Fashion Week began with its traditional opener, Marc Jacobs. His energy always feels fun, whimsical, and endlessly creative—setting the tone for excitement, exploration, and imagination. My favorite part, as always, was discovering new designers, like Zoe Gustavia, Anna Whalen, and seeing how each voice spoke the same language differently through fabric, silhouette, and movement.
Across runways, certain trends stood out as well. Think: playful fringe, sexy and light sheer, dramatic and soft capes, confident suiting, and the return of cropped fur jackets. These are small, powerful gestures that can make a look yours. They feel alive, expressive, and unforgettable this season especially.
Below, we break down some of our favorite trends from the New York Fashion Week FW26 season.
Fringe, But Make It Evolved
Fringe made one of the strongest arguments for itself this season, particularly through knitwear and tactile surfaces. At Diotima, I fell in love! The fringe was heavy, weighted, and structural, integrated directly into the body of the garment. Knit pieces felt grounded and architectural, with fringe transforming dresses and separates into something both cozy and commanding.
At AREA, fringe took on a lighter, more playful form. It appeared delicate, sometimes nearly translucent, introducing texture without heaviness. It brought air and movement, shifting the fringe into something expressive rather than anchored.
Cult Gaia approached fringe through fluidity while maintaining weight and substance, creating pieces that were cozy but dynamic. It combined the grounding energy of Diotima with playful movement, resulting in looks that felt intentional, alive, and tactile.
At Altuzarra, fringe functioned more as an accent, subtle and precise, enhancing the garment without overwhelming it. It introduced movement without dominating the overall silhouette.
Across all four, fringe wasn’t decorative. It was transformative. It gave garments velocity and allowed knitwear, and texture more broadly, to exist as something alive.
Sheer Joy
Sheer emerged as one of the most playful and emotionally expressive elements of the season. Not as a provocation, but as a possibility.
At Altuzarra, sheer pieces felt sensual and controlled, revealing and concealing at the same time. The transparency wasn’t fragile; it was confident.
Newcomer Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen brought a softer perspective. Her use of sheer felt muted, playful, and intimate, fabrics that floated rather than clung, creating silhouettes that felt emotionally open.
At Collina Strada, sheer fabrics were light and expressive, introducing movement and youthfulness into the garments. AREA also embraced sheer, layering transparency alongside texture to create playful, experimental, and alive looks.
What defined sheer this season was its range. It wasn’t about exposure; it was about lightness. Sheer allowed garments to breathe a bit.
Playful Suiting
Suiting this season moved beyond uniform and into identity.
At Prabal Gurung, tailoring felt expressive and intentional, balancing precision with softness. Ashlyn explored suiting through proportion and restraint, creating silhouettes that felt modern and controlled.
LaQuan Smith approached suiting through sensuality, emphasizing the body without sacrificing structure. At Michael Kors, suiting appeared refined and confident, reinforcing its timelessness while still feeling current.
At Sergio Hudson, suiting felt powerful and unapologetic, sharp, precise, and deeply intentional.
This wasn’t suiting as imitation or borrowing from masculinity. Yet instead, it was reclaiming structure as something distinctly feminine. Suiting this season had a pulse.
The Cropped Fur Jacket
Fur appeared throughout the week, but one of its most consistent forms was the cropped jacket, a silhouette that shifted fur’s traditional heaviness into something more immediate and alive.
At Khaite and Bronx and Banco, cropped fur jackets felt structured and intentional. The proportions were precise, balancing glamour with control.
At 7 For All Mankind, cropped fur appeared more relaxed, introducing movement and softness. The pieces felt playful, less formal, and easier to inhabit.
At Eckhaus Latta, cropped fur jackets leaned into comfort—cozy, tactile, and emotionally warm & fuzzy while still maintaining their cropped proportions.
The cropped silhouette transformed fur entirely. It felt younger, lighter, and more personal. Less like armor, more like an extension.
The Return of the Cape
Capes emerged across runways this season in multiple forms—fur, knit, and draped—reintroducing a silhouette that hasn’t felt this present in years.
At Fforme, the cape appeared almost as a shawl, draped softly over the shoulders and bust. It felt intimate and restrained, adding dimension without overpowering the garment underneath.
Calvin Klein presented dramatic capes, large fur constructions layered over outerwear that transformed the wearer entirely, introducing strength and glamour while framing the body.
At Tory Burch, knit capes draped over the entire body, emphasizing softness and movement. Zankov presented knit capes in more closed forms, hovering around the body and reinforcing the idea of the cape as its own complete silhouette. These pieces felt protective, sculptural, and deeply intentional.
What made capes especially relevant this season was their role as wearable accessories. They transformed a classic silhouette into something expressive and personal. They added drama, softness, and individuality all without complication.
