There are moments during New York Fashion Week when the clothes are the story. On Thursday night at the Léman Ballroom, the larger story was the people wearing them—and the culture they had gathered to celebrate.

I Love Jewish Girls, founded by Mexican-Jewish artist Alejandro Glatt, arrived in Manhattan as the first runway during New York Fashion Week devoted specifically to Jewish identity, bringing together 18 designers for an evening of fashion, music, art and unapologetic Jewish pride. The number itself was intentional: 18 corresponds to chai, the Hebrew word for “life,” a particularly resonant choice for a celebration taking place just before Rosh Hashanah. The event’s own materials billed it as “the first Jewish runway in New York Fashion Week history.”

Magdaline M. Delany, Alejandro Glatt

Inside the magnificent Léman Ballroom at 41 Broad Street, with its soaring columns, murals and old-world grandeur, the effect was almost ceremonial. The room was filled with designers, models, press and members of New York’s Jewish community gathered not merely to watch clothes walk down a runway, but to see Jewish identity occupy a highly visible space within Fashion Week. And that mattered.

At a moment when Jewish identity has increasingly become something people are expected to explain, defend or qualify, Glatt created a room in which nobody needed to explain anything. His own description of the project is strikingly simple: Jewish fashion existed everywhere, he says, but “belonged nowhere,” so he decided to build the room himself.

Broadway star and internationally renowned cantor Dudu Fisher opened the evening with Hatikvah, Israel’s national anthem, and returned to close the runway with Jerusalem of Gold. Fisher, who famously portrayed Jean Valjean in Les Misérables on Broadway and in London’s West End while observing Shabbat, gave the evening a connection between Jewish tradition and theatrical New York that felt particularly appropriate.

Miss Universe Israel 2026 Danielle Yablonka

Miss Universe Israel 2026 Danielle Yablonka also appeared during the evening, delivering a speech centered on Jewish pride.

A Shani design. Artist and designer Elizabeth Sutton

Artist and designer Elizabeth Sutton opened the runway in a dramatic gown and coordinating headpiece by Shani Dress, immediately establishing that subtlety was not necessarily going to be the evening’s governing principle.

Tobi Rubinstein

The 18 participating houses represented a broad interpretation of Jewish fashion rather than a single aesthetic. Israeli haute couture appeared alongside modest fashion, streetwear, bridal, accessories and contemporary labels. The announced lineup included Yaron Minkowski, Aviad Arik Herman, Shani Dress, Mikael Aghal, Miriya Love, Tribe True Tradition, CVRGE NY, Shalosh, Sad Girl Ranch, ReeFinedYou, Natalie’s Fashion House, NoaLim, Nelly’s List, Hatikvah Sticker Collective, Tomer Peretz, Glatt and Zionist AF by Anya Farber.

Shani taking a bow

With 18 designers, however, came a lot of fashion. Not all of it worked. Much of the evening emphasized modest dressing, with necklines rising and hemlines falling. There is absolutely nothing inherently limiting about modest fashion; restriction can actually force a designer to become more imaginative. If skin isn’t providing the drama, silhouette, construction, fabric, proportion and detail have to do the work. Some designers understood that better than others.

There were looks with genuine presence, interesting fabrics and strong craftsmanship. Others became so engulfed in fabric, ornamentation or concept that the woman underneath nearly disappeared.

One particularly elaborate creation looked as though its wearer might have wrapped herself in the entire Torah.

Another explosion of yellow, feather-like texture immediately brought Tweety Bird to mind. Fashion criticism occasionally writes itself.

Fern Mallis

Sitting nearby were two women who know something about New York fashion and publishing: Fashion Week legend Fern Mallis, publisher Vicki Schneps, The Cougar Matchmaker Rachel Brown, Dr Sal. The running commentary around us occasionally became nearly as entertaining as the runway itself.

