A late-summer trip to Italy had me missing the beginning of New York Fashion Week but I dove right into all the action (albeit a bit disoriented) and finished with a cold, exhaustion hangover, and a newfound love for New York fashion. The week, in all its spectacle and fanfare, remains an accurate snapshot of what American fashion is today: commercially viable and highly wearable. The week always coincides with the final days of the US Open and the city hums of action and inspiration and the feeling that everything is going to be alright if we just keep seeking beauty and community.
I did a lot this season and feel incredibly grateful to all the designers, PR mavens, fashion houses, and everyone behind the scenes who continue to give fashion the stage it deserves—and who allowed me into so many of the spaces I was lucky to find myself in.
Here are my field notes from the season with some of my looks sprinkled in:
I’m so sad I missed out on Proenza Schouler this season, an invite I was thrilled to receive. It seems like Rachel Scott has really found her footing, as a sophomore collection so often gives a designer the space to do: more assured, more fully realized, and more aligned with what fans of the brand have been wanting to see from her since her debut. I’m especially excited for the revival of the PS1 bag, a bag I associate so heavily with the “It bags” of the 2010s—an era that shaped so much of our handbag culture and our collective idea of what makes a bag iconic.
The abstract animal prints, deconstructed proportions, and nuanced details—exposed hems, zippers, and layered draping—all speak to the kind of experimental dressing that feels synonymous with New York. We are considered but undone, practical but never overly polished.
Romance was the key through line in a lot of the collections, and I’d like to think that it speaks to our dire need to return to beauty and femininity as a form of protest. Romance isn’t taken so literally, though. There is subversiveness and an edge to the way these pieces were styled and shown.
Femininity feels most interesting right now when it’s allowed to be a little undone, even confrontational—lace against leather, softness interrupted by something severe (structure in the case of Khaite). There’s a sense of dressing for pleasure again, of allowing beauty to exist without having to justify its usefulness. That’s why romance feels so compelling right now: it isn’t about retreating into fantasy, but insisting on sensuality, softness, and desire in a world that increasingly asks us to harden up.
Tory Burch’s use of color this season was very inspiring and very Prada-esque. I know it’s so overdone to invoke Miuccia’s world when talking about other womenswear designers, but the comparison feels particularly relevant this season. The unexpected color combinations and slightly off-kilter elegance in Tory Burch’s collection felt very Prada!!!
I’m loving all the references to mid-century dressing this season (there was lots of this at Altuzarra, too…) There’s something about that mode of dressing that reminds me how inspiring it is to look at another woman’s outfit and know that she is dressing for herself, first and foremost, and then for other women. That kind of personal, confident embodiment is something Burch does so well, season after season.
What I love so much about summer dressing in the city is the kind of intuitive sexiness that comes simply by way of how hot it is outside. These two looks are from separate runway shows and distinctly different brands—Altuzarra on the left, 6397 on the right—but share the same styling instinct: it’s hot, so throw on a bra or bikini, tuck a shirt into a skirt (or a sarong, à la 6397), and go. There’s something so effortless and unselfconscious about dressing this way and the result is something that can be both polished and easygoing.
Altuzarra had some of the best layering and styling of the shows. It was a highlight for me this season because it celebrated everything I love about summer and all its liberating possibilities: lingerie as actual clothing, softness against rigidity, a constant undercurrent of romance and sexiness, and a sense of never taking yourself too seriously. The balloon poplin skirts in paisley and crisp white, leather biker jackets, slits and undone buttons throughout, broderie dresses cinched with studded leather belts… The show was a true feast of styling ideas.
While minimalism was not that prevalent on the runways, the brands that do it very well stripped things back by a few degrees, returning to the kind of ’90s minimalism we’ve been toying with all CBK summer (lol). There was a restraint to it that felt less like austerity and more like confidence: clean lines, unfussy silhouettes, and straightforwardness. It is, after all, how so many of the best-dressed New Yorkers love to dress.
Calvin Klein, in a move true to its roots, went back there, and thank God for that. FFORME also stripped it back, although maybe a little too much at times. The femininity that makes the brand so beloved among the discerned ladies of the red carpet seemed to be absent but I still loved the brand’s attention to all the little details that make it a brand for those in the know.
Skirts taken to cooler heights. The New York woman can wear midi or maxi skirts in a way that doesn’t cater to the male gaze at all. Through details like pleating, slits, zippers, and texture, a skirt can be transformed into something sharper, stranger, and altogether less precious. There’s still femininity in the silhouette, but it’s femininity on her own terms. She still means business!
I loved the way denim was style in these shows. A jacket, made of couture standards through embroidery and craftsmanship, takes center stage pairs with low-slung full-length jeans. This is how I love dressing up a pair of blue jeans and I was thrilled to see them in Kallmeyer and Heirloom.
FFORME and Calvin Klein prove that denim jackets can still be sophisticated styling pieces, as shown under jackets of different fabrications (in this case, leather and silk satin).
Color is so back, and thank god for it. The beige slop of quiet luxury proves short-lived. In its place is color that feels instinctive, expressive, and even a little strange: marigold yellows, electric blues, unexpected pastels, reds and purples thrown together without too much concern for whether they technically “go.” Honestly… anything goes.
I’m enjoying a little respite before heading to Paris in October. I’ve been a little MIA on here—was on a little summer vacation, if you will. It’s looking like a very busy fall and I’m buzzing from all the activity of September already.
I will be back with September’s issue of How to be devastatingly hot and cool this Sunday. I’m happy to be back.
xxxx Laura