In New York, Practicality and Pragmatism

NEW YORK — The mood heading into New York Fashion Week this season was undeniably a bit gloomy.

There are troubles in the industry, the wider economy and on the streets. Uncertainty around inflation and tariffs has driven down consumer sentiment. Political tensions in the US have risen as protests against immigration raids have flared across the country (some attendees wore “ICE Out” pins throughout the week). Within fashion, brands are holding their breath as the Saks Global bankruptcy process plays out. Several designers that typically show in New York — including Brandon Maxwell and Luar — were absent. Even the city itself felt dour: Showgoers were forced to crawl over mounds of dirty snow, which had hardened to ice over weeks of bitter cold.

Designers responded with clothes that were, for the most part, grounded in practicality. Many showed low-heeled shoes, introduced new, potentially margin-driving products like bags and considered price more closely to take advantage of the white space European brands have left with their hefty hikes.

It’s an approach that makes sense for the times. American fashion’s reputation for focusing on commerciality, historically perceived as a weakness, has emerged as a strength.

“They have style, they have a cool factor, but they are actually more available,” said Julie Gilhart, the founder of consultancy Gilhart & Co.

What Women Want

This season, New York’s designers catered not to critics, but to clients “who want to look and feel good, but aren’t obsessive about fashion,” as designer Joseph Altuzarra put it.

Some designers chose to hone in on products for the realities of a woman’s day-to-day life. For her first collection for Proenza Schouler, Rachel Scott drew inspiration from a vision of a working woman who was busy but rejected perfection, showing printed dresses with irregular drapes and folds alongside buttoned up blazers.

Carolina Herrera’s collection, inspired by women in the arts (and featuring artists including Rachel Feinstein and Amy Sherald on the runway), managed to marry the brand’s signature femininity with more practical silhouettes. There was a skirt suit with floral beading, a lightweight organza sheath dress with a cardigan draped over the shoulders, slim pants paired with leopard-print tops and plenty of pencil skirts. Notably, there were no floor-length gowns, a mainstay of past shows for the brand.

“I really wanted her to be this New York woman on the go, with a sense of pragmatism,” said creative director Wes Gordon. “Right now, nothing feels chicer rather than a clean a-line skirt, a turtleneck and a slingback kitten heel.”

Area’s Nicholas Aburn looked to lessen the distinction between the show-stopping pieces and the clothes accessible to a more general audience with more practical fabrics like velvet, denim, taffeta, cashmere and leather over tinsel and heavy rhinestones.

Others looked to mint new commercial hits. A number of designers, including Colleen Allen, TWP and Area launched handbags this season, following a trend that began last year as brands search for white spaces that will both engage consumers and boost their bottom lines. TWP’s range from $595 to $2,495; Area is targeting a price point of under $1,000.

“I wanted less separation between the fantasy and the real clothes in this collection … I wanted the excitement of the show to come from sellable pieces,” said Aburn.

Labels like Kallmeyer and TWP, which staged their biggest shows yet this season, have both mastered the art of getting people excited about items that can sell. Both are fast-growing businesses that have quickly won loyal fans, including influencers, clients and celebrities, with the likes of Jane Krakowski, Britt Lower and Olivia Munn at Kallmeyer and Martha Stewart at TWP, for assortments that are wearable (think pencil skirts paired with coordinating sweaters and easy to throw on jackets) and eye-catching (fringed skirts and pants covered in a subtle beaded embroidery).

When it comes to the industry’s challenges — primarily recent wholesale upheaval and worries around consumer sentiment — brands are again, going back to basics. Coach and Ralph Lauren, for instance, focused on the styling and pieces they know their consumers love, like bags, sweaters and dresses.

The key to surviving shifts is making products not only desirable, but easy to buy.

“If it doesn’t fit, it doesn’t matter if it’s a hot brand. I want that decision in the fitting room to be really easy,” said Altuzarra, who added that the brand has been doing even more trunk shows and interfacing with customers.

