and the clothes were anything but spare: Gilded Age waistcoats, corsetry, safari references. Yet the room kept them quiet. What I carried out was a romantic, relaxed idea of American elegance, delivered without raising its voice. With a few of the usual drawcards missing from the official calendar, that early show, along with Marc Jacobs, gave the city its first real momentum.
Tommy Hilfiger’s return came at The Plaza Hotel, where Hilfiger once lived, and the show had the warmth of a homecoming. Ninety-era prep was reworked with maritime details and archival New York imagery, including a print drawn from a 1985 Times Square billboard. The yellow and green felt freshly chosen. It was nostalgic without being stuck, which is harder than it looks.
Diane von Furstenberg’s return to the schedule after nearly a decade was the moment I had been watching for. Henry Zankov, in his first outing as creative director, kept faith with the 1970s leopard-print wrap dress and widened what it can be. Color-blocked panels and contrasting archival-style ties gave the dress a second life. It felt like a full circle, and I did not find it sentimental.
Proenza Schouler was the show many people had come to see, and Rachel Scott’s second collection answered the question of whether she had found her footing. Print, color, and texture sat comfortably inside the house’s identity, and the PS1 bag returned. Khaite, with its boudoir mood, was more hushed, and Kaia Gerber walked. Both houses offered a sleek, commercial city polish and careful layering.
Outside the shows, the street was brighter than I expected after months of rain. Cobalt blue appeared repeatedly, as did orange, chartreuse, and marigold. Silky scarves and long necklaces were everywhere. Evening jackets were worn over denim or plain black trousers, a styling choice that looked considered rather than effortful. Among the guests were Paris Hilton, Gigi Hadid, Viola Davis, and Lauryn Hill, and at Coach, Elle Fanning and Troye Sivan. Protesters were part of what people talked about this week, and so were the anniversaries: Coach at 85 years, Carolina Herrera at 45.
Not everything held together. At one show, the seating placed the audience too close to the runway, and the clothes lost their shape against the proximity. A young designer admitted he had never produced anything before his third collection, and that candor, while admirable, was visible in the work. More broadly, the season leaned heavily on American heritage, and the strongest shows were the ones that gave familiar references a clear new point of view. The less certain ones simply repeated them.
Beneath the week ran a quiet commercial seriousness. Garments seemed built to sell, not merely to be photographed. I found that sensible, and occasionally a little cautious. What I will remember is the restraint: the ease of the silhouettes, the absence of obvious ornament, and a city still deciding what it wants to be.
Clara Voss reports from New York Fashion Week for Not Nothing.
Curated Round-Up
The Season of Wearability: What the Critics Saw at New York Fashion Week
If a single idea held across the roughly 70 shows and presentations of Spring/Summer 2027, it was ease. Vogue Arabia described the mood as wearable American elegance, built from relaxed tailoring, saturated color, tactile fabrics, and a renewed interest in heritage houses. Forbes reached for one word to summarize the critical consensus, “wearability,” meaning elevated everyday dressing and understated elegance. Style Arcade took a more commercial reading, noting a pivot away from purely conceptual garments toward high-margin pieces such as low-heeled shoes, robust outerwear, and structured bags.
The heritage houses set the tone. Vogue Arabia noted that Ralph Lauren opened the season with Gilded Age waistcoats and corsetry. USA Today called the show “starry.”
— USA Today
At Calvin Klein Collection, under Veronica Leoni, the emphasis was “clean lines, essential garments, and an absence of superfluous ornamentation.”
— Galerie Joseph
Elsewhere, the South China Morning Post found in Tory Burch’s show, staged in Noguchi’s Sunken Garden, something that put “the joy back into dressing.”
— South China Morning Post
The newer chapters drew the sharpest attention. Who What Wear said Rachel Scott’s second collection for Proenza Schouler felt as though she had “really settled in.”
— Who What Wear
The same publication praised Henry Zankov’s debut at Diane von Furstenberg for reworking the wrap dress through color-blocked panels and contrasting ties, and said Conner Ives’s New York debut, after crossing over from London, “backed it up.”
— Who What Wear
Coveteur, meanwhile, grouped Proenza Schouler and Khaite as the houses that grounded the week with sleek, commercial city polish.
Color and texture did much of the season’s talking. Cobalt, or Yves Klein blue, appeared at Kallmeyer, Simkhai, and Calvin Klein, according to Vogue Arabia, which also listed marigold, chartreuse, and red. Trendalytics gave energy orange equal weight. Coveteur noted sheer ruffs and high collars as Elizabethan accents, and Fashionista pointed to fish-shaped and star-shaped brooches pinned over neckties at Tory Burch and Coach. Fashion Week Daily observed the contrast of leather and suede pencil skirts against delicate lace.
The geometry of the season carried onto the street. The New York Times saw a dialogue between “sharper lines and slouchy silhouettes.”
— The New York Times
InStyle’s street-style roundup added chartreuse, fringe, bug-eye sunglasses, and slouchy boots to the list. Vogue’s Phil Oh found a scene that was brighter after months of rain, with attendees “having more fun with their style than ever.”
— Vogue
Not everything earned praise. WWD’s quick takes offered a practical staging complaint: at one show, “you can, in fact, be too close to the runway.”
— WWD
The same coverage noted an emerging designer who acknowledged he had produced nothing before his third collection. Vogue Arabia identified a larger tension between nostalgia and innovation, with the strongest shows giving familiar references a new point of view. Style Arcade added that anxieties over retail and shifting department store footprints put extra pressure on mid-tier designers to prove commercial viability.
Away from the runways, WWD reported on the rise of smaller, appointment-based luxury studios, including Jac Cameron’s new SoHo space near Khaite and Alaïa. USA Today observed the calendar stretching into Brooklyn and Queens. Galerie Joseph framed the week as celebratory and comeback-driven, with Coach marking 85 years, Carolina Herrera 45, and Tommy Hilfiger, Monse, and ThreeASFOUR returning.
Sources
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The New York Times (nytimes.com)
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USA Today (usatoday.com)
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Vogue (vogue.com)
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Vogue Arabia (voguearabia.com)
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WWD (wwd.com)
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South China Morning Post (scmp.com)
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Who What Wear (whowhatwear.com)
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Forbes (forbes.com)
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InStyle (instyle.com)
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Galerie Joseph (galeriejoseph.com)
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Style Arcade
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Coveteur
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Trendalytics
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Fashionista
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Fashion Week Daily