Pamela Anderson celebrates Pandora’s latest collection as New York Fashion Week begins.Bre Johnson/BFA.com/Supplied
New York Fashion Week opened this week with a series of star-studded fêtes. Pamela Anderson celebrated Pandora’s latest collection, Martha Stewart dined with J.Crew and Julia Roberts attended Jacquemus’s takeover of the Central Park boathouse.
Celebrity appearances are a typical feature of the marquee event that kicks off fashion month. Perhaps less predictable is how this season will be received, both by industry insiders who no longer take fashion week as trend-setting gospel, and by consumers who have decreased luxury fashion spending by 2 to 5 per cent globally amid tariffs, inflation and a host of other unsexy realities (in fashion math, even a few points can spell calamity).
The Spring 2026 collection from Proenza Schouler.Courtesy of Proenza Schouler/Supplied
Still, the allure of fashion month persists. This season, the big draw is the musical chairs of creative directors who have been rotating through Chanel, Balenciaga, Gucci and other major labels. The music has finally stopped, and on Wednesday, Proenza Schouler kicked off the debuts with its first collection by newly appointed creative director Rachel Scott. The Jamaica-born designer, who founded CFDA-winning womenswear label Diotima, took over from Proenza founders Jack McCullough and Lazaro Hernandez when they decamped for Loewe earlier this year.
Courtesy of Proenza Schouler/Supplied
Scott infused the Spring 2026 collection – designed in partnership with the Proenza atelier as she eases into her new role – with some of her signature elements: texture play, an emphasis on craft and unexpected colour combinations.
Some favourites: A faded yellow chrysanthemum motif showed up on a transparent tote and on seafoam-green knee-high boots, appearing as if glimpsed through discarded sea glass. A creamy jacquard-weave coat shimmered, the effect created by showing the fabric’s underside. Scott was intentionally playing with the inside out, figuring out how Proenza’s garments are constructed as she goes. So far, so good.
With Giorgio Armani’s death last week at 91, it’s hard not to think about the patriarchs of fashion and how, amid a New York Fashion Week slate of mostly under-the-radar labels, figures like Ralph Lauren and Michael Kors suddenly feel more relevant. For spring, both designers held fast to their trademarks: Lauren offered minimalist country-club chic in a sharp palette of black, white and red; while Kors leaned into breezy, jet-setting glamour, with flowing neutrals, belted dresses and a hint of gold sparkle.
As New York Fashion Week gets under way, we’ll have more dispatches from the runway, because however distant we might think this world is from our own, it’s a lot closer than we may realize (cue Miranda Priestly’s speech from The Devil Wears Prada).
