This week, the Big Apple proved why it is considered to be one of the fashion capitals of the world.
This year’s New York Fashion Week, which took place from Feb. 9-14, hosted 75 runway shows and 97 designer brands. As the week comes to an end, take a look at some of the highlights from the Big Apple.
New designers and brands including Câllas Milano, a Milanese-inspired womenswear brand founded by Marco Panzeri and Jan-Hendrik Scholottmann, made their debut during this year’s events and many well-loved brands’ including Michael Kors, Tory Burch, Carolina Herrera and Coach showed their latest designs.
Colleen Allen, previously a menswear designer for The Row, debuted her womenswear collection, which explored the juxtaposition between introversion and extroversion.
According to an article from W Magazine, Allen described the inspiration behind the collection as the“archetype of a witch,” and used bright colors as a contrast to the mystic elements in the designs, creating an enigmatic feel.
Meruert Tolegen, whose first dip into fashion was with the luxury children’s brand La Petite Anaïs, first debuted her own collection at the 2022 Paris Fashion Week and just completed her first-ever show at New York Fashion Week. The label features a blend of European designs and Kazakh culture and often includes a lot of floral and silk elements.
Tolegen’s New York Fashion Week collection featured flowing silk gowns and matelassé coats that all embodied a whimsical nature. According to Fashion Network, Tolegen said the inspiration for the collection stemmed from her childhood memories of playing in her grandparents’ garden.
Ludovic de Saint Sernin first launched his label under his name in 2017, which very quickly became successful, being worn by multiple celebrities including Kim Kardashian, Olivia Rodrigo and Troy Sivan. De Saint Sernin’s designs often defy gender, incorporating both masculine and feminine silhouettes, which can be seen in his New York Fashion Week collection as well.
Bishme Cromartie also made his debut this week following his appearance on season 17 of Bravo’s “Project Runway All Stars.” Cromartie is no stranger to this industry; having dressed many celebrities, including Michelle Williams at the premiere of Beyoncé’s “Renaissance” movie.
His designs incorporate a combination of strong silhouettes, bold colors and unique textures and include a mixture of streetwear and avant-garde styles. His runway collection showcased skirts with asymmetric designs, plaid prints and broad collared tops. Most of the pieces in the collection were black, white or red and included puffer jackets, cargo pants, tufted jackets and dresses.
According to W Magazine, Cromartie dubbed the collection “The Batrix” due to the fact that it was largely inspired by “The Matrix” movies which can be seen in the unique shapes and silhouettes included in the collection.
The Blonds are back this season with a fiery collection inspired by Latin American cultures. This luxury apparel brand incorporated gemstones and sparkling jewels, animal prints, feathers and an abundance of the color red in the collection. The theme “ Fuego” was to pay homage to the brand’s Spanish, Cuban and Puerto Rican roots. As well as highlighting the passion and intensity of Latin culture, the runway brought with it an array of vibrant colors including red, blue, silver, gold and black.
L’angence’s fashion week collection, “Into the Woods,” was reminiscent of the mob wife aesthetic that is currently in trend, incorporating a dark-toned autumn color palette, denim and crystal details.
One of the most exciting things to come out of this year’s New York Fashion Week was the broadcasted trends for next season. Mob wife outerwear has been introduced to mainstream fashion, aiding in the return of big fur coats, faux fur leather jackets and feathers on everything.
Dramatic smokey eye makeup is also making a major comeback this season, notably being used on models in bot Christian Cowan and PatBo’s runways.
The “flushed cheeks” trend was also featured throughout many of this week's runway shows. The look is meant to imitate the flushed look brought on by the cold weather and has been growing in popularity over the past few months all over social media.
Although many think the coquette trend will be waning in popularity over the next few months, many designer brands have fully embraced the trend this week.
Brands including Sandy Liang, Coach and Wiederhoeft amalgamated bows into their collections, drawing inspiration from the ultra-feminine trend.
Orange was a prominent color at this year’s fashion week as well as one of the predicted colors for this season.
Pamella Roland used ombre shades of orange while Proenza Schouler used pastel orange tones in this week’s runways.
Chartreuse is another forecasted color for the season, as seen on the runway by designers Lapointe, who used the color to create sheer gowns, and Son Jung Won, who featured the color in a collection of sequined pants.
Another up-and-coming trend this season is the “Swan Song” follwoing the release of Ryan Murphy’s show, “Feud: Capote vs. The Swans,” which premiered its first two episodes on Jan. 31.
A few designers who took to this aesthetic included Badgley Mischka and Carolina Herrera. Even Molly Ringwald, who plays the swan Joanne Carson on the show, walked the runway for Batsheva in a hooded black dress.
This year’s New York Fashion Week introduced many up-and-coming designers and featured many new designs from veteran designers and brands. Orange and chartreuse hues as well as flushed cheeks and smokey eyeshadow trends played a major role in this year’s runways, setting the agenda for the trends to come this season.
