On February 5, the day before the official start of New York Fashion Week Fall 2025, CFDA chairman and designer Thom Browne put out an open letter to fellow designers on the CFDA’s website and social accounts. He urged them to use their shows to “tell [their] stories in the truest form, … in [their] own ways, and nobody else’s,” and to “not be preoccupied by what’s next” or “how people perceive [them].”
At the same time, he encouraged designers to go bold: “Fall on the sword yourself and take a risk,” and “push ideas on far ends of the spectrum,” he said, adding, “We must remind the world why they should pay attention to these stories.”
Several designers Glossy spoke to during the week said fulfilling the request would mean business as usual. Others, however, pushed back, calling the advice bad for business.
“I live in that world [of taking risks]; I’m always in that universe of creation,” said Stacey Bendet, founder and designer of Alice + Olivia, during the brand’s Chelsea presentation on Saturday. “I don’t think very often about what others are doing. I do what I would be proud of.”
For fall, that meant reintroducing to her collection real leather and suede, which she called “better for the environment” than the brand’s former vegan leather pieces. Considering that, two days later, PETA was protesting Coach’s use of real leather outside of its runway show — holding signs reading “Coach: Let Cows Live” and chanting “Coach leather kills” — the move could certainly be called bold. At the same time, as Bendet explained, it was authentic. “People want real. I want real,” she said. (It should be noted that a former retail fashion director told Glossy this week that, today, real leather may be the cheaper option.)
Likewise, Christian Cowan answered Browne’s call effortlessly. “We’re just doing what we want to do,” he told Glossy just before his namesake brand’s Friday night show. “There’s no listening to what the retailer wants, what that person thinks we should do or any of that.”
He added, “Especially with younger brands like my own, there’s this constant call to sell more and be more commercial. But sometimes, that can do the exact opposite for your business. … We’re leaning harder into what we do — the avant-garde and the fun — because that’s what people want to see from us. There’s still a market for that, and it’s often a market that spends a lot more.”
According to Cowan, his business has grown year-over-year, but the biggest growth years have been those in which he’s most successfully done his “own thing” and played up his creativity.
For Fall 2025, his inspiration was the 1996 sci-fi-comedy film “Mars Attacks!” The show’s models, with their tall wigs and “surrealistic” looks, reflected characters Cowan imagined when he was young and wanted to design, he said. Other designers who pointed to fulfilling childhood fantasies with their collections and shows included Melke’s’ Emma Gage and Campillo’s Patricio Campillo.
“It’s important that you stay true to who you are — to be bold and do something that’s unique to you — because [fashion] is a world where everybody’s kind of blending,” Emily Smith, Lafayette 148’s creative director, said at the brand’s presentation on Friday. “Every [brand] has been being safe, but the world is so crazy — now’s the time to relish in some fantasy and fun.”
For his part, after his brand’s runway show on Friday, Aknvas designer Christian Juul Nielsen said his seasonal take on standing out is simply to offer “newness” and styles “the Aknvas girl” can’t get anywhere else.
Ukrainian designer Svitlana Bevza has been taking an ultra-personalized approach to designing and presenting collections since launching her Bevza brand in 2006. “Why else would you go into fashion, if not to tell a [unique] story?” she asked during her presentation on Saturday. “There should be something very specific that defines you. With my collections, I’m telling you about my roots and showing my vision of style — it’s our own story and a very true conversation.”
Philipp Plein’s longtime approach to getting personal has been to invite customers, press and influencers into his homes — on Friday night, he hosted a cocktail dînatoire at his townhome on the Upper East Side. Doing so unintentionally offers his brand a competitive edge, he said.
“What sets us apart from other brands is that we are very close to all the customers and also the people who support the brand,” he said. “There are not many brands who can invite their customers and supporters into their homes. Everything is very corporate; [big] fashion brands are no more personal than they were in the past because there’s not a designer who owns the brand — who puts their soul, life, hard work and passion into the brand.”
