This is an episode of the Glossy Fashion Podcast, which features candid conversations about how today’s trends are shaping the future of the fashion industry. More from the series →
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On this episode of the Glossy Podcast, we recap New York Fashion Week Fall 2026 by breaking down the defining themes of the season. Senior fashion reporter Danny Parisi is joined by Glossy international reporter Zofia Zwieglinska and editor-in-chief Jill Manoff, alongside special guest Mandy Lee — known to her 233,000 Instagram followers and 616,000 TikTok followers as @oldloserinbrooklyn — for a candid conversation about what worked, what didn’t and what it all signals for American fashion.
The group digs into the week’s front-loaded schedule, the return of wearable drama, political signaling on the runway and backstage, and the growing tension between spectacle and substance on the runway.
The following quotes have been lightly edited for clarity.
The sparse, front-loaded calendar
Lee: “The calendar was a little bit sparse. A lot of brands that are a really big pull in New York are either not showing in New York anymore or have chosen to show off-calendar. In other cities, typically — especially Milan and Paris — they bookend the schedule with really big pulls that actually get people to the city and get them to stay for the week. Unfortunately, I think New York has lost a lot of that staying power with international guests.”
On the persistent ‘NYFW is dead’ narrative
Lee: “Every season, [people say], ‘New York Fashion Week is dead.’ And I think what people fail to realize is that New York is a completely different market than the European markets. They have a different goal and a different customer. And that customer buys real things they can live their life in. In New York specifically, the brands are dressing real women; they’re not dressing for the fantasy or for this aspirational cartoon character of a woman. They’re dressing an actual woman.”
Controversy-driven casting and attention tactics
Lee: “When I see things like this, I’m just like, ‘That’s the goal. That’s the intention.’ There’s really no thought behind that, other than: ‘These people will cause controversy. It’ll get talked about, and [there will be] more eyes on me.’ I predicted that the runway gimmick would fizzle out. Brands really relied on this runway gimmick: What’s the craziest thing we can do? But it’s such a short, temporary gain that really does not amount to any actual, longstanding value. So I’m curious to see if this ‘rage bait casting’ is something other brands might start to do.”
Elsewhere in the episode, the hosts spotlight standout collections from Diotima, Khaite, Altuzarra, Tory Burch and Sandy Liang, discuss the re-emergence of purple as a key color story, and debate whether, in 2026, the runway spectacle still justifies the investment.
