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A sneak peek at the season's trends.
and Kevin Huynh
There’s no feeling like anticipation before a fashion show. For the past few days, that energy has been exactly what New York has been running on as the biannual display of the city’s designers kicks off Fashion Month. It’s been a busy week full of designer debuts, celebrity sightings, and standout collections that have the industry buzzing about the rest of the month.
Lingua Franca kicked off an exciting week with a celebrity-filled runway show, including Real Housewives of New York cast member Jenna Lyons. Then, came Christopher John Rogers’s highly-anticipated return to the CFDA calendar, and designer Veronica Leoni’s debut for Calvin Klein. The calendar’s emerging labels, including Campillo and Aknvas, also made a splash, alongside mainstays like Anna Sui, Prabal Gurung, and Ulla Johnson.
And InStyle editors have been perusing it all to document the best and most exciting looks on the runways. Ahead, are the most standout runway moments of New York Fashion Week so far.
Lingua Franca
Lingua Franca has cultivated a dedicated fan base of loyal New Yorkers and celeb clientele, so it makes sense that the brand's New York Fashion Week debut would come with so many A-listers, including Jenna Lyons (walking with her dod Popeye). As for the collection, it was quintessential Lingua Franca: striped pajama sets, stitched sweaters, and patterned button-down shirts were featured throughout the lineup.
Christian Siriano
Designer Christian Siriano looked to the future for his fall/winter 2025 collection. It was all about the marriage of humans and technology and what can breed between the two. It's no wonder why hybrid garments, like a blazer-mermaid skirt combo, and saturated colorways that looked straight from a computer screen.
Collina Strada
Collina Strada opened the fall/winter 2025 show with a quirky cover of Enya’s “Only Time,” transforming the lyrics into some of the brand’s signature mementos. It’s a move that’s made designer Hilary Taymour more than a designer, but a standout voice in the New York Fashion Week community as she tackles issues like climate change, consumerism, and patriarchy. This season, she questioned how the world would look if we measured power differently, which resulted in bulbous floral printed jackets and corseted bridal dresses (made with fabrics sourced from New Jersey thrift stores).
Christopher John Rogers
In Collection 015, Christopher John Rogers brought fun to the New York Fashion Week runways, opening with the sounds of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. With candy-coded stripes and fringes, relaxed tailoring, and tiered dresses, the collection—titled “Exhale”—pushed the designer’s work further cementing his signature codes.
Calvin Klein
Designer Veronica Leoni’s debut at Calvin Klein came with a nostalgic trip to the ’90s, with the man himself—the real Calvin Klein—sitting front row. Leoni wanted to explore what sensuality meant in 2025, attempting to de-objectify the way women’s sexuality is portrayed in fashion. The result was a collection of chic A-line dresses, floor-length gray coats, and cape-style tops that are ready-made for today’s women.
Aknvas
Designer Christian Juul Nielsen's enchanting "Fragmented Royalty" collection featured bloomers, bonnets, and frothy gowns. The regal-looking lineup was inspired by Danish princesses Alexandra, Dagmar, and Thyna, with models clad in fairytale-like ruffled jumpsuits, tiered dresses, and lace frocks.
Campillo
Patricio Campillo’s sophomore collection, which he described as “demi-couture” was the epitome of luxury. The Mexican designer’s knack for tailoring and embedding his heritage in his designs was shining bright throughout the show. It was all inspired by magical realism—a literary genre made famous by writers like Gabriel García Márquez and Juan Rulfo—finding extraordinary beauty in the ordinary clothes of Campillo’s life.
Altuzarra
Guests at Altuzarra’s fall/winter 2025 show received copies of Wuthering Heights, ushering in a collection that was straight out of a novel. Caped coats, tweed sets, and polka-dot frocks were all featured throughout the collection as the designer explored the wardrobe “a woman who wears her history as armor and is not afraid to display her scars.”
Anna Sui
Anna Sui had wealth on her mind when crafting her fall/winter 2025 collection. Luxe textures, maximalist styling, and old-world silhouettes exhibit the type of opulence that comes with being rich and fabulous. In fact, Sui thought of a universe for a “madcap heiress,” displaying an array of teal, magentas, greens, and purples, as well as velvet and fuzzy textures.