Dr Sal and Vickie Schneps

But underneath the humor was a serious point. Modesty should be a design challenge, not a design excuse. The best modest fashion understands that covering the body does not require hiding the person. It can create mystery, elegance, sensuality and extraordinary sophistication. A beautifully constructed sleeve can be sexier than a bare arm. A long skirt can create more movement than a mini. A high neckline can frame a face spectacularly. Fashion begins when a designer takes those limitations and turns them into possibility.

That was not always accomplished Thursday night. Yet judging I Love Jewish Girls solely as a collection would also miss what Glatt was attempting. The evening grew from a project that began almost playfully with the words “I Love Jewish Girls” printed on a T-shirt. Glatt subsequently brought the concept to Miami Swim Week, where an all-Jewish swimwear runway was staged earlier this year. New York represented the next and considerably more ambitious step.

This time the statement was impossible to miss. Jewish designers were not being asked to remove their Jewishness from the room in order to participate in fashion. Israeli designers weren’t there despite being Israeli. Religious women weren’t being asked to abandon modesty to belong on a runway. Jewishness itself was part of the aesthetic conversation. That is what made the evening historic.

The fashion ranged from beautiful to bewildering, as fashion should. Eighteen designers should not produce eighteen versions of the same woman, and a runway devoted to Jewish identity certainly shouldn’t suggest there is only one way for a Jewish woman to look.

Some of Thursday night’s clothes I would happily admire. Others you would have to kill me to get me into, but I Love Jewish Girls ultimately accomplished something more important than producing a universally beautiful collection. For one long, exuberant evening in Lower Manhattan, Jewish designers, artists and women were not asking for permission to belong at Fashion Week. They simply walked onto the runway and claimed their place in it.

There are fashion shows that present clothes, and then there are fashion shows that create a world. At noon Friday, Victor de Souza did the latter, unveiling his Spring/Summer 2027 collection during New York Fashion Week at Arlo Midtown.

The Argentinian-born, New York-based designer has long occupied his own distinctive corner of fashion, working between haute couture and ready-to-wear with the kind of meticulous craftsmanship that has become increasingly rare. His philosophy, which he calls “Conscious Couture,” places emphasis on beauty, integrity, sustainability and longevity, with hand-detailed pieces and patterns designed and graded by de Souza himself.

Victor de Souza

But philosophy only matters on a runway if the clothes deliver. These did.

Watching the collection emerge felt as though we had stepped through a portal into an ancient French or English court—somewhere hovering between medieval romanticism and the mythical world of King Arthur—only to discover that everyone in the castle had been dressed by a thoroughly modern New York couturier.

There was something wonderfully androgynous about it. Masculine and feminine codes slipped into one another rather than competing for attention. The clothes weren’t interested in announcing who was permitted to wear what. Instead, de Souza concentrated on silhouette, texture, ornamentation and fantasy and the details were exquisite.

Feathers appeared alongside fur-like textures and jewels. Fabrics and surfaces could appear distressed and almost ravaged, yet the garments themselves were extraordinarily finished. That contradiction gave the collection much of its strength: nothing looked overly precious, despite the obvious amount of labor involved in creating it.

The palette reinforced that sense of modern royalty. Black, white and navy provided the foundation, punctuated by deep jewel tones that seemed particularly suited to de Souza’s courtly vision. Rather than becoming costume, however, the clothes retained enough contemporary attitude to keep them firmly on a New York runway.

That distinction matters. Historical references can easily overwhelm a collection until the woman or man wearing the garment disappears beneath the concept. De Souza understands that fantasy works best when it remains fashion.

Even the shoes were part of the story. Rather than sending models down the runway in footwear that merely completed the styling, de Souza carried his vocabulary all the way to the ground. Shoes were embellished with feathers, jewels and paint, extending the workmanship of the garments into the smallest details. The effect was one of totality. Nothing felt as though it had been grabbed at the last moment simply because the model needed something on their feet.

