For the past couple of years, New York Fashion Week hasn’t been defined necessarily by presentations from the same group of designers, but by its ever-changing schedule. You never know exactly what you are going to get—which creates a sense of ongoing surprise. Last season, Lou Dallas made a return after a years-long hiatus. This year, Jonathan Simkhai staged a runway show for the first time in three seasons.
The inspiration for Simkhai’s collection was a photo of his mother Orna as a bride in an A-line lace gown made with fabric from his grandfather’s lace mill in Iran. He didn’t have any of that fabric to work with, so he engineered something similar by using an x-ray of a flower to create a material for cage-like embroidered skirts and dresses. When he found out the CFDA would schedule his show on September 7, 52 years to the date of his parent’s wedding in 1972, it felt like fate.
The collection, much like those presented the day before, had a particularly light and airy feeling that certainly could be described as marital. The majority of the looks were white; models walked in laser-cut flower button-downs worn with white skirts and matching heels. Of course no one wore it better than the muse herself, Orna, who came out to take a bow with her son, while wearing one of the floral appliquéd skirts with a sleek white top.
Simkhai Spring/Summer 2025
Khaite is notoriously a moodier show with dimmed lights and edgier pieces for her slick fangirls, but this season there was, again, a surprisingly softer tone. Models wore dainty peplum tops made of hand-knit ribbon, crocheted skirts and tops constructed of circular doily-like cut-outs, and black netted skirts with pom-pom embellishments. It seemed like a clear step out of her comfort zone, but it paid off, while still feeling like something Khaite loyalists will love.
Khaite RTW Spring/Summer 2025
At Kim Shui, there was also some fluffiness in the form of flowers. Shui wasn’t inspired by their blushing beauty but instead by their imperfection. She took as her starting point kintsugi (Japanese for “gold seams”), which is the practice of repairing broken pottery with gold or silver powder or lacquer.
Shui offered her own take by piecing together old motifs from her past collections to create a sort of a best-of retrospective. The Ming-era florals from when she first started making waves online were mish-mashed with her Baby-Phat–inspired fall 2023 collection of K-studded belts and low-waisted mini skirts. But most notable was her unexpected soft-launch of menswear. A handful of male models walked the show wearing leather pants and matching laced leather tops. Considering the downtown set loves Shui's clothes, it feels like it was only a matter of time before she would expand her offerings to make sure everyone on the Lower East Side can get a piece of it.
Kim Shui Spring/Summer 2025
Sergio Hudson was also thinking about how to dress more fans of his brand, with a collection inspired both by 1967’s Valley of the Dolls and by the husbands of his female customers, who he said have long been anticipating Sergio Hudson menswear. Of course, he did it his way, with pink suits, sheer mint green tops worn with buttons undone, and bright blue sequin tops styled under a workwear jacket.
Sergio Hudson RTW Spring/Summer 2025
And Amy Smilovic of Tibi, is always inspired by menswear—but for the girls. This season, she gave it a little twist so that it felt like both business and a party in the front.
The opening look was a blazer with a button on the lapel so it could be worn closed, covering the neck, like a piece of tailored origami folded in any which way. Another look featured a sort of blazer-meets-bomber with loose arms and billowing sleeves. But most interesting was how Smilovic reimagined the belt, worn super low-waisted on long knitted tunics with belt loops at the hem. It’s an unconventional look you’d want to wear in a photo to show your children how cool you were, and maybe even inspire them to consider you a muse.
Tibi Spring /Summer 2025
