New York Fashion Week Steals The Show

In the weeks leading up to New York Fashion Week, high fashion brands and models prepare to work the anticipated semi-annual fashion week: a week of events for brands to share new collections with the general public, buyers, and the press.

Some of the most notable events and shows this fashion week include the Coach RTW Runway Collection, Victoria’s Secret World Tour, The 2023 Daily Front Row Fashion Media Awards and more. Many celebrities, rising stars and even a resurgence of supermodels of the past have been spotted in New York sitting front row, strutting the runway or walking the red carpet. 

Notably, the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show has made a comeback: this time, it’s a world tour documentary-film runway show. As a teaser, they hosted an event on September 6th, 2023, to announce and preview the show. Attendees included models on the rise like Lila Moss and Iris Law, as well as supermodels from the 90s and 2000s like Adriana Lima, Candice Swanepoel, Naomi Campbell, and Gigi Hadid. 

Senior Carmen Saidat, who models and works in the fashion industry, said, “I love how they incorporated stars from how they started… but also the influencers I follow on Instagram, like Olivia Ponton, who I’ve followed for two years; she got invited. They’re just changing the face of Victoria’s Secret; they’re not about one body type, and I think that’s important to realize.” Many seem to agree on the decision for Victoria’s Secret to expand their brand’s diversity and include more body types. 

Mrs. Means, a fashion teacher at Northwest High School, said, “When they left, it was probably kind of a good thing; it caused a lot of body image issues. I’m glad they’re coming back with more substance and it’s not going to be super focused, hopefully, on looks.”

On September 7th, 2023, Coach’s Spring Ready-to-Wear Runway Collection show took place; we saw celebrities like Vogue Editor Anna Wintour, The Summer I Turned Pretty star Lola Tung, Jennifer Lopez and more sitting front row. During the show, two PETA protesters ‘crashed’ the runway to relay a message: “Coach: Leather Kills.” The two were quickly removed from the stage and escorted out of the event. The collection itself contained a lot of black, with a few pops of color like purple, green and red. Oversized jackets, bold silhouettes, and a street-style type look were also repeating trends within the collection.

Another memorable show was the Ralph Lauren Spring 2024 Ready-to-Wear Fashion Show which took place on September 8th, 2023 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York. Some celebrity attendees included Jennifer Lopez, Cara Delevingne, Emma Roberts, Amanda Seyfried and Sofia Richie. Remarkably, 90’s supermodel Christy Turlington closed for the show in a sleek gold gown.

 “My spring 2024 women’s collection is about a new kind of romance—cool and sophisticated,” Ralph Lauren said in his show notes. Lauren has a way of weaving the bohemian-western-Americana style into timeless fashion, and this show is no different; the collection included lots of gold and black, floral patterns, western belt buckles and cowboy hats.

Beyond these three shows, many other events took place this fashion week. Lila Moss, Emily Ratajkowski and Sarah Jessica Parker were spotted at the 2023 Daily Front Row Fashion Media Awards, Blake Lively at a Michael Kors show, and many more. Everyone loves the classics, but we also love to see new brands making their debut.

“There was this new designer, Mirror Palais; I love their pieces and I had never seen them before,” Saidat said, “New York Fashion Week has such a prestigious reputation.” 

Though we need to acknowledge the flaws within the industry, NYFW 23 had some very memorable moments and we got to see lots of our favorites out in New York.