New York Fashion Week officially starts Thursday, and this season has so much fun in store: Kardashians, runway diversity, PARIS FASHION, flash floods!Here’s everything you need to know to keep up with it all. Will Givenchy bringhauteuror chaosto New York Fashion Week?
Mais non!Givenchy creative director andKim Kardashian wedding dress designerRiccardo Tisci will be skipping Paris Fashion Week this season, bringing the historic couture labelto the Big Apple. Even more controversially, he’sopening his show’s doors to thehoi polloi, inviting 1,200 “regular people,” including 280 fashion students at teachers. As if that weren’t enough to make Anna Wintour’s head spin, expect goddaughter North West —cause of the Vogue editor’s ire last season— to be there, front row, too. Will we (finally) have a post-gender, post-racial runway?
OK, so the runways may still bepredominantly white, but there’s no denying that casting directors are branching out. Fashion Week’s latest stars areMadeline Stuart, who has Down Syndrome and will walk FTL Moda, andWinnie Harlow, an “America’s Next Top Model” vet who has a skin condition. Avant-garde labelEckhaus Lattawon accolades last season for its diverse lineup featuring young trans teens and middle-aged women. So didChromatandKanye Westfor showing a wide(r) range of bodies and colors. Will other designers follow suit? Let’s hope yes. Will Caitlyn Jenner usurp the rest of the Kardashian Klan?
Caitlyn Jenneris going to bethecelebrity get this season at Fashion Week — and we bet that her presence will cause even more hoopla than the rest of her brood combined.Anna Wintour, for one, will surelywelcome the opportunity to sit courtside with the transgender heroine, perhaps that will lead to a Vogue cover. Will Public School bring urban cool back into DKNY?
The debut of the season: Public School designers Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osbornewill take the helm at DKNY— and take charge of Donna Karan’s legacy at large after the iconic designerstepped down from her namesake labelthis summer. Expect the cool-kid duo to inject some attitude, youthful insouciance and gender-bending into the label. We’re excited. Who will take over Alexander Wang at Balenciaga?
New York bad boy Alexander Wang did the unthinkable and up andquithisprestigiouspost at fancy French labelBalenciaga in July to focus on his own brand, sparking speculations about who will take hisplace. But after Wang’s comments about his time there — “essentially I [was] just another employee,” he toldW Magazine— don’t expect any big-name designers to be scrambling for the gig. Is fashion Twitter over?
Last season, it was déclassé to be seenInstagramming the runway— this time, will Tweeting your observations seem totally naff? Apparently, fashion commenters and brands aren’tgoingon the social media platformto share news, reach fans or even just hang out anymore. And with Aliza Licht leaving her post atDKNY PR Girland Erika Bearman no longer Tweeting atOscar PR Girl, does that meanFashion Twitter on its last legs? Will yoga pants be the new sneakers?
While the style-blog celebs continue to dress more and more ridiculously, the frontrow has gotten increasingly casual. Last season, it was a sea of sneakers, knit beanies and puffer coats. Now, with “sport” wear more popular than ever,will people just show up in their literal gym clothes? (Or — given the current forecast of90 degreeheat and flash floods— perhaps a bathing suit would be more appropriate.)