Seen and heard at New York Fashion Week 2023: Inside look at star-studded fashion shows
NEW YORK – It's a wrap for New York Fashion Week, baby.
Celebrities from Lindsay Lohan and Quinta Brunson to runway and TikTok mainstay Julia Fox elicited camera flashes and major moments at New York Fashion Week's shows.
Alexander Wang's post-scandal return and Christian Siriano's ode to Audrey Hepburn served as previews ahead of a week of Fall/Winter 2023 fashion that officially launched Feb. 10 with Rodarte. The latest seasonal showcase of veteran and rookie designers' creations ended Feb. 15 with the newly minted CFDA winner Raul Lopez showcasing his new LUAR collection, but the industry is still abuzz with what went down.
We had a front row seat to witness the sartorial magic happening in Manhattan (and Brooklyn), including nostalgic nods to fashion eras gone by and a look to the future of artificial intelligence, plus plenty of star power on and off the runway.
New York Fashion Week highlights
All the best photos at NYFW ??: See the New York Fashion Week 2023 runway looks, all the celebs
Everything you need to know about New York Fashion Week 2023: See the schedule, designers, dates, more about the shows
Lourdes Leon gets devilish on Valentine's Day: Madonna's daughter and Julia Fox hit hellish runway for Luis De Javier show
Everything is coming up roses ??: Lindsay Lohan, Quinta Brunson sit front row at Christian Siriano's rosy runway at NYFW
Black in Fashion Council: Designers pay homage to diaspora with crochet, structured tops and denim
Sergio Hudson's front row: Kimora Lee Simmons cheers on lookalike daughter Aoki walking in NYFW show
Alexander Wang leads with love for first NYC fashion show post-sexual assault scandal
Seen: Return of the '90s
Sergio Hudson: Sergio Hudson's "Collection 11" featured electrifying colors and graffiti, with nods to '90s show characters Fran Fine ("The Nanny") and Hilary Banks ("The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air"). "I wanted people to feel good when they saw it," Hudson tells USA TODAY.
Alexander Wang: The designer relaunched his menswear line during his pre-New York Fashion Week show which featured baggy sweat suits and loose silhouettes inspired by '90s streetwear.
Son Jung Wan: Son Jung Wan's "Into the 90s" collection was a look back to the colorful decade through a wide range of dresses and suits in orange, blue and metallic tones.
alice + olivia by Stacey Bendet: The "American Icon" collection drew inspiration from various decades of pop culture, including '60s pop art to the '90s grunge skater aesthetic.
Seen: A new generation of celebrity children modeling
Sergio Hudson: Veteran model, businesswoman and fashion designer Kimora Lee Simmons snapped photos with her phone and cheered on daughter Aoki Lee Simmons from the front row as her lookalike model offspring strutted down the catwalk at Hudson's show.
Private Policy and Custo Barcelona: Fashion photographer and "America's Next Top Model" alum Nigel Barker and his model wife Cristen showed up to support daughter Jasmine Barker as she walked the catwalk for Private Policy's "We Are All Animals" collection. The family was also present to support Jasmine at Custo Barcelona's colorful show.
Luis De Javier: Lourdes Leon, Madonna's daughter, got a little devilish as she modeled a red minidress, complete with horns, on Valentine's Day.
Heard: Emphasis on the digital world
Fashion writer Frances Solá-Santiago says the youth is blending "microtrends directly influenced by internet culture" and mashing up various styles from Y2K to Japanese fashion. "If you feel like you're living in '-core' world, it's very much that," she said at Pantone and Artechouse NYC's NYFW panel, adding, "If everything's trending, then nothing is trending."
Creative director, designer and "futurist" Jerome Lamaar is looking forward to seeing how metaverse fashion will look on the runway. "Emerging designers can create things that can be transferred from the fashion realm to the gaming realm to actually wearing it in the real world," he suggested at Pantone and Artechouse's panel. Lamaar adds that AI in fashion is an "aid," not a replacement.
AI may be able push the boundaries of fashion, according to model and computer scientist Lior Cole: During an NYFW The Talks panel on the "Future of Fashion" at Spring Studios Cole introduced an AI supermodel she designed to the audience. Cole said she created Arii "to exemplify that AI is not going to take your job." She added that "we have to focus on how technology can push creative boundaries rather than replace what human beings are great at." Arii, for example, can wear a digital NFT whereas a human cannot.
Seen: Designers of color show out
Prabal Gurung, Sergio Hudson, Tia Adeola, Vivienne Tam, Jason Wu, Head of State and Who Decides War were among many brands created by designers of color who presented at NYFW. The creators were a mix of international and domestic talent.
Black in Fashion Council: Diotima, CISE, Oak & Acorn, TORLOWEI, Madamette, JEOFROI, Ellae? Lisque? and Sincerely Ria presented their collections at NYFW: The Shows. Many of the designers had callbacks to their roots within the African and Caribbean diaspora.
Marrisa Wilson: The Guyanese-American designer showed off her latest collection to the tune of an all-woman jazz band and to the sips of rum cocktails at New York City's Hudson Yards Loft. Models with carefully architectured afros marched with her new assortments of mohair, knit and hand-drawn patterns while legendary model Pat Cleveland closed the show hand in hand with Wilson while dancing.
Heard: Designers are keeping things local
Kallmeyer: The majority of the collection is handmade in New York, minus some knitwear and leather goods, which are made in Italy.
Diotima: All of the crochet in the collection is from Jamaica, keeping the fabric and brand as close to the Caribbean as possible.
Oak & Acorn: "Ninety percent of the collection is made in America, sourced with American fabrics, deadstock and American-made cotton knits," designer Miko Underwood says. "It's something we're really proud of."
Plein Sport: "I decided (to open) the store two weeks ago," Plein says of his Plein Sports line launch. "No architect, we painted it. We got a girl from New York, she painted the walls. We painted the floor. We built a bench out of skateboards and we put the merch out there."
Seen: All that glitters isn't gold – it's silver
Gold has had its moment in the sun for the past several years but it seems that silver is peeking its glimmer a bit more on runways
Markarian: The Markarian show featured models carefully cast in corners of a Manhattan brownstone, but the jewels on the garments took center stage. Gowns were embroidered with silver sparkles and pinstripes were emblazoned with silver stones.
Alexander Wang: Accessories for Alexander Wang's return to the New York City fashion scene included heavy clutch bags and belt buckles made of futuristic-looking silver.
Bibhu Mohapatra: The New York-based designer put flowing and elegant dresses on display at Spring Studios; many of the dresses came with floral patterns made out of silver or light blue beading.
Custo Barcelona: Metallics dominated the Custo Barcelona runway, with a collection filled with shimmery materials in a range of colors and textures. Some pieces were paired with silver boots carrying through the shiny thread that seemed to run through many of fashion week's shows.
Cinq à Sept: Silver was a main character in Cinq à Sept's showroom, including subtle embellishments of brooches and beading plus metallic fabrics.
Seen: Collaborations with food and drink brands
Brand collaborations have entered the fashion week chat. LUAR and Christian Cowan both presented brand collaborations on the catwalk.
LUAR: LUAR closed out NYFW at Faurschou with a stellar collection that included multiple runway pieces inspired by Stella Artois, with "Steluar" commemorative merchandise sold post-show at a pop-up open for a limited time to the public and online.
Christian Cowan: Christian Cowan partnered up with Doritos for a collaboration, too. The chip brand made its debut on the catwalk during the Christian Cowan show with pieces inspired by Doritos' triangular shape.
Contributing: Colleen Barry, The Associated Press
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: New York Fashion Week trends: What we saw and heard in February 2023
