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Legacy brands wowed fashion week, with the perfect balance of wearable pieces, says Henrik Lischke
THE OUTFIT THAT GOT most attention during New York Fashion Week wasn’t spotted on the catwalk. Rather, it was worn on the other side of the country by Taylor Swift, in a Las Vegas football stadium. Swift, watching her boyfriend in the Super Bowl, wore a pair of embellished Crystal Slit jeans by independent fashion label Area. Before the game was over, said $695 jeans had sold out – proof it really always is fashion week somewhere.
That wasn’t the only anomaly surrounding New York’s kick-off to fashion month – it unofficially started a few days prior, thanks to Marc Jacobs. To commemorate his 40th anniversary in the industry (40 years since graduating from university, and 31 since his boundary-breaking grunge collection for Perry Ellis), Jacobs staged an impromptu runway show so camp and so brilliantly bonkers it served as a sharp reminder as to why he’s still one of the most reliable sources for American fashion highs.
There was more smile-inducing news from the US fashion industry, too, announcing the reinstatement of two of its pillars: designer Zac Posen, whose namesake label closed in 2019, was revealed as the new creative director for Gap Inc, charged with the mammoth task of overhauling the American apparel stalwart Old Navy amid flagging sales. Elsewhere, ’90s icon DKNY made a surprise return, marking the occasion with a viral campaign featuring the supermodels who were part of the brand’s legacy the first time around. The re-launch tagline: ‘From NYC, where legacies are born.’
A reminder that New York was once the white hot centre of fashion? Perhaps.
And the NY catwalk trends to know...
Saucer, bowler, tipped or straight – hats with character are a fashion whim to note. Supermodels in woven hats at Altuzarra serve as peak A/W ’24 inspo.
Khaite’s gargantuan drop-waist leather bomber was blown out of proportion – signalling the bomber jacket is here to stay. Elsewhere, at Proenza Schouler, Coach and Ulla Johnson, gothy layers of jet-black leather had a cool-girl disposition.
‘I love the idea of imperfection in my work and of course sometimes the effect is vintage,’ Stuart Vevers said backstage at Coach. ‘It’s about challenging those ideas of what luxury means and handing it to the next generation.’
A collection made for thrift-obsessed bargain hunters, featuring charms, postcards, souvenir jumpers and taffeta skirts, felt like a rummage through a Lower East Side vintage shop. Life imitates art.
If you buy into just one trend next season, make it texture – particularly in
