5 things to know from New York Fashion Week

New York Fashion Week is reengergised!

Energy pulsed through New York Fashion Week this Spring/Summer 2025 season ; in national politics threading runways with “vote!” messages and references to Kamala Harris, and in collections firmly anchored in the American experience from the Hamptons polo fields to the streets of East Los Angeles.

Here, Vogue Business breaks down everything to know from NYFW SS25.

1. The election on the runway

Vice President Harris emerged this week as a fashion muse.

Sergio Hudson’s collection of tailored pantsuits and powerful gowns could have doubled as a lookbook for the Democrat presidential candidate, whose campaign resulted in a surge of optimism — and a joyous get-out-the-vote rally led by Vogue’s Anna Wintour and the CFDA on Friday morning.

It was hard to miss the sequin coconut tree , from which three coconuts fell, at Prabal Gurung on Saturday. (If you did, download TikTok and watch the 10,000 memes of Harris recounting something her mother once said.)

With a pivotal election in just eight weeks, the messages were everywhere. Ralph Lauren returned his famous knitted American flag sweaters to his runway, with First Lady Jill Biden looking on from the front row.

Chavarria walked his own runway wearing an ACLU (aka the American Civil Liberties Union) tee on Thursday evening. He placed a copy of the US Constitution on every seat at his show on Wall Street, in a message more of fortitude and grit than of joy, as though it’s too soon to celebrate.

2. A NYFW bus

The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) deserve a tip of the hat for their steps towards better organising a week that had in recent seasons spun so far out of control that buyers and editors had to miss shows that couldn’t be reached in time.

The CFDA’s bus , sponsored by Shop with Google, enabled a group of editors and retailers to make it from Off-White’s Brooklyn show to Jason Wu at Hudson Yards on Sunday, a trip that would otherwise have taken an hour and at least two transfers on the subway.

3. Big returns

Some labels — Ralph Lauren, Hilfiger, Todd Snyder — returned to the fold after eschewing the week in recent seasons for their own plans elsewhere. Snyder dubbed his collection shown at the Le Rock restaurant in Rockefeller Plaza, ‘Villa America’.

4. International labels make a trip to NY

International labels such as Ala?a, Toteme, Off White and Nanushka, opting to show in New York this season to better reach US audiences.

“I think it’s good for the brand to come home,” said creative director Ib Kamara , establishing Off-White as a wholly American label by placing it on the basketball courts (with branded hoop backboards) of Brooklyn Bridge park.

5. Missing faces

Each NYFW edition is a reminder of just how hard designers have to work to plant their flag and keep going, and this time is no different. Some won’t be showing this season: Altuzarra and Helmut Lang aren’t on the calendar, while Interior shuttered its label in August ahead of this season, citing the volatility of the industry.

That volatility is always a conversation when NYFW rolls around. A new report by the Partnership for New York City, released on Wednesday, dissects New York’s fashion industry (just in time for this season’s shows) and writes that NYFW has “become less prominent” as fewer designers and fashion school graduates remain in the city.

Elsewhere in the industry this week:

• The second part of season four dropped this week, with more brand tie-ins than ever. Vogue Business unpacks the impact of Emily in Paris on fashion and beauty.
• The shuttering of two beloved sustainable labels says more about the state of the industry than the businesses themselves.
• Why Ebay is showing secondhand fashion on the runway.
• There are only a few tickets left for Vogue Business's Fashion Futures in New York, join senior executives from Gucci, Chanel, Christian Dior, Celine, Coty, Georgio Armani, Cartier and many more, as well as representatives from innovative startups and cutting-edge technology providers.
• The CFDA Awards will once again be hosted at the American Museum of National History later this year. See the nominees and honourees here.