Here’s what’s going down at NYFW

With fashion weeks starting to light up all over the world, New York kicks off the anticipated Big Four of the season with a display in earthly attires, tributes to accessory staples, and pushing Y2K nostalgia as far as it can possibly go. 

There was the Marni show held under a bridge in Manhattan which made waiting for a bus in Finsbury Park look far less glam, Collina Strada’s garden of delights, and Fendi’s curtain drop reminiscent of pouring oat milk in cold brew. And there’s already been some front row appearances that have fired the starting pistol of best dressed celebrities of the season. Kim Kardashian currently takes the lead, gracing the Fendi show with a sparkling and luminous take on her skintight trademark. But pulling up to rival the top spot is another of Kanye West’s exes; Julia Fox in a Joanna Prazmo wrap dress, that draws cellophane, septum piercings and wax candles into one neat showstopper. 

As the NYFW schedule burns through all of its anticipated shows, we’ll be spotlighting the weird, wonderful and waxy moments of the week… 

WHAT: Fendi 

WHERE: Manhattan Hammerstein Ballrooms, NY

THE VIBE: It’s all about the Baguette.

As the French have learnt, there’s so much you can do with the humble baguette. And that’s exactly what Fendi women’s Artistic Director Kim Jones did for his recent SS23 Resort show. Alongside collaborators Marc Jacobs, Sarah Jessica Parker, Tiffany & Co., and Japanese brand Porter, the team dreamt up every possible iteration of the iconic Fendi Baguette bag for its 25th anniversary, after gaining its place as a closet staple via the Sex and the City series. 

Whilst the show was at risk of being stolen by Kim Kardashian’s glimmering outfit, it kept the Baguette at the centre of attention. Linda Evangelista, 15 years since her last runway appearance, closed the spectacle with a crystal embellished bag tucked under her arm. There were tiny Baguette trinkets – the kind you might find at a museum dedicated to the accessory or at the model village – dangling off of belts, pockets shaped as Baguette bags stuck to the side of shoppers like little Baguette growths, ballooned designs covered in sequins, and Baguette shaped jumper handwarmers – all the show was missing was an actual French stick. 

“I didn’t want to do a traditional ‘collection’ for the anniversary. Rather it’s a celebration of a time, of the moment the Baguette became famous,” Jones said of the show. And with Jessica Parker there in the flesh, watching the Baguette create and navigate its own entire world, it appears Sex and the City’s reach still has its grips in all of us.

WHAT: Marni

WHERE: Under the Manhattan Bridge, NY. 

THE VIBE: Milan trolls street style… in the best of ways

There’s always been something quite beautiful about the more grotty sides of New York, the darker spaces like alleys – made famous by Spiderman and crime films – subways and bridges. New York seems to be romanticised as a shadowy night city. So when Marni, a brand that usually calls Milan its home, told the fashion world to meet under the Manhattan Bridge at 9pm, it was always going to be a show to remember (or a glamorous drug deal). 

Francesco Risso, Marni’s creative director, sent a clear message to audiences for the brand’s SS23 show: the time for change is upon us. With the audience lining the walls of the bridge’s archways, the sounds of trains thundering above on the edge of Brooklyn, Marni’s show took place at an epicentre of new directions and journeys. 

Kendall Jenner, Doja Cat, Anna Wintour, and more regular front row faces, watched as rainbow painted wide-cut bottoms, faint tie-dye patterned jeans, full length leather coats, and exposed midriffs were on full show as the Y2K revival was pushed further and further. It was street style in its natural habitat, which also turned up the dial on clubwear, rendering Marni a brand to be reckoned with – by the masses who may usually skip on the brand – for 2023.

WHAT: M65 by Anthony Hendrickson

WHERE: Somewhere in New York, obviously

THE VIBE: USA! USA! USA!

After most of what we’ve seen is Italian brands edging their way into NYFW, it’s nice to have a breath of American fresh air. In this case, we’re talking about M65 by Anthony Hendrickson. 

After launching M65 back in 2017, Hendrickson took a bit of a hiatus to focus on himself. Now, back and raring to deconstruct national identity, the designer is putting upcycling at the heart of his unisex designs. 

In this SS23 show, entitled ‘America Lost and Found’, the U.S. took centre stage. As part of the brand’s return, pleasing fans like Lil Yachty and Cardi B, Hendrickson put his commitment to “luxurious nonchalance” at the forefront, with beloved cropped knits, low-rise, wide-leg and unbuttoned jeans, hairy chests and split flares, the Y2K revival seems to still be interesting, amazingly. 

And it was in the collection’s knitwear that the show’s theme really shone through. Collaborating with Scottish artist Julie Colquitt, the American flag was deconstructed and rebuilt as tethered capes with draping tassels – red, white and blue hanging heavily off of shoulders. It was less of an anticipated metaphor about the state of nationalism, and more the beautification of national identity, of the possibilities between the lines.

WHAT: Collina Strada

WHERE: Brooklyn Greenway, NY

THE VIBE: The Midnight Garden on shrooms

Got Milkweed? Is a question you’ll probably only ever hear at Holland & Barrett, but Collina Strada designer Hillary Taymour is changing that. 

The SS23 collection, on almost every level, was a return to nature, a resonating comment on “dust to dust, ashes to ashes”, and a celebration of earthly delights. Again, there was a lot of the noughties in the designs, but instead of an ode to Y2K, this was a celebration of the decade in a marriage with nature. There was not only in the playful pun on the 90s ad “Got Milk?”, but in the low-rise jeans, underwear on full show, and so on.

The Brooklyn Greenway, which used to be a cemetery and is now home to hundreds of butterflies, meant that audiences could watch Taymour’s designs snake around the overgrown plants. There was broccoli with diamonds hanging off it, clay crowns laying flat on heads, poncho-like, oversized tops with vegetable smiley faces. Wide, grey cargo trousers slumping around layered belts were matched with cropped, crocheted tops. Skimpy underwear was exposed over jeans with belly buttons parading down the runway, followed soon after by long ropes of hair as if living in the wild.  It was a psychedelic exploration of urban wilderness as the day drew to a close.