New York Fashion Week: Highlights from the Spring-Summer 2025 runways
CNN
From Rihanna’s glittery appearance at the Alaïa show to Olympian Jordan Chiles’ catwalk debut, New York Fashion Week has already been full of surprises.
Over the past few days in New York City — and a little further afield, on Long Island — mainstay brands like Ralph Lauren, Coach, Tommy Hilfiger and Tory Burch looked to reinvigorate or redefine the classics, while labels including Alaïa and Off-White, who typically show in Paris, crossed the pond to define what American fashion means to them. New York Fashion Week, which formally kicks off fashion month, has found itself at a crossroads in recent seasons as its counterparts in Milan and Paris have maintained dominance on the industry’s schedule with sought-after shows and splashy celebrity guest lists. But that doesn’t mean the city has been without its A-listers — especially since the weeklong event has coincided with the US Open, bringing out plenty of stars to sit both by the court and the catwalk. Ralph Lauren got things started with an off-schedule Hamptons fête on Thursday, recreating its iconic Polo Bar for guests including First Lady Jill Biden, singer Usher, and actors Jude Law, Tom Hiddleston and Naomi Watts. At the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum the following night, Alaïa reunited supermodels Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Amber Valletta and Stephanie Seymour in the audience while Kendall Jenner led the models’ procession around the art museum’s famed spiraling architecture — though Rihanna’s glittering appearance in a crystal mesh ensemble by the French luxury house was the biggest surprise of the evening. Later in the week, Tory Burch drew an enviable front row that included Elizabeth Olsen, Michelle Williams, Jodie Turner-Smith, Mindy Kaling and Ella Emhoff, who watched on as aughts icon Alexa Chung walked the runway. And for the Brooklyn-based label Luar, who staged the final evening show, a surprise appearance by Madonna in latex gloves and a wide camel coat set off a frenzy of camera flashes. (Next to her, a final empty seat remained a mystery until the rapper Ice Spice arrived to claim it). Celebrities also turned out in droves for Off-White as creative director Ib Kamara headed the label’s first-ever New York runway on Sunday. Singers Zayn Malik, Mary J. Blige, Tinashe, Victoria Monét and Camila Cabello, supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio, and actors Issa Rae and Lena Waithe arrived at basketball courts along the Brooklyn waterfront to see the collection, “Duty Free,” which took inspiration from the late founder Virgil Abloh’s Ghanaian heritage. Also in attendance was US Olympic water poloist Ashleigh Johnson — with rapper Flavor Flav, of course, who became a sponsor of her team this year — and 2024 Olympic all-around gymnastics gold medalist Sunisa Lee. But Olympians haven’t just been on the guest list this week — they’ve made surprise runway debuts as well. Another one of the gymnastics “Golden Girls,” Jordan Chiles, traded the balance beam for the catwalk at Kim Shui, wearing a floral silk leotard-style outfit, finished with a fluttering cape, while sprinter Noah Lyles embraced a more leisurely pace at Willy Chavarria’s show in white athletic shorts and armbands emblazoned with “América,” the name the designer chose for a show about the immigrant perspective of the American Dream.
