All is Fair in Love and Wardrobe at New York Fashion Week 2026

Each year, eccentric fashion personalities make their biannual pilgrimage to Manhattan, floating around the runways of New York Fashion Week. From February 11th-16th, it is a magical time in the city, one I wouldn’t want to miss. It’s a culmination of design genius, flair, and some of the best afterparties the East Coast offers. Fall/Winter 2026 was my coming-out to New York’s debutante ball of glamour as a fashion journalist, there to review collections and help Paper Magazine with their events. 

Entering the happening world of clothes, you see how magnificent the shows are in their creative capacity. Each had their own way of working, both in styling and how one covers the event. This week, I dedicated myself to exploring both the collections themselves and my experience as a young press invite.

Starting the week, I was invited to Caroline Zimbalist’s CFDA calendar debut. Immediately upon stepping in, the energy of the show felt great. Everyone was friendly and Zimbalist was very open with each guest. Showing at a studio space in the Meatpacking District, the modernist walls were adorned with illustrations. As a Parsons design graduate, Zimbalist had cultivated her sensibilities with sculpture and abstract painting, arriving at whimsical, biodegradable clothing as her medium.

“As my first CFDA presentation, the recognition as a designer means so much to me. I like to do sculptural pieces that feel very organic and ethereal, most of my designs are hand-painted. I try to glamourize bio-materials, my silk and cotton designs get coated in an ecopoxy resin. I call them ‘vessels’ to capture the sculptural body of the work, I can literally sculpt the design onto the model and capture their unique imprint,” Zimbalist said. 

Speaking backstage with the models, everyone had a sense of camaraderie. Throughout the show, Zimbalist encouraged guests to get close to her designs, an unusual feat in a presentation. Being her first collection with fabrics, the tailoring and color palette was delightfully on-point. To close the show, everyone got a postcard and a bouquet of lilies to take home. There is nothing comparable to seeing the hard work of a small designer being pulled off so well, in my opinion, even better than some of her bigger brand peers. 

The next day, my photographer Lucia Pillari and I made a quick pit stop to 5th avenue, reaping the gluttonous tradition of free candy given out in luxury stores for Valentine’s Day. We had macaroons at Chanel, chocolates at Prada, and perhaps a few odd stares at Gucci. After feasting from the palms of the fashion Gods, I skipped over to Broadway with my invite for Public Serv-ce’s Fall/Winter 2026 collection by Raphael Young. The pre-show atmosphere was extremely busy with male models practicing their best deadpan cavalcade and Public Serv-ce’s team buzzing around the space. Soundtracked by live music, it was a sight to behold. The show was focused on edgy, tailored street-wear. Speaking to Co-founder Deborah Hanau, we discussed the intricacies of the menswear space at New York Fashion Week.

“We hope to broaden the perspective of New York Fashion Week into more menswear because it’s been very lacking. This collection hopes to bring an answer for that while showing that fashion goes beyond clothes, into experience. We are trying to create classics and find new men’s silhouettes. We apply something called ‘street-tailorism’, which is taking tailoring out of its regular shape to find stray inspiration. We want to create livable pieces for empowering people,” Hanau said.

Sitting front-row at the show, I had the wonderful opportunity to see Young’s detailed creations up close as they strutted or – marched down the aisle. After a Demna-esque runway presentation with baggy jackets, black boots, and red accenting, Creative Director Raphael Young walked out to the audience giving his bow. I couldn’t stay for long, with my next scheduled show, Kate Barton, starting barely an hour after Public Serv-ce.

Not far down the street, influencers had already lined up for Barton’s anticipated show. Lucia and I crossed the threshold into a very interesting display of technology mixed with fashion. Projectors beamed Barton’s latest pieces onto the walls of the studio as guests could walk around in awe and perhaps confusion. There were no models nor physical clothes. Downstairs, you peer into Barton’s partnership with Fiducia AI for a virtual try-on experience. Influencers of all platforms were broadcasting their try-on looks and sharing the show as a daring take on the crossroads of fashion and technology. Daring indeed. Finding Barton, I was curious to see her inspiration for the show’s medium. 

“We partnered with Amazon to do a virtual backdrop, to enhance the storytelling of the Kate Barton brand. The purpose of this was to show all the wonderful details of the collections as opposed to on a runway when it’s quickly walking by. I like mixing it up, doing unique and innovative things. The AI try-on is a great tool for customers to see how the clothes look on their body. Going forward, I hope to see more immersive experiences like this at New York Fashion Week,” Barton said. 

The discussion surrounding AI’s place in creative industries is complex. Some see it as a beacon of the future, others as a harbinger of worse to come. While an admirable approach to innovation, Barton’s execution felt off-center. Her clothes were nonetheless gorgeous and a testament to craft, though I would have liked to appreciate her talent in person. There is something special in Barton’s liquid-draping approach and the structural movement of her pieces. Virtual reality allowed for some immersion, yes, but not a true understanding of her collection’s promising vision. 

Navigating out to Canal, I was peddled fake versions of the real purses I had seen people holding inside the show. Blaring outside the venue was an impromptu punk concert in an alley way. It was these amusing little details juxtaposed to the otherwise posh atmosphere of New York Fashion Week that brought it all together. I had made my way through the week with stilettos on and a press-pass clutched like a rosary through hell. It was a wonderful experience talking to designers and making friends while September awaits.