NYFW: Khaite, Todd Snyder, Area, and Altuzarra

Despite all the gloom mongering one can read about New York Fashion Week, the past 24 hours in Manhattan threw up a quartet of impressive collections, led by an outstanding show by Khaite.
 

Khaite: Naivety amid the dark underbelly of America 

The set inside The Shed, a giant looming show-space in Hudson Yards, captured the mood even before the first clothes had appeared. 

 
A series of diagonal catwalks across an all-black pond and what suggested broken up glaciers covered in mist. The floor even seemed deliberately loose underneath when you walked to take your seat.
 
A cinematic experience that recalled David Lynch. “The dark underbelly of America has always fascinated me,” confessed founder designer, Catherine Holstein.

A show that opened with jackets cut up the side and then slightly twisted to imply a sense of insecurity and imperfection. They were then paired with jeans, some with 12-inch turn-ups, or anchored by docksiders finished with kitten heels.
 
The heart of the matter were the strict leather elongated fisherman jackets or urban double-breasted blazers. Everything cut a tiny bit off-kilter.
 
Holstein has just had a second child, a daughter, and a sense of innocence was apparent in the chiffon blouses embroidered with certain imperfections in hand sewn fabric petals.

 
“I really wanted the idea of naivety. We kept coming back to that idea,” she expounded.
 
Nonetheless, the clothes had a fierce quality, jackets hanging at odd angles; beige cotton cocktails twisted to look faintly unfinished; bra tops shaped like nuns’ habits; stiff felt tops cut half way down the torso, but with elongated sleeves.
 
“I find confidence in insecurity. Throughout my life I have always felt a bit different from everybody even if I didn’t look that different. I never felt part of any group in school,” she said.
 
In effect, every look pretty much reeked Khaite, the style DNA is so strong, helping to make the brand the defining look of contemporary New York, a great uniform for stylish busy women in the urban jungle.

Todd Snyder: Havana hipsters rule

Where was Ernest Hemingway when you needed him: since the writer would have enjoyed penning a few bon mots to the hipster Havana collection presented Saturday by Todd Snyder.

See catwalk

“Havana playboy-meets-faded vintage with a little dose of Miami ’80s,” commented Snyder, in the backstage of his show, held inside a new office building that soared up on 28th street.
 
Riffing on the elegant legacy of old Havana with a great array of striped linen suits. Todd is an accomplished tailor – offering a whole series of dry linen jackets made with broad but unstructured shoulders or finished with shawl collars. Or seen in Norfolk jackets or belted safaris, cinched with belts. Pants had high waists and reverse pleats and were all forgiving.
 
Composed in a tropical palette of faded red coral, playful purple or papaya cream, the clothes cried out for a vintage convertible – the sort Cubans still lovingly maintain. 

See catwalk

Snyder seems very much a designer on a roll. He has just taken a floor in the same building as his new HQ. While his collaborations with brands in this show – from Moscot eyewear to Il Bisonte bags and fantastic woven Guanabana weekenders – all looked great.
 
Next season, Todd will celebrate his 15th anniversary. This smart show was a reminder that his cool and classy take on menswear is the key to his longevity.
 

Area: Aburn debuts with panache

One of the most interesting new voices in New York fashion is Nicholas Aburn, the new creative director at Area.

See catwalk

 
Aburn succeeded Piotrek Panszczyk, who co-founded the experimental label with Beckett Fogg a decade ago. He joins Area with an excellent pedigree, after stints with Tom Ford, Alexander Wang and most recently, Balenciaga couture.
 
Which is what much this collection was, avant-garde couture: whether silk rope and pearly skirts and cocktails; or sequinned football jerseys cut sexy side-slit party dresses.
 
Though Aburn opened with downtown street chic – black jerkins, elephantine jeans and a series of kicky mini-skirts. Composed by turning trousers into minis and using the legs as wild knotted belts. 
 
Nicholas could use with a little self-editing, and some of his psychedelic sequinned gowns and metal chain frocks did recall Germanier in Paris. But this still felt like the launch of a designer that will have real influence.
 
Altuzarra: Poised at the Woolworth
No designer in New York today is quite as refined as Joseph Altuzarra, even if his refinement can come with absurdist twists.

Like in this morning show, staged before a few score of editors, buyers and young beauties, high up inside the Woolworth Building near Wall Street. It debuted with floral prints inspired by the opening sequence of “American Beauty”, while surreal birds flew across silk blouses and liquid silk dresses.
 
When it comes to the subtle skill of draping a bias-cut cocktail, or cutting harem pants, or hanging two-pocket hunting jackets few people anywhere in fashion have Altuzarra’s panache.
 
Hence, it remains something of a mystery that Altuzarra is not a greater fashion star. Perhaps because his talent is too rich, too capable of making a complete wardrobe, and not so good at dreaming up a defining piece of apparel which one instantly knows is an Altuzarra.
 
That said, this was a spring/summer 2026 collection of great elegance, and a triumphant reminder that New York Fashion Week is very much alive and kicking.