He added, “Today, designers are more like prostitutes. They work for whoever pays them and they stay in charge as long as they make money. … If they don’t perform, they have to go. It’s like a soccer player or a football player. Managers, boards or investors decide a brand’s next steps. It’s so impersonal.” Plein also hosts Oscars parties at his L.A. home, Cannes Film Festival parties at his home in the south of France and Milan Fashion Week parties at his local hotel.
While Browne’s message about the importance of taking risks resonated with many designers, others made the case for championing different priorities.
“We make clothes for people,” said Jeff Rudes, founder and chairman of L’Agence, at the brand’s presentation at Grand Central Station on Friday. ”Very colorful, avant-garde [styles] are not sellable. If they’re too cool, they’re not wearable. You can always make art to throw on the wall, but you’re not going to make money that way.”
He added, “The young designer could use a mentor — not to tell them how to design, but to say, ‘Let’s not be too bold. Take risks, but smart ones. Maybe make a cool blazer with buttons that are outrageous, because she can always wear a blazer.’”
Tibi founder and creative director Amy Smilovic has always gone her own way — including by rebelling against fashion authorities’ norms. Designed while in Antwerp, her Fall 2025 collection features much newness, including fresh luxury fabrications, but it’s not a far departure from what the brand has put out in the past. For the Tibi loyalist, it will be “what they expected next, without knowing what to expect,” Smilovic told Glossy at the brand’s “runway photoshoot” on Thursday. Since the start of the pandemic, Tibi has exclusively hosted traditional runway shows during Fashion Week in September.
In 2026, Smilovic will release a book with Penguin Random House titled “Almost Reckless” and centered on “getting your mind out of feeling like you’re boxed into anything,” Smilovic said.
“One of the biggest [focuses] for us is not feeling like we’re boxed into what the fashion industry is,” she said, adding, “I don’t think the fashion industry even knows what it is.”
It’s a fitting time for CFDA chairman Browne to want to “remind the world why they should pay attention to [designers’] stories,” especially as New York Fashion Week’s schedule has steadily dwindled. Over the last week, editors remarked that the “lighter” weekend day schedules were refreshing, yet “concerning.” Tibi isn’t the only designer that has started doing a single annual runway show, in September. And an influencer speaking off the record told Glossy they were working harder than ever to attract engagement to their Fashion Week content. They owed it to the season, calling September NYFW’s “actual Super Bowl.”
This September, the shows will also hint at whether February’s fashion risks paid off.
NYFW by the numbers
According to the social media management platform Dash Social, New York Fashion Week drove 30 million engagements across 93,653 posts on Instagram, X and YouTube. Sandy Liang, LaQuan Smith and Eckhaus Latta saw the highest engagement and brand growth, and Instagram drove the most activity.
Key trends
NYFW brands outperformed industry benchmarks: The average Instagram engagement rate for participating NYFW brands was 0.4%, a 100% increase over the luxury industry average of 0.2%. Participating brands also saw an average Instagram growth rate of 0.5%, a 134% jump compared to luxury and fashion industry benchmark averages of 0.1%.
Top social performers
Top 3 brands with the highest Instagram engagement rates during NYFW:
- Sandy Liang (3.8%), 660% higher than the fashion industry average of 0.5%
- Laquan Smith (1.0%), 100% higher
Eckhaus Latta (0.5%), on par with the fashion industry average
Top 3 brands with the highest Instagram follower growth during NYFW:
- Collina Strada (3.0%), 2,900% higher than the fashion and luxury industry average follower growth rate of 0.1%
- MELKE (1.8%), 1,700% higher
- Zankov (1.2%), 1,100% higher
Top 3 Instagram posts from NYFW (based on engagement rate):
- Sandy Liang (6.8%), 1,260% higher than the industry benchmark of 0.5%
- MELKE (2.4%), 380% higher
- Anna Sui (1.9%), 280% higher
