What’s Happening to New York Fashion Week?

With the rising cost of living, fraying infrastructure, and a rapid media cycle, will designers have to choose between fight or flight?

Dilated pupils, flushed skin, high blood pressure, distorted memories, and restlessness. Is it a trauma response or is it just fashion week in New York?American consulting giant McKinsey & Company reported recently that New York’s status as a fashion capital is at a crossroads, indicating that the city’s fashion economy has not recovered since the pandemic. As André Leon Talley exclaimed in the 2009 documentary The September Issue, “It’s been bleak street over here in America. It’s a famine of beauty, honey.” Today, there seems to be a famine of so much more.

With the absence of America’s blockbuster brands of yesteryear from the official CFDA calendar, the pillars that once created the empire of American fashion in New York have been toppled. Paired with the diminishing presence of physical retail, and the rapidly changing pace of e-commerce, the status and shape of New York Fashion Week is in a major shift. Is it enough to have all the right people—the most aloof and distant It Girls; a particular dark-suited electro pop musician—in your front row?“I don’t think I could do what I’m doing anywhere else. New York kills me and keeps me alive,” says Ramona Beattie, the New York–based designer behind Shame, the new-school scene favorite that’s been transforming indie sleaze into indie slutty since launching in 2022. “I think a lot of designers feel that way. I feel lucky to be here even though I work my ass off to afford it,” she says.In her showroom, Beattie walks me through pop-tab jockstraps and wooden studs delicately sewn onto a mesh blouson. Shame’s second runway show, hosted just a week before, boasted a front-row appearance by The Dare, and looks modeled by downtown legend Leilah Weinraub and Interview magazine senior editor Taylore Scarabelli, who wore look two: a crisp white shirt and complimentary black jockstrap. Not officially part of the CFDA calendar, Shame has all the characteristics of a rising alternative fashion star: its slick approach to perversion and attitude is provocative, feeling undeniably of-the-moment, and cosigned by the right tastemakers whose attentions define what’s cool in New York. I make a note to myself to buy bigger, darker sunglasses and smoke more.

“One thing I do believe about New York and America in general is that there’s something really trashy about it and I love that,” Beattie says later, over email. “That’s a huge part of my brand ethos; even when a look is all cleaned up I want it to feel a bit nasty. I’m not a fan of America but I’m definitely a product of it and I like to create a bit of commentary.”Over at the Colleen Allen presentation, a seance is taking place in a studio space on Canal Street. “The pace of New York never leaves things feeling stagnant,” says Allen, presenting her second collection. “I love being able to see exhibitions at museums and galleries or see a show at the opera or philharmonic. Each creative community and neighborhood provide a different experience and perspective.” The city, though demanding, is a much younger place than its fashion week partners in Europe, which Allen says allows for a less rigid sense of positioning, ultimately creating more visibility for emerging brands. “There’s less of a system of hierarchy here which creates a diverse conversation,” she says.Originally from Chicago, Allen honed her talent on the menswear team at The Row and is now creating garments that delicately balance antique influences and the contemporary under her eponymous label. “There’s such a supportive community in New York, which I’m so grateful for,” she says. “I am producing all of the collection here. It’s important to me to be supporting the local community and I’m able to be involved on the ground throughout the making process.”

New York’s new generation of heritage brands are also considering new formats for NYFW events. Beloved mainstay Eckhaus Latta took a detour from the typical runway show to host a dinner celebrating friends of the brand and encouraged guests to sport their archival Eckhaus Latta pieces.“People like to rag on [New York fashion], which I don’t think is a healthy outlook,” says Mike Eckhaus, a few days after the dinner. “Something that’s happened in the last 20 years is, with the emergence of Style.com, everything is digitized, and Instagram, people’s engagement with it is so immediate that it feels more like a fashion month than a fashion week. That wasn’t a term that was used 20 years ago. New York is a different beast than London, Paris, or Milan. It’s more malleable and mutable; I think it allows there to be a different offering and different types of talent to have exposure or to enter a conversation, and isn’t so based in structures or tradition that we maybe see in Paris.”

Willy Chavarria’s Spring/Summer 2025 runway was one of the major attractions of this year’s calendar. While many of the designers of New York’s current guard have opted for different approaches to fashion week participation, Chavarria’s production indulged in the magic of ceremony and spectacle. “The runway show is the most perfect reveal of the collection because it communicates the intention through sound, music, scent, lighting, and of course the people wearing the garments and bringing them to life,” he says. “This is such a magical moment for me. I am able to tell the story exactly as I want it to be experienced. And this is what lays the groundwork for the future of the season.” Chavarria’s instantly recognizable blooming workwear silhouettes speak to the grit of New York’s dedication to the hustle, and the unrelenting determination of its inhabitants. “New York is tough. In every way,” he says. This steadfast focus is part of the inimitable character of New York that goes beyond its borders. “New York cool is unmatched globally, and I see the houses of the world trying to emulate that.”

To Chavarria, the sense of community that comes with fashion week is its core strength, and participating in its official calendar is an honor he cherishes. “I do like to be a part of the fashion week calendar because I am able to be a part of New York fashion, which I hope to play a great part in shaping,” he says. “New York energy is unlike any other. There is something brilliant to be captured there during a time when all the designers are sharing their own collections. It’s pretty fantastic.”In addition to the spiritual support that participating in fashion week offers, Chavarria says it’s necessary for the maintenance of business as well. “Ultimately, I’ve found that if a designer wishes to have a strong business, it’s important to be a part of the fashion industry system that supports one another.”Offering a more balanced tone in the deliriously fast world of fashion in New York, Claire McKinney and Sophie Andes-Gascon, the pair behind the conceptual and esoteric label SC103, find transcendence in the city’s bedlam. The duo, which just wrapped their off-calendar Spring/Summer 2025 show the week prior, have a sweetly optimistic attitude towards the turbulence, noting community and partnership as their anchors. “We feel that our audience and the industry invites us to explore a range of show formats, from runway shows to lookbooks to gallery shows to studio sales,” they say over email. “It often feels like our options are only limited by what we can fit into a year, but luckily there are two of us and we cheer each other on! The positive reception we’ve received from the range of formats we share our work through is really energizing.The formula of a runway show and the tradition a show evokes is inspiring in that it often feels like a childhood dream come to life.”

McKinney and Andes-Gascon’s close relationship to their manufacturing partners in New York’s Garment District brings resolve to the process behind the brand’s collections. “The biggest challenge is finding the air and time to just be, exhale, and look more closely at details. We rely on nature and real time off for that, by closing the studio for a bit in the summer.” In short, the solution seems simple: touch grass. Let this be your reminder to send your letter to Mayor Eric Adams to save the Elizabeth Street Garden.While the access to talent, suppliers, and distributors is a major draw for designers, the city’s rising cost of living has resulted in the closure of key fabric and trim supply stores. At parties and in between presentations, I regularly overheard insiders lamenting the closure of key institutions. According to McKinsey & Company, manufacturing and supply in New York has been largely decentralized from the once-thriving Garment District and relocated overseas for cheaper production costs.

In the world of New York fashion, hustle is the motivating factor. Who needs quality of life when you can keep just busy? Its sense of identity is splitting under stress and precarity, dividing into two scenes running in tandem to each other. In this transitional period, while the emerging designers of the late 2010s become the establishment and the next generation is still rebelliously testing its autonomy and reach, a new sense of self lays latent for New York. It may feel overwhelming but the results are undeniably enticing. There’s nothing wrong with New York fashion that a little prescription couldn’t fix.