More brands found ways to engage with the NYFW marketing machine without staging a show at all, such as J.Crew, which created a capsule collection of rollneck sweaters with brands like Tanner Fletcher and Eckhaus Latta. Thom Browne and Luar had their big marketing moments the weekend before at the Super Bowl: Browne showed at the GQ Bowl and Luar dressed Lady Gaga for the halftime show.

Gilhart said that pullbacks from showing at New York Fashion Week shouldn’t necessarily be taken as an edict on the health of the industry.

“I don’t think it’s a signal that they’re not doing well, it’s a signal that perhaps they’re looking at their operating budget and thinking, ‘You know what? Maybe it’s just not the time to do it this year,’” she said.

Fashion as Fantasy

Brands still found ways to introduce levity and fun through accessories, colour and other details. Sandy Liang and Ulla Johnson stuck with their go-to takes on femininity, with bows at the former, printed silks at the latter and ruffles at both. Models at Tory Burch wore classics with a twist: brightly-coloured sweaters tucked into trousers, dresses with belts made of acrylic rings wrapped around their waist, sequined cardigans accessorised with a fish necklace. At Khaite, alongside the brand’s usual assortment of severe black leathers and sheer tops were details like crucifixes on chains hanging off of jackets and collars fixed with oversized, 1970s-inspired bowties or rosettes.

Some brands found ways to transform a garment: At Altuzarra, bags opened to reveal another bag inside. On the runway at Calvin Klein were dresses that looked one way on the front, only to feature an entirely different fabric at the back. Maria McManus had a pair of pants with a skirt layered over the top.

For Sergio Hudson, who staged his 10th anniversary show, leaning further into specialness was a means of generating desire and justifying a premium price point.

“[Customers] don’t really want just the run-of-the-mill clothes anymore,” said Hudson. “The basic shirts aren’t selling, the sweaters aren’t selling. People want specialness, and that’s what we’re giving them.”

Michael Kors, also celebrating an anniversary — his 45th — staged his splashiest show in years at the Metropolitan Opera House, full of sharp suits, printed coats and bold-coloured gowns and feathered details and featuring a closing walk from Christy Turlington. Still, there were a few nods to practicality through shoes and accessories, with heels of a reasonable height and solid clutches and shoulder bags. It makes sense, as those are the products that make up the bulk of his business, which is in need of a sales boost after years of declines.

Newcomers to the calendar used New York Fashion Week as a way to create an aspirational glow around their brands. With a buzzy new creative director, former Blumarine designer Nicola Brognano, denim brand 7 For All Mankind put on a full-fledged display of early 2000s nostalgia, complete with models teetering down the runway in skinny jeans and concert bracelets. Los Angeles-based Cult Gaia’s show — attended by a throng of influencer fans — centred its signature quirky pieces from a bag shaped like a lion to a mini dress made out of turquoise tiles connected by chains.

Political Statements

Others took the opportunity to use their collections to comment on what’s happening in the wider world. Area’s Aburn took a subtle approach, thinking about the act of getting dressed up as a means of “controlling the narrative, which is a powerful feeling in a [messed] up world, that you have agency” while designing, he said.

Collina Strada’s collection, titled “The World is a Vampire,” presented its puff sleeves and high-neck high neck Victorian collars as a source of protection as designer Hillary Taymour condemned “nasty ICE on our streets” in her show notes.

While designer Scott typically makes the signature crochet for her own label Diotima exclusively in Jamaica, she started working with Refugee Atelier, a non-profit that provides fashion training and opportunities to immigrant and refugee women in New York, “because it felt especially important now,” she said. She also used the work of anti-colonial Cuban artist Wifredo Lam as a jumping off point, nodding to his recurring symbol, the part-human, part-animal, part-divine “femme cheval,” in pieces including the organza intarsia dress that opened the show and the pressed mohair dress detailed with black feathers. Models even held belts that looked like whips.

“I like to think about Diotima as like a Trojan horse, as getting through a really important political statement, but through beauty,” said Scott.