The six rules of effortless American style
The eyes of the world are on Washington D.C. right now, where President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, leader of the new Department of Government Efficiency at the White House, are cutting jobs and slashing budgets. Feeling the heat, America’s leading style practitioners have stepped up and delivered one of the finest New York Fashion Weeks the city has seen in years.
Here in Manhattan, the fashion industry is collectively known as “Seventh Avenue”. Clustered around the Midtown thoroughfare are the headquarters of its greatest makers and creators, from Calvin Klein to Carolina Herrera and Thom Browne. The community skews liberal. Its pre-eminent force, Vogue’s Dame Anna Wintour, backed Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 presidential campaign.
Yet at New York Fashion Week, the community put politics in a corner and focussed on what they do best – making polished, wearable clothes.
In America, wardrobe staples are collectively known as “sportswear” and five days before Lady Gaga’s stylist Brandon Maxwell staged the first show on the official schedule, the forces who modernised this versatile style of go-anywhere comfortable garments in the nineties – Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors and Calvin Klein – were dominating the proceedings.
At the imposing Beaux-Arts style flagship of New York Public Library Jacobs launched 33 looks for next season. The avant-garde pieces – which comprise his “laboratory” line of sorts – won’t wash up on the UK’s shores, or anywhere else because they are exclusively sold across the street from Trump Tower, at Bergdorf Goodman, where Hervé Pierre, Melania Trump’s stylist, shops.
The ideas presented by Marc Jacobs were an ode to “courage” – and included fulsome shapes, oversized bows, feminine twin sets, rich jewel tones in purple and ruby. They struck an optimistic note, setting the week off in a positive direction. It transmitted a motivational, feel-good exuberance, which everyone could use a dose of right now.
Later that night, at Bemelmans Bar, luxury Rosewood hotel The Carlyle’s cocktail hotspot, a starry crowd (David Bowie’s widow, Iman, Keith Richards’ wife Patti Hansen and Katie Holmes) toasted a new boutique Michael Kors opened on Madison Avenue. Nicole Scherzinger – who stars as Norma Desmond in the smash hit Broadway revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Sunset Boulevard – upstaged them all in a midriff-baring sequin Kors ensemble topped with a sharp black tuxedo jacket.
The best collections of the week could be distilled into six key themes.
New takes on the tux
As fashion week officially got started, striking tux jackets, which could either serve the traditional purpose as the finishing touch atop trousers and a crisp white shirt or slay as frocks, came from Christian Siriano.
The Project Runway star, who after winning the American competition TV show in 2007, served as a mentor and judge for 16 years, presented a thigh-grazing variation of the black tie topper. It featured wide satin lapels and a saucy red flounce. Another version, an elongated gilet, came sleeveless and with a floor-length hem.
Minimalism updated
Leading up to New York Fashion Week as well as all the way through it, Calvin Klein and Veronica Leoni were the talk of the town.
On day two, the first woman to lead the brand (which was established in 1968 is the closest thing America has to a heritage label) presented a sober collection that was deemed “extraordinary” by its sprightly 82-year-old founder. Accompanied to the show by his former wife and assistant designer, Kelly Klein, Klein sat front row among a slew of celebrities including his house models, Kate Moss and Christy Turlington, as well as Greta Lee, the current face of Calvin Klein Underwear.
Lending modernity to Klein’s minimalist signature was Leoni’s accomplishment as she returned its upscale Collection to the runway after a six-year hiatus. The Italian creative director – who worked at Celine, Jil Sander and The Row before hitting Calvin - sent a straightforward sartorial message – that is, invest in sharp tailored endurable pieces.
Emphasising the point was the stark almost unadorned manner in which Leoni presented the trophy staples – a trench coat, a grey suit, a silk shirt, and a pair of “five pocket” trousers.
She also excelled at rendering America’s flag colours in her own way: sculpting a floaty strapless long dress in vibrant lipstick red, conceptualising sculpted outerwear in creamy winter white and cutting a skirt ensemble in icy “barley blue.”
As for Leoni’s spare use of accessories, there were some Calvin collectables including aviator spectacles brandished by catwalk model Kendall Jenner and a petite silver metal clutch. Shaped like the iconic bottle of the brand’s CK One unisex perfume, it was crafted from silver metal and brought to mind Elsa Perretti’s sterling silver classics for Tiffany & Co.
