Dear New York Designers: Take All My Money!

Yesterday morning, I was texting with a couple of friends about a look. It was from Tory Burch’s fantastic Spring 2025 runway show on Monday night: a lavender, ruched zip-up top with slim trousers, pumps with a slice taken out of one toe, and an oblong bag with the designer’s now-signature piercing hardware. “I need it, I can’t stop thinking about it,” I told the chat. It was true; I wanted to get my hands on it immediately, not only to own it but to wear it. I wanted to be that woman.

This season, New York designers, Burch chief among them, have sent me into a shopping tailspin. It’s been a while since I went to fashion shows and walked away with desire in my heart and soul. Of course there are always pieces to dream about, usually those that cost more than a mortgage payment (Alaia!). Those are fun to play imaginary dress up with. What New York designers are giving right now feels more real, more attainable, and more It.

It feels like the majority of notable brands in this city, even the ones who were initially deemed insufficiently commercial by retailers, have found their groove. Rachel Scott of Diotima, for example, showed insanely beautiful hand-crafted clothes and a new collection of shoes, while Henry Zankov expanded his vernacular to include more separates and shifting. At SC103, there were perfectly crafted layering pieces and the colorblocking was masterful. Nothing is too heavy-handed, and the collections show intention and range.

Rachel Comey knows how to make us covet her clothes without hitting us over the head better than most. Her show yesterday, held inside a stripped Tribeca loft space, brought out the peak cool women–writers, artists, editors, moms, etc–who best represent what Comey is about. They all looked, to put it bluntly, fucking fabulous, dressed down but in a way that dominated with pared-back elegance.

In her show notes, Comey wrote, “It is the discourse between our customers and our team that is the driving force behind each collection.” You could see that vocabulary in practice once the show started. Comey’s new collection could have walked off the street that morning, or gone out after the last model closed the runway. The slouchy denim on denim look that opened was a high point, as were any number of the quirkily-laced tailored jackets, some straight and long worn over flowing or ruffled skirts and others cropped with asymmetrical buttons. She debuted her first made-in-Italy bags, sleek punctuations on a wardrobe that was at once elevated and everyday. I wanted all of it, both the clothes on the runway and those on the women seated around me.

Several shows on Tuesday also brought to mind the idea of investment pieces and closet staples. There was plenty to admire from Swedish label Toteme’s first stateside show, especially the lovely, strictly-cut long coats. I’d been questioning the resurgence of the Bermuda short all week, but Toteme designers Elin Kling and Karl Lindman enlightened me when they paired theirs with a knit, square-neck tank layered over an oversized tee.

Michael Kors also did a nice big short, his worn with a matching sleeveless belted blazer. Kors had the updated classics to invest in, pieces like a pretty open-weave knit skirt paired with a cap-sleeve top, plus skirt suits that were a hell of a lot more grown up than the micro-mini, close-to-the-body versions we’ve seen elsewhere this week.

And speaking of grown up, everyone should be shopping at Cos right now–and always. Their tailoring and knits are unmatched at the price points, a fact that was proven to me when Nordstrom’s Fashion Director Rickie de Sole showed me a photo of a chunky, oversized (but not too oversized) Cos sweater that she was dying to get her hands on. Her friend Karla Martinez, editor of Vogue Mexico, secured the goods for her.

Cleary, what I’ve been craving are updated American sportswear vibes, and if Burch and Comey were the ones to really pique my interest, it was Raul Lopez who sent me over the edge in the most thrilling way possible. Lopez’s brand Luar has had a great few seasons, but this one felt like his most polished and prolific ever. His sportswear, singular to New York where he was born and raised, is the sportswear of our time. He shut down Rockefeller Plaza and paraded a collection of freaked-up, twerked-out couture which he titled “En Boca Quedó,” a phrase commonly used in the Dominican Republic to refer to someone who will be talked about behind their back after they’ve walked away—good or bad. It was traditionally popular with an older generation, but has since been adopted by the queer community. “It’s a subtle way of acknowledging the power of your presence, even in your absence,” Lopez wrote in his collection notes.

As was the case last season, this is the New York Fashion Week show that people will still be talking about for some time—and buying in bulk. And it seems like we all can, since Lopez showed a whopping 52 looks in total. Yes, there were plenty of new iterations of Lopez’s sell-out Ana bags, but there was also the debut of slick boots and heels. His otherworldly, sculpted trenches and jackets with giant shoulders and collars made you want to take up space. And why buy a plain pair of gray suit trousers when you could strut around in his, designed with alien-like gills of fabric at the hips that flowed out into two strips of a train? He presented a crazy intoxicating dream wardrobe, wrapped up in punk packaging.

Madonna sat in the front row and could be seen mouthing “gorgeoussss” at the sight of Lopez’s floor-length knit dress with a hood and draped back. I took her approval as a sign to get my pre-orders in as early as possible. What can I say? This season has me feeling like a material girl.

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