To Paris the crown, Milan the labels and London the brass. What – aside from that three-letter acronym – is New York’s USP?
With a view of Brooklyn Bridge and that skyline behind it, Michael Kors seemed to put the question to rest. For native New Yorkers, there is only one city that matters. And fashion – like music, movies and art – is one of the ways New Yorkers express difference and defiance.
Here at NYFW – while the clothes leaned towards a conservatism at odds with the city’s personality – its diversity stands out like a badge of honour.
From Australian brand Bronx and Branco‘s sultry sheer exotica, African designers represented in the Black in Fashion Council Showrooms initiative, shiny eurocentricism at Jason Wu, and homegrown Ralph Lauren‘s and Kors’ tinkering with the WASP template to include all who aspire to a better strut.
All without needing to cede to the fashions conglomerate behemoths, a sense of egalitarianism missing in Europe. So Pharrell and the cool crowd have a Paris pass now. Here it’s an open invite.