That degree of finish is central to de Souza’s work. His brand describes its approach as one rooted in traditional couture craftsmanship, using high-quality materials, hand detailing and thoughtful production intended to minimize waste while creating pieces meant to endure.

Interestingly, the announced inspiration for Spring/Summer 2027 was New York itself: its romance and grit, glamour and street culture, beauty and visual chaos. Yet what appeared on the runway suggested something more imaginative than a literal portrait of the city. Perhaps that is precisely the point.

New York has always been a place where people arrive carrying pieces of other countries, other centuries and other versions of themselves, then remake all of it into something that could exist nowhere else. De Souza took the opulence of another age, disturbed it, distressed it, stripped away some of its gender rules and reconstructed it through the eyes of a New York designer.

The result was theatrical without becoming theatre, ornate without becoming fussy and historical without feeling trapped in history.

Most importantly, it was simply beautiful to watch.

During a Fashion Week increasingly filled with events determined to become spectacles, Victor de Souza reminded us that spectacle can still come from the clothes themselves.

And when the last model leaves the runway, that is what fashion is supposed to make us remember.

New York Fashion Week has its models, its designers, its celebrities and its front rows. But last night, September 8, some of the most irresistible models walking into the spotlight had four legs—and some of them were looking for homes.

CatWalk FurBaby, presented by ELYSIANImpact and Seven Runway returns for its fourth year at Sony Hall in Times Square, bringing together fashion and animal rescue for an evening appropriately billed as “Where Fashion Meets Compassion.” Created by ELYSIAN founder and publisher Karen Floyd, the event pairs designers with animal rescue organizations, transforming the traditional Fashion Week runway into something considerably more meaningful.

Karen Floyd, Marc Bouwer, his dog and friend

This year’s show brought together 11 designers and ateliers supporting ten rescue organizations, with Anne Fontaine, Bless by Bless, L’Agence, Cate Brown, Hot Girl Quilting, Marc Bouwer, Magpies & Peacocks,

Victor De Souza

Victor De Souza, Halyna Shunevych, Any Old Iron and D’Marsh Couture taking part.

Prince Mario Max and Karen Floyd

Yes, there was couture. Yes, there were celebrity judges and Fashion Week glamour. But it was the rescue dogs that were the point.

Lessa Roland

That distinction is what has allowed CatWalk FurBaby to become more than another event competing for attention during an increasingly overcrowded Fashion Week calendar. Each designer walked in support of a participating rescue, giving animal welfare organizations something extraordinarily valuable during NYFW: visibility.

Here comes the dog

The concept comes from Floyd’s passion for animal welfare and her belief that philanthropy and fashion don’t need to occupy separate worlds. CatWalk FurBaby uses the spectacle of a runway show to direct attention toward rescue, adoption and the organizations doing the decidedly less glamorous work of caring for abandoned and vulnerable animals every day.

Karen Floyd, Jean Shafiroff

The formula has already attracted formidable names in fashion. Previous CatWalk FurBaby participants and guests have included NYFW founder Fern Mallis, supermodel Carol Alt, philanthropist Jean Shafiroff who was a judge this year and designer Nicole Miller, while DJ Chloe Jane has appeared wearing Tommy Hilfiger. The event has also earned national attention, including coverage in Forbes.

Carmen D’Alessio and guest

There is something particularly clever about putting rescue animals into the middle of Fashion Week. Fashion is built upon desire: the dress we suddenly need, the bag everyone wants, the image we imagine ourselves becoming. Animal adoption asks us to look at desire differently. Instead of asking, Do I want this?, it asks, Can I give this animal a life? Unlike a handbag, that decision loves you back.

Gizmo was one of the lucky dogs to be rescued. Sitting in the front row with his human

The evening also reflects a larger movement within fashion toward purpose. Consumers increasingly want to know what the brands they support stand for, where things come from and whether all that beauty is attached to anything beyond commerce. CatWalk FurBaby doesn’t pretend a runway can solve the enormous problem of animal abandonment. It does something more practical: it puts the organizations trying to solve it in front of people who might donate, adopt, volunteer or simply pay attention.

