What We’d Like to See This Fashion Month

New York Fashion Week kicks off today, and with it comes the onslaught of fashion month’s voguish antics. In the American fashion capital, Off-White™ is making its big debut, while leading labels Willy Chavarria, Luar, Eckhaus Latta, Tommy Hilfiger, LaQuan Smith and more are back for the Spring/Summer 2025 shows.

Next week, in London, Chopova Lowena, Harris Reed, Burberry and more will take to the catwalk, alongside a bevy of ones-to-watch like Chet Lo and Sinéad O’Connor. Then, Milan will see the Gucci, Fendi, Prada trifecta uncover next year’s warm-weather collections, alongside the always exciting showcases from Moschino, Versace and Ferragamo, among 50 other designers.

Paris will cap off the month with a legion of 70 shows and 38 presentations. The most anticipated include Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Hermés, Dior, Acne Studios, Vivienne Westwood, Rick Owens, Issey Miyake, Balmain, Saint Laurent and Coperni, though the list could go on.

Amidst all the madness of fashion’s global escapades this month, here’s what you should pay attention to.

Less Viral Swings, More Quality Things

Runways have served as breeding grounds for sky-high social media engagement over the last several seasons (recall trash being hurled at AVAVAV’s Fall/Winter 2024 runway and SUNNEI’s models strutting to comical internal dialogues for the same season in Milan). When executed properly, these sorts of gimmicks, as the industry calls them, can become spectacular pop culture moments rooted in innovative thinking — Bella Hadid’s spray-on Coperni dress is a great example. But there’s a fine line to walk when chasing views.

Virality is a prerequisite for fashion success in 2024; without buzzing social media notifications, many brands, especially those fledgling, are drowning in a sea of seemingly successful designers with digital capital. But, when not done tastefully, the hunt for impressions poses a risk, as the resulting reach often collects little more than temporary attention. So, here’s a proposition: let’s celebrate top-notch fashion and allow the clothes to speak for themselves, gimmick or not.

Off-White™’s New York Minute

Believe it or not, Off-White™, the fashion brainchild of the late Virgil Abloh, has never staged a runway show in New York City. The Italian luxury fashion house operates out of Milan and typically shows in Paris, but this week, the brand will debut in America on the New York Fashion Week stage.

The label is now led by Ib Kamara, who worked alongside Abloh as Off-White™’s stylist before the prolific designer’s death. In an interview with Vogue, Kamara shared that Abloh had plans to bring Off-White™ to New York in 2022, though the show was postponed indefinitely following his passing.

“Now the time feels right to show up,” Kamara said. “It feels natural to grow and show where so much of the community around the brand is. I think it will be amazing and feel great for Off-White™ to show for the first time in the city.”

A Trip to the Year 3000

Fashionphiles have their eyes on the future, specifically the year 3000, according to retail research company EDITED. Y3K fashion is a derivative of frequently-referenced Y2K style codes, with a rave-ready blend of sci-fi streetwear and ‘00s nostalgia — led most prominently by the mainstream popularity of Charli XCX’s cyberpop album, Brat, and the onset of significant tech innovations, like the metaverse and artificial intelligence.

In mode, the trend includes a wealth of silver metallics, off-shoulder draping, asymmetrical cuts and future-minded graphic designs, much like those that dominate the album artworks of the niche “digicore” scene. Reflective makeup, fishnets and platform footwear often complete the clubby archetype’s look. As more artists ride the ultra-pop wave into next year and beyond, expect to see brands like Blumarine, Balenciaga, Vetements, Rick Owens and more supply shielding sunglasses and skin-revealing silhouettes for their fans’ late-night escapades.

The Harry Styles Effect on S.S. Daley

Just after the final carousel at S.S. Daley’s Fall 2024 show in Florence during Pitti Uomo, the British designer (whose full name is Steven Stokey-Daley) made a headline-worthy announcement: Harry Styles has acquired a minority stake in his company.

“Harry and I have a shared vision for the future of S.S. Daley, and we look forward to this new chapter together as we focus on brand longevity and scaling the business into a modern British heritage house,” the designer said post-show.

Styles is a longtime fan of the brand, and he was first introduced to Daley through his stylist, Harry Lambert. Notably, the Harry’s House singer wore Stokey-Daley’s graduating collection from the University of Westminster in his music video for “Golden.”

Terms of the deal were not shared; however, the investment has aided the designer in building his direct-to-consumer business and supported a “sustainable and long-term expansion,” according to reports.

As The Guardian pointed out, the designer previously had Sir Ian McKellen read Alfred Tennyson’s poem Idylls of the King: The Coming of Arthur during his show, so perhaps Daley will request Styles make an appearance at his upcoming London Fashion Week runway, too. At the very least, the chart-topper’s signatures will choreograph themselves into Daley’s future fashion dialect, so it’ll merit the glitterati’s attention. so stay tuned to Hypebeast to see how exactly the signer’s eclecticism shines on the brand.

