Fashion & Beauty: If it’s not subject to a full-scale reinvention, there certainly seems to be an injection of energy to New York Fashion Week (NYFW) this season after some sleepy recent editions that have caused some commentators to advocate for a once-a-year approach, or a reduced schedule centred around a handful of venues. A large part of this momentum is down to the return of Calvin Klein to the schedule last season under new creative director Veronica Leoni – prior to the show, the brand hadn’t held a runway show since the departure of Raf Simons in 2018. If the collection wasn’t a comprehensive home run, Leoni’s debut was a confident opening gambit, one which mined the minimal sensibility of the brand’s 1990s heyday (indeed, Mr Klein himself gave his seal of approval from the front row). She will show her sophomore collection at 12pm on Friday 12 September – if recent campaigns are anything to go by, expect a celebrity-filled affair with plenty of buzz. Other big-hitters of the week are Michael Kors, Tory Burch, Coach, Off-White and COS, the latter returning to the city after showing in Brooklyn last September.
Elsewhere, excitement builds around the city’s emerging talent: Zankov is hosting its first show after the presentations of previous years (founder Henry Zankov is known for his inventive knitwear, gaining traction earlier this year after a collaboration with Troye Sivan’s lifestyle line Tsu Lange Yor), while Rachel Scott of Diotima is holding her own first show (the designer, who honed her craft at Costume National in Milan, has also recently been named the new creative diector of Proenza Schouler). Other names to look out for include Eckhaus Latta, Luar and Area, where new creative director Nicholas Aburn has a strong pedigree – his last role was at Balenciaga, working on the house’s lauded couture lines under Demna during the Georgian designer’s tenure.
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Here, reported from New York, Wallpaper* picks NYFW’s standout shows – as they happened…
Michael Kors
Last season, Michael Kors drew inspiration from the polished interiors of his Madison Avenue store; this season, in a new time slot at the start of the week, it was out of the city and towards the ’earthy elegance’ of his beach house (albeit a simulacrum constructed in Terminal Warehouse in New York’s Chelsea neighbourhood, complete with wind-weathered wood panelling, cacti and paper lanterns). Kors said the collection was in part inspired by legendary Vogue editor Diana Vreeland’s assertion that ‘the eye has to travel’ in order to find inspiration, as well as his own recent trips to Norway, Morocco and across the United States.
‘The simple truth is that escapism helps us tremendously,’ Kors asserted post-show, echoing a thematic thread which ran through the menswear collections earlier this year, from Prada to Emporio Armani. ‘So many of us live urban lives, and when you travel, you learn about yourself, you learn about other people, you learn about life. It’s nature that always knocks us out, but balanced with elegance and sophistication – that’s everything I want this collection to convey.’ He did so mostly through the collection’s hues, which spanned deep, earthy browns and warm ecru, to those evocative of sunrises and sunsets. Silhouettes, meanwhile, captured Kors’ brand of easy glamour, from breezy kaftan shirts and slouchy, safari-tinged tailoring to handkerchief dresses constructed from stitched-together silk scarves, as if collected over a summer of travel.
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Ralph Lauren
After last September’s takeover of the Hamptons, Ralph Lauren opted for an altogether more intimate – though no less starry – affair for his spring 2026 runway show, staged in the American megabrand’s Madison Avenue headquarters on the eve of fashion week. Watched by his usual coterie of celebrity fans – the guest list included Oprah Winfrey, Laura Dern and Priyanka Chopra – the collection that followed was Ralph Lauren 101, presenting a glossy vision of American style that feels current (the preppy look has appeared everywhere from Dior to Celine in recent seasons; Mr Lauren has long been synonymous with the style). ‘Strength and sensuality,’ said the designer in his collection notes, a thematic focus that led to a crisp, at points even minimal, showing from the designer: graphic tailoring game in optic white and bold red, layered looks came in cohesive monochrome hues, while gowns had a simplicity of silhouette (whether flared and voluminous, with narrow spaghetti straps, or wrapped around the body, Grecian style). Meanwhile, ties, striped shirts and pleated shorts – straddling masculine and feminine – were a nod to Ralph Lauren signatures. With a recent CFDA nomination for womenswear designer of the year being announced – if he wins, it will be his tenth such award – it was an argument for doing what you do best: at the end of the financial year in March 2025, the brand posted a seven per cent rise in revenue, bucking the difficulties faced by American brands elsewhere. As he took his final bow – clad in a battered brown leather bomber and signature aviators alongside his wife, Ricky Lauren – he was every bit worthy of the jubilant applause.
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Proenza Schouler
Shown via a presentation held the day prior to New York Fashion Week’s start, Proenza Schouler marked the first debut of the month – though it came with an asterisk. The S/S 2026 collection was made ‘in collaboration’ between the New York-based label’s studio team and Rachel Scott, the Brooklyn-based designer who was made creative director of the brand earlier this month after the departure of founders Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, who have headed to Loewe (she will show her ‘full creative debut’ next February). At her own New York-based label Diotima – which will host its debut runway show in Brooklyn later in the week – Scott is known for sinuous, body-clinging silhouettes combined with moments of beading, crochet and embellishment inspired by her home country of Jamaica; here, hints of her tenure came in chunky-knit dresses in intriguing bouclé yarns, bright solar prints, and colourful accessories, from bags adorned with fronds of raffia to shoes sprouting with flowers. Scott described the collection as a ‘soft undoing’ – a mood captured in edges left purposely raw, or knits unravelling – which embraced the satisfying eclectism that has long defined the label. It made for a strong opening act, leaving us intrigued to see her vision unfold.
SWOW SWAG
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