Fashion-forward ease
The relaxed approach to dressy clothes that guided Carolina Herrera’s Wes Gordon and Joseph Altuzarra – go-to designers for young American socialites – is surely a direct result of the Southern California wildfires, which has dramatically tempered 2025’s Awards Season finery.
Although fashion-forward ease has been a vibe on the red carpet since the stylist Danielle Goldberg and designer Jonathan Anderson gowned Greta Lee in laid-back Loewe as she campaigned to win an Oscar for Past Lives in 2023.
Gordon’s solution to projecting subtle opulence was lace, from which he crafted an ankle-length long-sleeve, high-collar claret dress and a cornflower blue tunic and trouser combo. Most of his other autumn/winter Carolina Herrera formals don’t require much more than a pair of fantastic shoes.
Pieces that wow by night as well as the next day were the best ones from Joseph Altuzarra. A slimline chiffon evening dress was styled with chic items – a collarless jacket in oatmeal, flats and a clutch – that could go anywhere.
Atop a filmy long chiffon gown with a full-ish skirt came a fluffy cardigan jacket which would look great on a bride or for après ski. The total look brought to mind the starlet style virtuosic costume designer Gilbert Adrian created for the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films, and in particular the look he crafted for Jean Harlow in the 1933 comedy drama, Dinner At Eight.
Add a touch of drama
To rejuvenate the minimalism that guides her label Khaite, the designer Catherine Holstein looked to Edith Head’s handiwork for Barbara Stanwyck in the 1947 film noir thriller, The Two Mrs. Carrolls.
The brightest idea among the 56 looks – which appeared on a catwalk bathed in amber glow (as an homage to The Wizard of Oz’s yellow brick road) was a two-piece spin on the boiler suit. Cut from grey flannel and also caramel wool, the ensemble featured a short sleeved button up jacket shirt neatly tucked into belted cigarette trousers.
Sharp “power shoulders” – a Stanwyck signature – defined Khaite’s best jacket which was cut from faux leopard. Leather opera gloves (evoking those which siren Rita Hayworth memorably brandished performing Put the Blame On Mame in the 1946 musical, Gilda) lent elegance and warmth to sleeveless sheath dresses and cashmere T-shirts. Buy a pair!
Back in business
New York is not yet completely following the five days a week return to office mandate recently instituted by DOGE leader, Elon Musk in D.C. Nevertheless, there were back to work “fits” for every demographic at New York Fashion Week. Refreshingly the office attire signalled that, no matter one’s age or profession, there’s no need to wear a traditional suit to get down to business when autumn comes around.
Stuart Vever’s super hip Coach collection – with its “baggy pants” [trousers] and “pocket tees” [T-shirts] – is geared for young creatives. The British creative director’s solution for that gig worker who permanently lives in casuals yet suddenly needs to attend an 11th hour “in person” meeting were flashy trainers (Think: Coach’s silver suede “Soho Sneaker”) and really great coats such as the long wool trench and pea coat, which both appeared in navy, opening the show.
Brandon Maxwell’s professional garb mixed comfortable holdovers from the pandemic such as jogging pants and tailored denim. Instead of blouses, there were feminine blousons. Rather than a pencil skirt, the gifted Texan showed swishy and voluminous ones in leather and velvet. A gilded belt dressed up khakis. Shawls and scarves came with everything – coats, dresses, sweaters – seemingly so a business traveller can keep warm while working in transit.
Maxwell’s beautiful polo necks made the case for refreshing old ones. The masterstroke of this assured collection which is sure to be copied by ARKET and COS – was the striking layered way in which it was styled.
Modern, sensuous suits
Michael Kors explained that his layered looks were a response to climate change. “The seasons are crazy,” he said of fluctuating temperatures which are common today in most big cities.
At a preview of Kors show at his headquarters looming above 42nd Street, statuesque models presented a series of sleeveless sheath dresses and blouses which appeared beneath blazers and atop trousers, which can be put on or taken off.
“So suits,” said Kors, pondering the interchangeable pieces comprising his new take.
“A suit that is sensuous because it moves,” he added of his billowy silk crepe with which he worked. “The jacket almost feels like a cardigan because it’s so soft.”
The structured power suit made famous by Hilary Clinton and Kamala Harris seems to have had its moment.
