Letter of Rec #093: Field notes from New York's Fall '25 runway season

Where there was no burn out in the air

Sometimes the most impactful moments of fashion week emerge in the subtle interactions and observations that take place before and after the shows. I took a lot of inspiration from the people around me this season, least not as they related to:

• A headscarf’s wrap around a head of cascading locks

  

  Alexis Badiyi; looks a lot like this from The Row from a few seasons ago, but a plain black silk scarf is what she used

• Red tights screaming out of a pair of ripped jeans

  

  Becky in Junya Watanabe jeans (maybe Ruadh's would be good for you? Or, no, better yet, it’s the distressed Ayla)

• Baby name necklaces (from Etsy) on the chest of a publicist

  

  The one and only Sophie Conti — tongue out, headset and all

• Actual babies (the ultimate accessory)

  

  Neverworn’s Liana Satenstein. Under those Adidas track pants are a pair of blue socks with Tory’s monogram flats

• City sweepers

  

  Or coats, whatever feels more appropriate to call them. This one is from Toteme on Beverly Nguyen

But I think my greatest takeaway from the most recent February fashion week in NY is that there was virtually no burn out in the air. This is usually the time of year when clothes (and the weather) are an inconvenience more than anything else.

But at the shows I attended, it mostly felt like everyone was genuinely happy to be there. Enjoying the company and the clothes.

It could be a function of a sparser schedule (the less clothes you see, the more novel they feel, whereas the more you see, the more they all look the same), or a more personal eagerness for new inputs (what having a new baby at home will do for you in the balance it offers as you go and be where you are with pleasure, then feel excited to get back home) but either way, it makes me think about how fragile the reception of a show actually is.

How many more elements beyond the clothes impact our perception of it. I’m not quite sure how you’d optimize for ideal show conditions (and the clothes do still have to be good enough) but fewer goings on seems like a good start.

Some of the rest of the insights I picked up from in and around the shows are below, with a couple of styling ideas I’ve already applied c/o Altuzarra, a rare treasure in its etching up of an uptown woman who is cool —

No doubt a function of Vanessa Traina’s involvement (who styles the show and just as well lives in the nosebleeds near me).

I loved the knit cap worn with an argyle sweater, and how the straight, longer-than-ankle-but-not-quite-floor-length dress with a boxy jacket looked. My own expressions of both played out like this:

With a tight-to-the-neck black turtleneck, white button down shirt, Me + Em argyle knit sweater (she has my attention too), Khaite tuxedo pants (a tested, lower-rise alt), The Row’s pony hair ‘Canal’ loafers (site says they’re brown. They’re not), and a knit cap from Maison Krasnova

Secondarily, here I am in a boxy collarless navy blue jacket (from Weyhe, but I’m inclined to suggest this, in khaki, effusively and for the same purpose; the ‘Shamo’ shape from Blaze Milano is great too) and the inner of a slip dress from Heirlome (I like this from Rick Owens as an alt, the shape is more what I have in mind). Here are some shoes for ya.

5 more things I picked up from on and around the runways this week: