New York City’s fashion landscape is morphing. For years, the city’s runways have been seen by the industry as the home of commercial, even conservative, collections. But in recent seasons, something new has entered the flow: a growing force of labels that are championing progressive programmes, seeking to represent a wider range of consumers, and carving out creative niches that span celebrity-splashy to artfully subtle.
Call it New York’s new energy. To name a few of its leading lights: Telfar, by Telfar Clemens, a label that has been around since 2005 but that really hit the big time last year, when Clemens won the Council of Fashion Designers of America Fashion Fund Award; Chromat, by Becca McCharen-Tran, which blends technological swim- and athletic-wear with a message of zero-barrier-to-entry inclusivity; Vaquera, by Patric DiCaprio, Claire Sully and Bryn Taubensee, which tackles contemporary identity with a do-it-yourself vibe; Pyer Moss, where designer Kerby Jean-Raymond is examining what it is to be a black designer in America today. And then there’s Christian Cowan, a British designer based in New York, whose over-the-top aesthetic has landed his designs everywhere from Cardi B’s Invasion of Privacy album cover to the animated TV series American Dad; and Matthew Adams Dolan, refabricating Americana through modern craft.
None of these brands is officially linked. Collectively, though, they are the faces of a more dynamic, forward-thinking and all-embracing American fashion industry.