An insider’s guide to the new season: New York Fashion Week Fall 2026 Best Moments.
New York Fashion Week Fall 2026 was notably more low-key than ever before, with a short six-day schedule that saw many tapping out after day five due to lack of big brands showing on the last day. Still, it was a fantastic season with endless ideas, inspiring gems and much more to look forward to.
Beyond all the fluff of conventional big brand shows and clothes on a mission replicate sameness, these are the key New York Fashion Week fall 2026 best moments that truly stood out.
Zankov reinvents cool clothes we covet
Zankov’s fall 2026 show was one of the most beautiful things we saw all season. The label is putting the fun back into fashion in a very real world way, without over intellectualizing it. Founder Henry Zankov launched his label in 2020 and has slowly been climbing the ranks as one to watch, known for his spunky striped sweaters and otherworldly mega sequin skirts. Fall 2026 was a standout and his strongest yet; chock full of rainbows of geometric knits in perfectly subdued clashing colors and larger-than-life paillette skirts and dresses replete with errant plumes of dyed (bubble gum pink) ostrich feathers. Argyle sweaters and merino knits were piled onto patterned tops and dresses, becoming layered statements steeped in personality and taste. Each look echoed an idea of experimentation in dressing and an embrace of color, print, texture and by proxy, joy.
Zankov also partnered with The RealReal for footwear, lending the models ’90s-era baby pink Sergio Rossi kitten heels and vintage Prada bejeweled mules, which the platform made available for sale again, now with that runway provenance. “Zankov is about mixing it all together,” the show notes stated. “The more wrong it is the better it looks. Getting comfortable with the uncomfortable.”
Anna Sui is still the under-the-radar reigning queen of NYFW
Anna Sui continues to create iconic collections that speak to personality and freehearted dressing first. Fall 2026 was one of the designer’s most expressive yet, pulling from the culture of the 1980s London club Blitz, and re-envisioning the cool trial-and-error dressing that was happening in these spaces. Essentially, Sui reimagined her own cool club kids and this is what you need to know: they love over-accessorizing, they’re committed to dressing in head-to-toe green leopard print and they’re pros at mixing every era of vintage dressing seamlessly, from Victoriana to the 1920s and all the way to the swinging ’60s and ’80s. At a time when vintage has never been as popular as it is now, Sui is an incredible case example of making timeless clothing that has always been inspired by the past, with her own whimsical approach.
Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen and Pipenco are creating new art forms
Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen’s show ended with the designer stepping into a clawfoot tub at the end of the runway, submerging herself, while a mix of music from the likes of Hilary Duff played. Eventually, she emerged dripping wet with a little wave to the audience. The collection itself was one of the most thought-provoking of the season so far. It recontextualized and reshaped the female form though the women’s gaze (with at least one very visibly pregnant model), abstracting, blowing up, subverting and and twisting with a surreal and artful grace reminiscent of some of Louise Bourgeois’s soft sculptures. Think: antique inspired silhouettes with hip pads, and reworked fencing jackets.
Pipenco, on the other hand, closed NYFW with her own kind of sculptural wonders. Already well-known for her fantasy-inducing monumental hats, she pushed her forever inspiration further, drawing from the cultural craft of her Romanian heritage. Doll-like embroidered bloomers, mega mini padded hoop skirt dresses and felted, textural gowns of wonder rivaled art. The collection was created through reclaimed textiles, with over 70% of it made from donated fabrics sourced through FABSCRAP.
Women designers win NYFW
Women designers created the most important collections at New York Fashion Week fall 2026: which begs the question, why are so few of them positioned in big houses in Paris and Milan? Rachel Scott’s Diotima was a masterclass in the study of texture and also thoughtfully engaged with politics, with Rama Duwaji, First Lady of New York City, sitting front row. The spectacular first look was a ruffled, patchwork gown inspired by the Afro-Cuban symbolism of the artist Wifredo Lam. Scott also presented her first full debut for Proenza Schouler–we can’t wait to see what’s next.
Others, like Collina Strada’s Hillary Taymour and Sandy Liang presented collections with great clothes and substance. Sandy Liang’s being a meditation on the space where Marie Antoinette and Kiki’s Delivery Service meets: a safe space for girlhood and dressing with reckless femininity without shame. Let those rococo ruffled dresses and ribbons trailing in the wind of the runway walks fly high. Collina Strada, on the other hand, created maximalist eccentric modern vampires through the use of high-collars, sheer lace and jumbo plaids. “The world is a vampire, sipping slowly on our warmth and wonder, leaving us pale with longing for a better place. It’s draining out there,” the show notes stated. “As the metaphorical and literal weather worsens outside, we withdraw into self-made sanctuaries.”
Tory Burch’s vintage inspired Jewelry
Tory Burch once complimented my vintage Marni necklace, and that’s when I personally knew she really understood the idiosyncratic nature of really, really good accessories. For fall 2026, the Tory Burch girl wore leather and wood sculptural earrings and best of all: supersized, vintage inspired fish necklaces that look like they might even open (I spy hinges), like modernized antique vestas!
Emerging designers are everything
New York is never short on new names to know when it comes to fashion. This season, Andrew Curwen gave us a dark, fantasy chic collection full of complex sheerness and structured corsets. Tabbe Designs brought humor and happiness to the world with iconic, camp inflatable gowns. Sideara, emerging queen of personality-defining hats, hosted a pop-up showcasing her beautiful feather creations that were as jaw-dropping in real life as they are through a screen. Caroline Zimbalist still feels like an under-the-radar gem–she uses biomaterials to create ethereal, fairy-centric clothing with the most unusual, handcrafted textures.
Good gowns at Area and Ulla Johnson
Area’s newly-named creative director Nicholas Aburn continues to present some interesting pieces through the guise of New York dressing, namely giving us some really good statement dresses. Choose your fighter: a crystal rhinestone swinging fringe mini or ’80s inspired folded silk get-ups with near-neon sequin fringe skirts. Or perhaps, cool twisted sweatshirt gowns? A special mention also goes to Ulla Johnson’s party frocks; trimmed in little bursts of dainty feathers or swaddled in pretty embroidery (and more) fringe.
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