II write this as New York Fashion Week draws to a close, with six days of shows and antics that have gone down a storm. Rihanna kept everyone waiting for nearly an hour at Alaïa. The Wu-Tang Clan made a surprise appearance aboard the Tommy Hilfiger ferry, and Luar capped off the week with a front-row appearance by Madonna. And what about the runways? One overarching theme was not to be missed, from chinos to varsity jackets to knit sweaters: preppy is well and truly back.
The style of dressing is originally inspired by athletic clubs and Ivy League campuses. It’s a trend deeply rooted in class and identity, and it comes at a time when these issues are at the forefront of American politics, with the 2024 presidential election less than two months away. Politics were also, understandably, a hot topic on and off the runway. Prabal Gurung waved off his show after the show in a T-shirt that read “VOTE” on the front and “Harris/Waltz” on the back. Anna Wintour and Jill Biden walked the streets of Manhattan alongside designers including Thom Browne, Michael Kors, and Tory Burch as part of a nonpartisan get-out-the-vote march organized by the Council of Fashion Designers of America and Vogue. And fresh off her DNC appearance, Ella Emhoff, the 25-year-old daughter-in-law of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, was the front-row model and guest of choice for a lineup of designers including Burch and Coach.
But it’s the preppy trend that’s been the most thought-provoking. It’s feeding into a broader commentary from creators about the American Dream and what that concept means and looks like in 2024. Immigration is a key part of that notion, and it also happens to be one of the most critical policies facing both parties in the US.
Ralph Lauren, the son of Jewish immigrants who grew up in the Bronx and whose fortune is now worth £5.3 billion, is often held up as the epitome of the term. His pitch-perfect show in the Hamptons on Thursday night exuded a rich-old-man lifestyle that is certainly a version of that dream. Speaking at a pre-show reception, where waiters in white RL polo shirts handed out champagne and miniature lobster rolls, the actress Laura Dern reflected on Lauren’s version of preppy. “There’s always a deep iconography of America,” she said. “He loves American traditions and family has always been woven into his stories. It’s always playful and hopeful. With everything going on, it’s a nice feeling to feel hopeful.”
If Lauren’s world is a version of the American dream lived by the top 1 percent, Willy Chavarria’s commentary was a bit more democratic. Chavarria, who was born in California near the Mexican border, is the son of an Irish-American mother and a Mexican-American father. The designer said he wanted to “celebrate immigration and those people who built this country and are still the backbone of it.” His show was held in a disused Wall Street bank, and guests arrived to find a giant American flag raised above them and a copy of the U.S. Constitution on their seats. Chavarria said he added the accent to the show’s name, América, because that’s how the word “is heard through the voice of an immigrant or the child of an immigrant.” The clothes were inspired by uniforms—cargo pants and neat button-down shirts—and were meant to celebrate the workforce. In a nod to farm workers, some wore bandanas wrapped around their faces. “The collection is about empowerment,” the designer said. And while Chavarria’s price point is out of reach for most workers (a pair of trousers costs around £600), he felt he was planting the seed for a new kind of American style. “It’s really about the fact that we all belong in this country, we all have a purpose, and we all have the ability to make a difference in this country, starting with voting.”
With an invitation that echoed the American green card, Off-White creative director Ib Kamara also thought about immigration. He explained that he decided to show in New York rather than Paris, as usual, because he wanted to bring the brand, founded by the late American designer Virgil Abloh, “home.” Ib Kamara explained that growing up in Sierra Leone, “America was a dream.” “If you want luxury, you come to America. It’s a dream place. You feel hopeful when you come.”
Stuart Vevers, the British designer and creative director of Coach, who sent Emhoff down the runway in an “I heart NY” T-shirt, also spoke of hope. “There’s a sense of optimism in the next generation,” Vevers said. “There’s a lot of hope. They’re going to make a difference.”
To read the full version of this newsletter—complete with this week’s trending topics in The Measure and your fashion dilemmas solved—subscribe to receive Fashion Statement in your inbox every Thursday.
#American #Dream #York #Fashion #Week #thoughts