The host for the night was Charles Charlii Sebunya

Behind the event is ELYSIAN Impact, the philanthropic arm of ELYSIAN, which focuses its charitable work across five areas: women, children, service, animals and the environment. According to the organization, ELYSIAN Impact has disbursed more than $17.5 million over the past decade, with donations going directly to nonprofit organizations.

 Dr. Christina Rahm

For the participating rescues, however, the impact of the evening isn’t measured only in dollars. Every animal placed before an audience becomes an individual rather than a statistic. One face can accomplish what thousands of numbers cannot. Someone sees a dog. Someone falls in love. Someone decides there is room in the apartment after all.

That is where CatWalk FurBaby gets this exactly right.

Eliza

Fashion Week gives New York plenty of beautiful things to look at over the coming days. There will be extraordinary clothes, impossible shoes, parties, celebrities and enough photographers to make crossing certain blocks of Manhattan nearly impossible.

Opening it with compassion isn’t a bad statement about what beauty ought to mean.

The best thing walking the runway this Fashion Week might not be wearing the clothes at all.

CatWalk FurBaby took place September 8 at Sony Hall, inside the Paramount Hotel in Times Square.

Look for Part 2 on who was adopted and who won the awards.

Labor Day has arrived, which means retailers would very much like you to believe that absolutely everything you have ever wanted is suddenly a bargain. It isn’t. Some of these sales are genuinely excellent; others are merely ordinary prices wearing very enthusiastic red signs. The trick is knowing what is worth buying now, where the deepest discounts actually are and what should stay firmly in your shopping cart until later.

Fashion is surprisingly strong this Labor Day, particularly if you shop the sale racks rather than the shiny new Fall 2026 collections arriving just in time for Fashion Week. Bloomingdale’s is one of the standouts, with selected designer clothing, shoes and handbags marked down as much as 70%. Nordstrom has thousands of markdowns, including Free People, Paige, Spanx and Tory Burch, with some reductions reaching 80%. Macy’s is advertising savings up to roughly 60–65%, depending on the department.

For a less expensive wardrobe refresh, this is also a very good weekend for basics. Gap has knitwear, denim, outerwear and other pieces marked down as much as 50%, while J.Crew is offering an additional 40% off already-reduced sale merchandise. Banana Republic has selected wardrobe pieces discounted as much as 40%, and Levi’s has 30% off selected styles. Those are the places to look for denim, shirts, trousers and transitional pieces that will carry you into fall without paying full September prices.

Home is where Labor Day gets serious. Williams Sonoma has one of the most aggressive offers we’ve found, with its Warehouse Sale reaching 75% off and an additional 20% off clearance. Pottery Barn and West Elm have markdowns reaching 70%, while Crate & Barrel is offering discounts up to 60%. If you’ve been waiting to replace bedding, cookware, furniture or something substantial for the apartment, these are considerably more interesting than buying another sweater simply because it is 30% off.

Furniture shoppers should also look at Wayfair, where the Labor Day Clearance reaches 70% off rugs, furniture, storage and décor. Ashley has selected furniture up to 70% off, while CB2 is offering reductions up to 50% across furniture, mirrors, lighting, rugs and tabletop. The usual warning applies: never buy a sofa because the percentage looks impressive. Measure the room first. There is nothing chic about discovering your fabulous 70%-off sectional blocks the front door.

For appliances and home improvement, The Home Depot has more than 1,000 Labor Day sale items across appliances, tools, grills, outdoor equipment and patio furniture; some current individual discounts exceed 40%. Lowe’s is offering discounts reaching 50% across selected appliances, outdoor products, tools and home merchandise. This is exactly the kind of purchase Labor Day is good for: the refrigerator you actually need, not the air fryer that somehow becomes irresistible at 11:47 p.m. because it is $28 cheaper.

