Red, white and blue: New York Fashion Week SS25

Bookended by the US Open and the Harris-Trump debate, New York Fashion Week Spring Summer 2025 had something to prove this season. Attempting to lure attention back to the Big Apple, it appeared no coincidence that sports and politics resounded as major themes in six jam-packed days of red, white, and blue.  

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Peppered with a European presence (Alaia, Off-White, and Toteme) long-awaited announcements (Sarah Burton to helm Givenchy, Haider Ackermann to succeed Tom Ford) pop-culture reveals (Oasis reunion), and absentees (Helmut Lang, Altuzarra, Fforme), fashion month SS25 set off to an all-American start with a majestic Ralph Lauren runway nestled in the Hamptons.  

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With the ongoing requisite for brands to have strong narratives to push customer loyalty and sales, New York Fashion Week showed how great storytelling in ready-to-wear fashion can shift the right emotions. That is to express the democracy of it all; each consumer must be able to see themselves wearing the clothes. And this NYFW season, American consumers will likely err their patriotism toward Ralph Lauren’s Hamptons or Willy Chavarria’s ‘América’.  

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For Ralph, the collegiate stripes, sporty silhouettes, quotidian polos, and nautical notes up-kept that signature vintage American glamor modeled by the likes of Noami Campbell and Christy Turlington; a steady uniform for its customers. Luxury for those who live by the upper-class codes of business and leisure. For southern California-raised Chavarria, his work was largely based on Mexican immigrants who shaped farming in American fields. The collection showed boxy, punchy shoulders on button-downs, oversized trousers and ties, sinister cowboy hats, and keychains hanging from belt loops. The second half launched Chavarria’s Adidas collaboration, closed by none other than Olympic sprinter Noah Lyles in all his buff and brawn. 

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With the rapid turnover of fashion trends, dressing in a mass cultural sense has lately been for social acceptance (online), rather than individualism. What the most engaging collections offer is wearability for real-life characters that consumers can make their own, a formula behind the success of labels like Khaite, Tory Burch, Sandy Liang, and Proenza Schouler.  

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Proenza Schouler’s Lazaro Hernandez echoed the sentiment of pushing the personal button. “No one needs another black suit,” he told Vogue Runway. “What’s luring people, at least for us, is an emotional quality—like you look at that and you say, ‘that’s so amazing, I need it.’ It’s about trying to elicit an emotional response.” 

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The label kicked off the official schedule with maritime references, explosions of fringing among sleek, architectural layers, with irreverent pops of lavender and red. Next, Pieter Mulier showed his Alaïa’s spectacular at the Guggenheim Museum; where low-waist skirts, puffed and netted pieces, and billowing pants were matched with barely-there bandeaus, wrapping around the body to reflect the museum’s famous structure. 

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Alaïa’s soft pinks and peaches were echoed in Khaite’s more feminine outing (scored by a nostalgic Guns and Roses’ ‘November Rain’) which focused on everyday organza pieces in very wearable shirts, pants and funnel-neck tunics—a trend to watch as the weeks continue. 

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Elsewhere, sports uniforms were a key driver at Tory Burch’s swim club and Off-White’s basketball court. “The synchronicity of movement and form. This collection began with the essence of sport: power and grace, precision and freedom,” read Tory Burch’s show notes. 

The designer presented sequined swimsuits with judo pants, abstract swimmer prints, and sporty stripes, while Off-White showed corseted track jackets and plunging bodysuits in striped blue, black, and red. Tommy Hilfiger pushed his own sports narrative complete with cricket jumper-dresses, baseball caps, and jerseys. 

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“We wanted to live within our brand codes: Stripes, red, white, and blue, nautical, and collegiate preppy,” Hilfiger told Vogue Runway, ending the Staten Island ferry procession with a Wu-Tang Clan performance. Speaking of brand codes; Tory Burch knows what works for her customer base. Despite the sports angle, the designer brought back her revamped Reva flat shoe to the runway, which is sure to keep her loyalists happy. 

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Michael Kors went full Mr. Ripley, with figure-enhancing maillots, cinched waists in skirt suits, and straw-fringed accessories. Shiny, cutesy silk-satin pieces cropped up at Sandy Liang’s bubble-gum pop show, among Coach’s students and elegant and ethereal at 3.1 Phillip Lim. On the business end, academic pinstripes in suiting, classic shirts, and shirt dresses were a recurrent theme at Tibi, Proenza, Monse, Ralph Lauren, and Coach. 

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There were a lot of sartorial offerings for the minimalists; Toteme, Simkhai, Cos, and Brandon Maxwell were deft in wardrobing and artful layering in understated tones set to be the new neutrals—naturally going hand-in-hand with the boho storyline that began last season. Think antique white, soft yellow, dusty pink, and burnt orange. Expect brown’s popularity to continue, or as Pantone calls it, SS25’s ‘Rum Raisin’, a sumptuous rich take on brown. Pantone also declared ‘Moonbeam’ is a pale grey that offers “relaxed elegance” and ‘Blue Granite’ a mineralized grey-blue hue as shades to know for the season ahead. 

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Let’s dive into the key trends at play this New York Fashion Week Spring Summer 25. 

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Sporty academia

With the launch of Tunl (a platform blending media, e-commerce, sports, and fashion, and named after athletes' pre-game “tunnel fits”) and Los Angeles’ Olympics preparations, it’s no wonder sports, collegiate signifiers, varsity jackets, and schoolboy blazers were very apparent at the city’s biggest shows. Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, and Coach are all too familiar with the lucrative popularity of sports stars, while other labels referenced pinstripes, pleats and sharp tailoring more suited to the 9-to-5 set. 

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Shiny, pretty things

Shiny confections, baby doll satin dresses and ladylike silks were dotted throughout the week, a likely offshoot of the ‘girlhood’ trend. Best seen at Sandy Liang in mini and micro lengths, these pastel pops of femininity were more mature and, notably, without the bows. Coach had a similar stance, while other brands opted for satin, silk, taffeta and organza in soft, ethereal pieces to break up heavy tailoring and offer something extra sweet for party season. 

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On the shoulders

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Boxy boleros, oversized blazers and punchy padding took center stage in many tailored looks. The thing about exaggerated shoulders is the attitude; Willy Chavarria, Elena Velez and Luar’s tough shapes exuded grunt, blended with effortless cool. Khaite’s signature enlarged biker jackets, coats and trenches were slashed into bolero silhouettes and cropped tuxedo jackets, while Proenza Schouler stance was for the New York woman of now; power shoulders for whatever the day has in store. 

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From the hip

Dropped-waist dresses are having their moment in stores right now, so by the looks of things, boho-inflected skirts that sit on the hip are set to continue through SS25. Tory Burch and Alaia were among those to style minimal tops with low-rise statement skirts; and if Alaia’s viral mesh flats are anything to go by, an almost-every-look show of the low-rise silhouette might be telling. Elena Velez and Brandon Maxwell leant into that ‘just dressed’ aesthetic with sheer and fragile numbers that loosely hung from the hip. 

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Main Image credit: Phil Oh

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