Tory Burch's Stealth Show and Other Fashion Week Highlights from Day 5

There's this Greek myth about Eos, the goddess of dawn. She wraps herself in vivid wool spun by the Heliades‚ daughters of the sun, and as the loose yarn from her cape gets tangled in the wind, she creates a sunrise that unravels across each morning. Peter Do did something similar with this look, but he's a really strict seamster, so nothing's gonna unravel. (Except my heart.)

There's been a ton of denim-on-denim this Fashion Week, but Erin Beatty of Rentrayage is doing it the best way: With zero waste practices, entirely upcycled materials, and a really keen sense of how clothes shouldn't just get worn—they should get worn in. Here's a double denim combo for the hippie romantics out there, though with Ferragamo loafers and a big black blazer, those pants could have a second life sipping Odeon martinis with a Knopf VP.

She wants to be where the people are! We are absolutely here for this Little Mermaid color tribute, which piles aqua, azure, and sea-snarled red hair into one perfect style snack. With a look like this, you gotta kiss the girl. (With her enthusiastic consent, of course.)

Gabriela Hearst often riffs on the past when designing her line—this time, she name-checked works by the Ancient Greek poet Sappho (570 BC), the sculptor Imi Knoebel (1968), and Pastor Shirley Caesar (1988). She's also knitting the past and the future together in her clothes by using 35% deadstock fabric (a.k.a. fabric that's already been made and warehoused, but never used) to reduce her carbon footprint. Can newness exist without new things? Obviously—just look at her line.

Tory Burch's fashion shows are often a swoon, and this one was no exception. (We fell so hard for the bonded bodice tops and glitter-dusted eyelids, we're probably black and blue.) But there was actually a show-within-a-show at Tory Burch, and it was hours before Sydney Sweeney took her front row seat. It happened when the models learned the runway path, and practiced it in matching Tory Sport track pants and jackets. The whole thing only took a few minutes, but the photos are dizzyingly cool, as fashion dream girls like Lineisy Montero and Vittoria Ceretti become a tangle of long limbs, tossed hair, and tangerine flower power. I didn't want one of these track suits before today, but I sure do now. Burch, as usual, is as much a marketing genius as she is a style oracle. Sign me up for all the Embrace Ambition summits; clearly, there's so much to learn!

Is everyone okay, or do we need to talk about the patent leather pastel croc platforms at Adeam?! Deep breaths. We can get through this together.

"While we understand you using your cellular device for work," read a note on the seats at Brandon Maxwell, "we also support you turning it off to enjoy the show." There was plenty to enjoy—cool cutaway dresses, holographic deer tees, and a denim-and-sequins moment—so hopefully, Mr. Maxwell can excuse us for sneaking some Instagram time. (We also appreciated his soundtrack of chirping birds and forest sounds, which are proven to lower blood pressure. Given the traffic on Sixth Avenue today, we really needed it.)

There's a kind of tech anxiety creeping into youth culture. You can see it on Industry, where the constant ping of a cell phone can only mean doom. You can see it in Bodies Bodies Bodies, where Instagram literally reveals a killer. And you saw it—at least, I did!—at Maisie Wilen, where models clomped against a green screen wearing scrawled runes, and space photos, and pixels on their faces, ready to morph from girl to GIF. It's a smart call to attention from Wilen, a Gen Z girl who can really hold her creative ground.

I'm not totally sure what's happening with this Bosideng puffer sleeping-bag corset mini, but it's cool to see this era's most persistent trends—corsetry, athleisure, and apocalypse rave—somehow distilled into one sweet little dress. It's like if Ariana Grande went to Burning Man.