Much of the world is reeling from heinous realizations about men following the newly released tranche of Epstein files: that men in elite posts across government, business and academia have run the world corrupt and unchecked; that such men can pull the strings that influence everything from politics to college admissions to supermodel party guest lists.
But the American fashion scene offered a little respite: at an otherwise wan New York Fashion Week, which wrapped on Monday, a cohort of female designers stood out for making clothes that women actually want to wear. Most of these designers are not raking in the revenues of big European brands like Dior or Chanel. But unlike luxury businesses that present the runway as a fantasy to buoy handbag and perfume sales, these women are engaged in a deep relationship with their customers, who are finding pleasure in their beautifully cut tailoring, ravishing brocade coats and workaday, throw-it-on-for-that-million-bucks-feeling dresses.
“They lack that theatricality on the runway,” said Kaelen Haworth, the designer turned retailer behind Canadian boutique Absolutely Fabrics, which carries Ashlyn, Diotima, Colleen Allen and Fforme. “But the payoff is that they actually make it into women’s wardrobes.”
American fashion is often considered the parochial commercial cousin of the grand, artistic European brands. But with many of those houses (Dior, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Saint Laurent, Gucci – the list goes on) led creatively by men, American designers see themselves as a meaningful contrast, and their salability as a point of strength.
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