New York Fashion Week, more diverse than ever, opens this Friday

New York Fashion Week, which opens this Friday, may be devoid of several great American designers, but expect plenty of activity and style during the six-day season, one that expresses the growing diversity of the industry in America. .

The inaugural show for the official program of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) is by Rodarte, the Californian duo of sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy, although fashion insiders will flock to Christie’s the night before. It will be then when the auction house celebrates the presentation of the André Leon Talley collection.

Few people opened more doors for people of color in the fashion world than the late great fashion editor of Vogue, who rose from the segregated post-war south to become bureau chief for the Paris women’s fashion daily and advocate of diversity in fashion.

This upcoming season, 17 of the calendar’s designers are Black creators. Rarely has there been a greater representation of designers of Asian origin, with 23, or of Latino designers, another 8, in a New York runway season. While brands with designers represent half of the next calendar.

“I think it’s important to note that, in a very real sense, this is a season led by diversity and by women,” argued Steven Kolb, CEO of the CFDA, the US fashion governing body.

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This week of parades is also the first under the presidency of Thom Browne, who succeeded Tom Ford in October. Like Browne, Heron Preston is another American designer who had walked in Paris and is returning for the New York season.

“Thom himself shows on Valentine’s Day, so it will be a kind of love letter to American fashion. Heron Preston’s show will be his first in New York, a great testament to this city. For his part, Rodarte returns to the schedule and opens the season for the first time. The Mulleavys are world-renowned and respected designers,” Kolb insists.

In total, 110 brands appear in the official program, 76 of them with fashion shows and 19 with presentations. In addition, another 22 will present digital fashion shows or by appointment.

Unlike the other Big Four Fashion Weeks, New York has two parallel calendars: the CFDA’s key calendar and NYFW The Shows, controlled by the IMG talent agency. A decade ago, some seasons had almost 200 events, something physically impossible given the size of the metropolis and the penchant for New York designers to walk on top of skyscrapers or across the East River in Brooklyn. Publishers, buyers and influencers should expect a drag race, sweeping across town to watch LaQuan Smith runway shows on the 65th floor of Rockefeller Plaza’s Rainbow Room; Gabriela Hearst at the Agger Fish Building in Brooklyn; Jason Wu at the Guggenheim Museum and several at the New York Public Library.

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New York continues to bring in young and emerging talent, and many brands enjoy the support of the CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund. Kolb singled out Raúl López, American Accessories Designer of the Year in 2022; House of Aama, from mother-daughter team Rebecca Henry and Akua Shabaka from California; Judy Turner, specialist in avant-garde knitwear; and Omar Salam’s Sukeina as names to watch out for who have received CFDA endorsement.

“It’s not so much about an infrastructure or an exhibition, but more about a holistic investment and advice on how to start a business or how to organize the supply chain… Another thing I’ve noticed is that many young designers say that they would have liked to spend more time selling direct to consumer Some are a bit naive When asked what their ambition is they say they want to be a global lifestyle brand Well Ralph Lauren is a lifestyle brand global life, but it’s also a 60-year-old company, and they’ve worked very hard to build it,” he said.

However, the truth is that many of the big American brands are absent this week: neither Ralph Lauren, nor Tommy Hilfiger, nor Calvin Klein, who has not walked the runway for five years. While Marc Jacobs walked off the calendar last week.

“Honestly, I don’t care much about the list, who doesn’t walk and who does. There was a time in American fashion history when Bill Blass, Scaasi, Perry Ellis or Geoffrey Beene were big names, and the younger brands it was Calvin, Donna and Ralph. We should look at it today in the same way. It does not mean that Tommy, Marc or Ralph are negative, they simply follow what is best for their business, “concluded the CEO of the CFDA.