Prabal Gurung
For his fall/winter 2025 collection, Prabal Gurung explored moments lived in between. Those who require someone to change in and out of their clothes with the simple act of unbuttoning a jacket to reveal an entirely different outfit. That resulted in layered outfits like an asymmetrical blazer styled with a flouncy skirt over trousers, as well as a cut-out corseted satin dress that looked as if it was coming undone.
LaPointe
Titled “Endurance,” designer Sally LaPointe set out to exhibit the codes that have made her New York-based label a standout over the past 15 years. The anniversary collection was shown at court inside the National Basketball Players Association in Manhattan as models carried basketball-shaped bags. Standouts included furry chaps, sequined leggings, and metallic trench coats.
Brandon Maxwell
For his 10th anniversary collection, Brandon Maxwell delivered a powerhouse collection that reminded us that high fashion doesn't have to be ostracizing or obtuse. Instead, Maxwell sent down the runway pieces that were meant to be worn and adored. Sumptuously layered outerwear, abstract animal print, and tenacious textiles made us want to shed our boring basics and upgrade to his vision of wardrobe essentials.
Sergio Hudson
Sergio Hudson brought Motown to New York with a fall lineup that mixed yummy turtlenecks, sharp suits, luxurious leather, knee-high stiletto boots, and fuzzy mohair coats in a way that said ‘70s. While Hudson may have referenced the past, everything felt fresh for today's consumer.
Simkhai
Inspired by the treasures he found during an early morning trip to the Rose Bowl Flea Market in Los Angeles, Jonathan Simkhai created a stunning collection filled with romance and nostalgia. Distressed knits and leathers had a covetable lived-in appeal, while eveningwear embellished with antique brooches left us breathless. Simkhai's approach to combining the old and new made his pieces feel like modern heirlooms made to be worn and passed down for the next generation to be inspired by.
Carolina Herrera
After nearly seven years at the helm of Carolina Herrera, Creative Director Wes Gordon continues to steer the storied house into the future while honoring its roots with unapologetically romantic, feminine designs that feel modern for today's woman. For Fall, Gordon combined beautiful botanical motifs with grey pinstriped tailoring, rich knits, and eveningwear, all of which felt like an early Valentine's Day present.
Coach
Stuart Vevers took his commitment to "repurposing and “re-loving” secondhand garments through craft" to impeccable extremes for the fall Coach collection. Vintage-like leathers were reworked into mini cropped jackets or floor-sweeping coats, baby doll dresses worn over jeans that seemed plucked from a forgotten family trunk, worn-in sweatshirts and hoodies, and fuzzy footwear recalled love-worn children’s slippers.
Tory Burch
In recent years, there are few shows that have become as unpredictable and, thus, exciting as the Tory Burch show. This season, the designer took a twisted approach to American sportswear for her fall showcase with pieces that, at first glance, looked familiar but, upon further meditation, revealed more abstract and off-kilter design details. Cardigans were cleverly slashed at the sleeves, ant-sized sequins crawled throughout outerwear, and knitted trousers were given the illusion of sweatpants. While all this may sound eccentric on paper, the end result was undeniably wearable.
Michael Kors
Michael Kors continued to prove why he's an American sportswear giant in his fall/winter 2025 collection. The business-forward lineup provided staples for the modern woman to wear any time of day, with sheer bodysuits, asymmetrical hemlines, and pencil skirts as some of the standout looks.
Thom Browne
With over 2000 origami paper birds perched about his gray runway, the stage was set for another Thom Browne spectacle. Browne's fall collection was a delightful flight of fancy inspired by the freedom of birds—a representation of dreaming and freedom to be. The impressive 64 looks that walked were jam-packed full of over-the-top shapes that almost hovered off model's bodies, rich sorbets that had a childlike innocence, and regal, ornate embellishments, all intertwined with his signature tweeds and tailoring.
Luar
Luar sure made a statement this season. Designer Raúl Lopez named his fall/winter 2025 collection, "El Pato," a term that literally translates to "duck" in Spanish but that is used derogatorily against gay men. It was all about shedding layers, feathers, and fears as models paraded in '80s-forward looks that ranged from zig-zag draped dresses, tapestry-like coats, and strong shoulders.
Kallmeyer
Daniella Kallmayere's sophomore New York Fashion Week show was a seamless transition from her debut last September. Jewel and earth tones were the protagonists of a lineup that featured many of Kallmeyer's signatures—including tailoring—with a feminine edge that came in the form of draped tops, leather pencil skirts, and sensuous body-con gowns.
