With 75 shows and presentations over the course of five short days, New York Fashion Week returned in February almost to its regular programming. On Friday, February 10, Rodarte officially kicked things off with a magical ode to goth fairies. After decamping to Los Angeles for a spell, Kate and Laura Mulleavy made their triumphant return to the city by staging a wedding banquet straight out of a dark fantasy novel. The bride wore a voluminous tinsel gown complete with crown and wings while her bridal party and guests arrived outfitted in glittering fringe dresses and a series of jet-black vampirical gowns that would suit both Wednesday and Morticia Addams (as the mother of the bride, of course).
For years, a Marc Jacobs show served as the closing act to the American collections but this time around, the grand finale of the formal schedule belonged to Luar’s Raul Lopez. The Dominican designer who hails from Williamsburg, Brooklyn presented his latest designs at the borough’s Faurschou art museum on the evening of February 15. Still, Jacobs—who has been presenting his collections off-calendar for the past few years got the final, final say in the season when he presented his fall 2023 collection a full four months later on June 26 at the New York Public Library. In a blink-and-you-miss-it show that lasted less than 3 minutes, the designer delivered a thought-provoking lineup that alluded to the ridiculous speed with which we consume fashion and information in general. With a title (“Marc Jacobs: A striking fusion of masculine tailoring and feminine elegance”) and show notes written entirely by Open AI’s Chat GPT, the presentation was a profound statement on how dull creative pursuits become when humans are removed from the equation.
Jacobs’s show was the final point on a season that brought out memorable turns from New York heavyweights—Proenza Schouler, Michael Kors, Carolina Herrera and the return of Anna Sui—as well as several New York Fashion Week first-timers. See all the highlights below.