Published
February 9, 2025
If there are a thousand stories in The Naked City, there are at least 500 fashion tribes. On day two of New York Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2025, three designers each told very different tales: one that suggests a high and socially mobile lifestyle, one that addresses the hardworking city professional, and a third that speaks to New York City’s vibrant and individualistic youth.
Sergio Hudson
The dissolution of the Spring Studios show space has been a boon for designer Sergio Hudson. Since then, he has moved uptown to the intellectual slash-arts NeueHouse and, in partnership with spirit collaborator Woodford Reserve, has hosted his fashion shows with a pre-show cocktail hour for guests to relax and mingle. The elevated surroundings and novel approach have allowed Hudson’s ultra-lux and stylishly fierce designs to shine.
Backstage pre-show, an extremely Zen Hudson—while adding finishing touches to the looks and having a tender moment with his folks—spoke to FashionNetwork.com.
“We coined this term ‘Opulent American Sportswear,’ and I wanted to celebrate the kind of clothes I grew up admiring. It’s luxe elevated chic sportswear; at least, that’s what I hope you will see,” Hudson said humbly.
Indeed, while a sportswear mood was present, Hudson raised the look to RTW. Whether yummy cable knits sweater dressing, especially casually luxe paired with a leather skirt, or sharp outerwear in a royal blue trench or yellow mohair topper, and high-end denim pieces.
His forte has always been tailoring; this outing offered a striking gold slim-cut suit and a natty red three-piece suit, complete with red shoes.
Since Michelle Obama wore a plum Sergio Hudson look to the 2021 inauguration, monochromatic, color-driven styling has been the designer’s oeuvre, and this season, in addition to the red, was plum, forest green, and burgundy. A royal blue sequin skirt stole the show for its intense saturation. As Hudson said, “Color always creeps back in for me.”
From this reporter’s vantage point, given the timeline of Hudson’s youth in the Excess Eighties, the image conjures up the subject from Sheila E.’s 1984 hit song, “The Glamorous Life,” whose lyrics spout, “She wears a long fur coat of mink, even in the summertime.” Thus, Hudson’s lady—and guy, while not yet an official category, always has a place in Sergio Hudson runway shows—often completed looks with furs such as Mongolian lamb, which is a byproduct of the meat industry (that constitutes one of the four major food groups).
The jackets were dyed to match the outfits, varying from cropped to knee-length styles. Hudson was clear he wouldn’t use exotic fur, only byproduct pelts. “This is more fur than I have ever used,” he said. It felt opulent and unapologetically chic. Bravo!
In contrast to fabulous days and nights out in the city, Theory still proposes a wardrobe that meets the urban professional’s needs wherever they work. For the first time, the Fast-Retailing brand pulled back the curtain on what exactly goes into creating their garments by letting guests tour their Gansevoort design innovation center atelier, which contains all aspects of design from inspiration and boasts some pretty high-tech and rare machinery for patternmaking and fabric pre-shrinking.
After a tour of the facilities, guests descended to a presentation that included a live lookbook shoot to peruse the collection up close and personal. FashionNetwork.com spoke to Dushane Noble, Head of Design Women’s, and Martin Andersson, Head of Design Men’s, about the key design propositions of the season.
In looking at women’s wardrobe essentials each season, Noble looks to recontextualize them. The result is the workhorse piece in your closet that you never knew how much you needed until you had it. This season, Noble and his team focused on the thoughtfulness of the brand DNA. They added touches like inverted pleats in H-line skirts, made for more effortless movement, or created a silk twill resembling a nylon windbreaker material for an easy blazer or convertible dress. “It’s subverting the familiar and giving it a different context,” he suggested.
Noble was also excited to introduce the fruits of the brand’s sustainability innovations, demonstrated in a snappy cropped wool twill jacket with a ribbed wool collar. “It’s made from the fiber runoff from our other garments, such as the fine gauge Merino wool knits, so it’s completely circular,” Noble said.
While the men’s and women’s lines are cohesive, each addressing innovation and the energy of New York, they address different client needs, according to Andersson. Highlights for the Theory man include a light-as-air cashmere polo sweater, a topper coat made from traceable Merino wool woven to feel like cashmere, loose drawstring pants for a chic business-ready alternative to sweatpants, and a genius non-wrinkling wool jacket, pants, and shirt—complete with a travel pouch for that meeting-ready look anytime.
Aknvas
New Yorkers are not all business or just serious socializing. To meet their fantasy needs, Aknvas designer Christian Juul Nielsen debuted his “Fragmented Royalty” collection, a tribute of sorts to his Danish heritage right up the alley for fans of Bridgerton.
“It’s based on the story of Queen Louise of Denmark, the Godmother of Europe. She married her children, each with their own distinct personalities, off to the best families,” he explained post-show.
Thus, they had elements to address all three kids’ eccentricities. The opening segments were dedicated to the most fashionable Alexandra, who lived in England and recalled elements of traditional 18th and 19th-century dress; think ruffles, bows, baroque elements, and bloomers made into mini briefs yet paired away into barely-there styles perfect for the club.
Lynx and fur trims were a nod to Dagmar, who was married off to a Russian royal.
Finally, in a nod to Queen Louise’s most rebellious child, Thyra, who was married off to Germany, Nielsen proposed billowing cutaway dresses with ribbons hoisting them up to bare some thigh.
If the scenes in Celine Dion’s video “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” are a fantasy you’d like to live, these frocks are right up your alley.
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