Mattresses are another genuine Labor Day buy. Saatva, Casper, Avocado, Bear and Mattress Firm all have significant promotions running. Casper’s discounts reach 35%, Bear’s 35%, Avocado’s 20%, while Mattress Firm is offering savings of up to $700 on selected mattresses and related products. Labor Day remains one of the few sale weekends when waiting to replace a mattress can actually pay.

Outdoor merchandise is another buy now. Patio furniture, grills and summer entertaining pieces need to disappear from stores before holiday merchandise takes over. The Home Depot has current patio and grill reductions exceeding 50% on selected products, and other home retailers are clearing outdoor collections as well. Buy the patio set in September and enjoy feeling terribly clever when you pull it out next May.

There are, however, things I would not rush to buy. The newest Fall 2026 designer fashion is arriving now, and unless something is likely to sell out, paying close to full price during Fashion Week season makes little sense when markdowns will come later. The same applies to holiday toys and many electronics: Black Friday and Cyber Monday will bring another enormous round of competition. There are exceptions—Best Buy and Walmart do have legitimate electronics promotions this weekend—but don’t replace perfectly functional technology merely because Labor Day has given it a sale sticker.

The best Labor Day strategy is therefore wonderfully simple: buy what retailers are trying to get rid of, not what they’re excited to sell you. Summer fashion, outdoor furniture, mattresses, appliances, furniture and clearance merchandise are where the leverage is. Brand-new fall collections, holiday merchandise and impulse electronics can wait.

Remember 70% off something you actually wanted is a bargain. Seventy percent off something you never needed is still money spent.

Fall fashion officially arrived in Tribeca as QVC gathered Coco Rocha, Nicole Miller, Mally Roncal and Aimee Kestenberg at Fouquet’s New York for an intimate first look at the season ahead.

Held September 2, QVC’s Fall Fashion Kickoff brought together four women with distinctly different points of view, offering a preview of the collections and new pieces arriving on the network throughout the fall. But the evening’s biggest reveal belonged to Coco Rocha, who offered guests a first glimpse of her first-ever QVC apparel collection, set to launch later this season.

Coco Rocha Celebrates Her First-Ever QVC Apparel Collection! Photo by Lauren Cassot

For Rocha, one of fashion’s most recognizable models and certainly one of its greatest posers, moving from wearing the clothes to putting her own name and perspective behind them is an intriguing next act. Her career has always been built on transformation—she can change the entire attitude of a garment with a shoulder, a hand or one perfectly calculated glance—so seeing how that understanding of clothes translates into a collection of her own is worth watching.

Aimee Kestenberg Shows Off a Standout Style from Her Fall Collection Photo by Lauren Cassot

Designer Aimee Kestenberg was also on hand, showing off a statement jacket from her latest fall collection.

Mally Roncal holds up a denim jacket from her new fashion collection with QVC. Photo by Lauren Cassot

Beauty powerhouse Mally Roncal gave guests a closer look at a denim jacket from her new QVC fashion line. Nicole Miller, whose name has been part of the New York fashion vocabulary for decades, rounded out the fashionable foursome.

The choice of Fouquet’s New York was equally fitting. With its Paris-meets-downtown-Manhattan atmosphere, the Tribeca hotel supplied an elegant backdrop for an evening that was less sprawling fashion spectacle and more stylish preview of what women may actually want to wear once New York’s temperature finally decides that summer is over.

That may be the more interesting direction fashion is taking this fall. The distance between runway fantasy and clothes designed for real wardrobes continues to shrink. Personality matters. Wearability matters. And increasingly, the woman behind the clothes matters just as much as the label sewn inside them.

Rocha, Roncal, Kestenberg and Miller each arrive at that conversation from somewhere different—model, beauty entrepreneur and designers with their own established aesthetics—but together they offered QVC a decidedly New York way to welcome the season.

Summer may still be hanging onto the city, but inside Fouquet’s, fall had already arrived.