The FIFA-Fication of Fashion

Football kits are already a mainstay in fashion’s modern-day lexicon, but with the 2025 World Cup scheduled to take place in the United States through June and July of next year, fashion labels are likely already ideating how their Spring/Summer 2025 designs and campaigns will exist in and around the heavily watched, world-renowned tournament.

Now, of course, the Cup’s sportiness does not directly lend itself wholeheartedly to the codes of large fashion houses, and many will likely reveal partnerships with national teams as the event approaches. Still, it’s safe to assume that football-inspired garments will begin to intermingle with runway silhouettes for brands with feet in the sportswear universe.

Perhaps Balenciaga, which released a “Football Series” collection earlier this year, will expand its Under Armour partnership to include pitch-perfect athletic gear for next summer; or maybe Off-White™, which has previously included the sport’s motifs in its collections, will kick for goals with kit-inspired garments. BOSS, the classier leg of the now-separate Hugo Boss parent label, is known to source inspo from athletics. Burberry, who counts South Korean football star Son Heung-min as an ambassador, has long been beloved by football’s hooligans. The list could go on, but fashion month will tell all at kick-off.

Dries Van Noten’s Legacy Carried on Correctly

The fashion world will laser-focus on Dries Van Noten’s show in Paris on September 25, when the label uncovers its first collection without its namesake designer at its helm. Van Noten bowed out from his eponymous brand in June, waving farewell to the French capital’s teary-eyed showgoers on the metallic Spring/Summer 2025 runway for his 150th collection after a monumental 38-year career that earned him a place in the industry’s upper echelon.

In lieu of a new creative director, Dries Van Noten’s soon-to-be-revealed Spring/Summer 2025 collection has been designed by the brand’s in-house studio team, and the pressure is undoubtedly on to honor the legendary fashioner’s decades-spanning legacy of meticulous craftsmanship and fantastic prints. There’s no doubt that the team is well-equipped to reference, celebrate and build upon Van Noten’s best moments, but will their work possess the same magic as Van Noten’s personal touch? The verdict will remain in the hands of the designer’s cult-like following.

Wisdom’s Wild Fits

Wisdom Kaye, once coined “The Best Dressed Guy on TikTok,” has ascended far beyond the confines of the video-sharing app’s two-dimensional screen and landed himself front-row tickets to practically every high fashion brand’s runway show — and rightfully so. Earning upwards of 50 million views on videos in which he styles himself in expertly arranged ensembles inspired by every country in the Olympics or every era from 5000 BCE to 3333, Kaye’s style prowess is arguably the most sprawling and impressive in today’s digital landscape. To back up that claim, he earned the sign-off from Anna Wintour to attend this year’s Met Gala, where he competed for the best look in custom Robert Wun.

Since coming up in 2020, the trendmaker has styled Colm Dillane’s last two KidSuper shows, served as a guest judge on Project Runway, earned several accolades for his breakthrough success and worked with most of high fashion’s megabrands. There’s usually a hot debate about social media stars infiltrating fashion week, but when it comes to Wisdom, the industry’s opinion is united: put him in, coach. Let’s see what he’s got in store this time around.

Alessandro Michele’s Valentino Vision

Alessandro Michele officially became Valentino’s new creative director in March. The former Gucci designer then surprise-dropped a 171-look Resort 2025 collection in June. Now, he’s gearing up to make his runway debut at the helm of the Italian heritage house in Paris.

The show will cement the direction Michele intends to take the House which was led by Pierpaolo Piccioli for the past 25 years. Michele’s maximalist codes were adored and celebrated at Gucci, and if his boisterous Resort collection was any indication, fans of Michele’s Gucci will likely enjoy his version of Valentino, too.

To start off, Michele told Vogue Runway that his mood board is tacked with the legacy label’s rich history: “My first thought goes to this story: to the richness of its cultural and symbolic heritage, to the sense of wonder it constantly generates, to the very precious identity given with their wildest love by founding fathers, Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti. These references always represented an essential source of inspiration for me, and I’m going to praise such influence through my own interpretation and creative vision.”

How exactly those references manifest will be revealed in Paris on September 29.

Coperni’s Day at Disney

Coperni, the brand that famously spray-painted a white dress onto Bella Hadid, will become the first fashion label to stage a fashion show at Disneyland Paris on October 1 — and the opportunities to play with the leading family entertainment company’s characters and storylines are endless.

In an interview with WWD, the brand’s cofounder Arnaud Vaillant said, “Fashion can be a little snobbish. We always like to bring it to a bigger stage.” So, to remove all the snobbery, Coperni can and should lean into the magic inside “The Happiest Place on Earth” and let the Voguettes feel like kids again. It would be great to see eveningwear transformations inspired by Disney princesses, bags modeled after famous movie items like Snow White’s poisoned apple or, heck, a comical cameo from Goofy. One final request: Mickey Mouse ears on the front row, please.